Brooks Beasts' Nia Akins sets personal best with sixth-place finish to conclude world champs...
BUDAPEST, Hungary--For the second race in three days, Nia Akins (Paul Merca photo) of the Brooks Beasts set a personal best in finishing sixth in the finals of the women's 800 meters on the final day of the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Centre.
At the 200 meter mark, Akins was content to run with US teammate and Oregon alum Raevyn Rogers, as they went through in 26.90, content to let defending world and Olympic champion Athing Mu do the leading in 26.51.
Akins and Rogers were still towards the back of the pack at 400 meters in 56.47, as the front-running Mu led in 56.01.
The Penn alum and San Diego native moved up a spot into fifth through the 600 mark, which she crossed in 1:26.75.
Over the last 200, Kenya's Mary Moraa put some pressure on Mu, overtaking her after coming off the final turn to take the victory and the world title in a personal best 1:56.03.
Meanwhile, a fading Mu was also overtaken by Great Britain's Keely Hodginson, who took second in 1:56.34, while Mu was relegated to third in 1:56.61.
Rogers rallied down the stretch to finish fourth in 1:57.45, while Akins finished with a personal best of 1:57.73.
In addition to the women's 800 finals, six other finals were contested Sunday night.
The high jump was won by Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine at 6-7 (2.01m), while Neeraj Chopra of India took the men's javelin with a throw of 289-3 (88.17m).
On the track, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, who was denied victory in the 1500 by Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts, won his second straight 5000 meter title in 13:11.30, while Winfred Yavi of Burundi won the women's 3000 steeplechase in a world leading 8:54.29.
The meet ending 4 x 400 relays saw the USA win the men's title in a world leading 2:57.31, while the Netherlands won the women's title in a world leading 3:20.72, thanks to an inspired anchor leg by Femke Bol.
With that, we will be traveling home over the next two days. We hope to put together a recap upon our return to Seattle.
NOTE: World Athletics, the WABudapest 23 Organizing Committee, and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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