Silver medalist Kenya's Helah Kiprop celebrates during the awarding ceremony of the women's marathon event at the 2015 IAAF World Championships at the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 30, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
Star runner Asbel Kiprop won Kenya one more gold on the final matchday of the 15th IAAF world championships on Sunday as the east African country finished atop the medals standings for the first time with seven gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
Sprinting power Jamaica finished second with a 7-2-3 record. The United States came third with six golds, dropping out of the top two for the first time.
New IAAF president Sebastian Coe gave an thumbs-up to the Beijing worlds by saying it was a "great, great championships".
"China staged a wonderful championships and it's been sensational. I left the stadium last night with people who have been to many championships before saying: Arguably the best world championships ever!"
"Great crowd, full stadium, passionate and noisy people, in-form athletes that are competing at the highest level," added Coe, who will officially take over the world's athletics governing body from Monday.
Kiprop's 1,500m win was one of the most stunning victories in the championships, with the Kenyan starting his late charge from the last place to first only in the last half-lap for the gold.
It was also his third successive world title after the 26-year-old impressively claimed the title in both 2011 and 2013.
"I am so proud of myself to become a member of this exclusive club of the three times world champions but I would love to defend the title also fourth time again in London 2017," said Kiprop.
In the women's 4x400m relay, Jamaica overcame the United States for the title.
Jamaica's Novlene Williams-Mills overtook America's Francena McCorory in the final meters to win the title in 3:19.13 seconds, a world leading time.
The US men's relay team saved face by winning the 4x400m relay gold at a time of 2:57.82.
Ethiopia became the biggest winner on the final day as Mare Dibaba won the women's marathon title first in day session and then their women runners had a clean sweep of medals of all colors in the women's 5,000 meters event, with world leader Almaz Ayana taking the title in a championships record time.
"It is great for our country that we won gold, silver and bronze," Ayana said.
Germany's Katharina Molitor won the women's javelin gold with her final throw and denied host China a second title of the world athletics championships.
As Chinese Lyu Huihui had a chance of landing the gold with a new Asian record of 66.13 meters on her fifth try, Molitor hurtled the javelin to 67.69 meters to nail the title.
"Perfect! My first international medal," said Molitor, who had never previously won a medal at a major championships.
In the men's high jump, Canada's Derek Drouin cleared 2.34 meters in a three-man jump-off to win the gold medal.
China's Zhang Guowei and Ukraine's Bohdan Bondarenko shared the second place on 2.33 meters.
