World record holder and Olympic champion Robles looked to have edged out the U.S.’ Jason Richardson to take gold at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu.

But he was disqualified for obstructing another athlete. The Cuban team had lodged an appeal but it was rejected.

Elsewhere on day three of the championships, Carmelita Jeter ended her long search for a world title in the women’s 100 meters, and  Amantle Montsho won the women’s 400 to become Botswana’s first-ever athletics world champion.

Robles trailed China’s favorite Liu Xiang for most of the race, but when his competitor wavered, the Cuban flew past in a dogfight with Richardson.

Cheered on by a large visiting crowd from China, Liu had the lead till the last hurdle, but lost focus when he glanced at his competitors and was unable to regain his composure by the finish.

Richardson has no national titles but ran the best time in the semifinals by 0.2 seconds, coming out of left field in the semifinal and final, and finished just two hundredths of a second after Robles.

The disqualification meant that Liu took silver and Great Britain’s Andrew Turner moved up into bronze.

Largely seen as a favorite to win, Richardson’s compatriot David Oliver showed a disappointing performance with a 13.44 finish, half a second behind his season record, placing fifth.

In the women’s 100 meter sprint, 31-year-old Carmelita Jeter finally became world champion after bronze medals in 2007 and 2009.

American Jeter won the women’s 100 final in 10.90 seconds, just 0.07 ahead of her arch-rival Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica.

Kelly-Ann Baptiste finished third in 10.98 and another competition favorite Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce finished fourth in 10.99.

In the 400, Montsho defied favorites Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross of the U.S. to claim gold.

It was a repeat of the result in this year’s Samsung Diamond League meet in Eugene, Oregon.

The race was neck-and-neck between Montsho and Felix but in a photo finish, Felix came behind Montsho’s 49.56 seconds by a mere 0.03 seconds, with Russia’s Anastasiya Kapachinskaya trailing in third.

Defending champion Richards-Ross came in a disappointing 51.32. She missed last season due to injury and is still struggling to find her rhythm this season.

Among the strongest men on the planet, Japanese hammer thrower Koji Murofushi obtained his first world title in the men’s hammer throw.

The 36-year-old Japanese, undefeated in his country since 1995, had a season best throw of 81.24 meters, surpassing Krisztian Pars of Hungary with 81.18m. Defending champion Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus was third with his season best record of 79.39. Murofushi had a very consistent series of throws: 79.72, 81.03 and 81.24 to win the title.

Valerie Adams, the reigning Olympic shot put champion added the title of World champion with minimal fuss.

Adams won the gold medal with new competition record of 21.24 meters on Monday with Nadzeya Ostapchuk more than a meter short of 20.05 and American J. Camerena Williams finished in third place with 20.02. 

By Oh Kyu-wook & Robert Lee

(596story@heraldcorp.com), (Robert@heraldcorp.com)