Legends miss out on fairytale ends

London: The World Athletics Championships just can't stop popping up surprises even as Jamaican great Usain Bolt and local hero Mohamed Farah bid farewell to their respective careers amid tears and defeat.

In the last race of his career, Bolt limped off the track while hosts Britain took the stunning 4x100m victory to the ecstasy of the capacity London Stadium spectators here on Saturday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

Bolt had only taken a few strides when he appeared to suffer an injury to his left leg around 30 metres into the anchor leg. He dropped the baton before falling face down to the track in pain.

The 11-time world champion and eight-time Olympic titlist stayed down for a couple of minutes and refused the offer of a wheelchair from medics before standing up and walking to the finish line.

For all his stellar achievements, it book-ended a professional life in the fast lane that started in similar fashion, when he limped across the line last in the 200m final on his World Championships debut as an injury-prone 18-year-old in Helsinki back in 2005.

"Everybody was jelly. Everybody was pumped. It just happened (Usain's injury). Usain Bolt's name will always live on," Jamaica's first leg runner Omar McLeod said.

Britain won the gold in 37.47 seconds, the US took silver in 37.52 and Japan was third in 38.04. China, the silver medallist two years ago, finished fourth in 38.34 with second-leg runner Xie Zhenye just coming back from injury.

British anchor runner Michell-Blake dropped to the ground in blissful disbelief as his team beat the American squad consisting of newly crowned 100m world champion Justin Gatlin and runner-up Christian Coleman.

Young Ethiopian star Muktar Edris has beaten the all-dominating Mohamed Farah of Britain to win the men's 5,000 metre title at the IAAF World Championships here.

Edris, who was crowned world youth champion in 2012, produced a strong charge on the final stretch to register a time of 13 minutes and 32.79 seconds on Saturday evening, Xinhua news agency reported.

The 23-year-old, who won the first major senior world title of his career, stopped Farah from taking his fourth 5,000m world title.

"I gave it everything," said Farah who initially curled up on the track in defeat and then was pulled up by Edris.Just like Bolt, Farah finished his career with an unusual feeling of defeat.

A surprise also took place in the field events as Johannes Vetter of Germany grabbed his first ever medal at a major global competition -- a golden one -- with his first attempt of 89.89 meters to win the men's javelin event even as defending champion Julius Yego and Olympic champion Thomas Rohler failed to deliver.

In other events, Russia's Maria Lasitskene retained the women's high jump title. The 24-year-old, competing as an authorized neutral athlete, cleared 2.03 meters for the gold medal. Meanwhile, USA regained the women's 4x100m world crown which they last won at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu as they sailed to victory in 41.82 seconds.