Day 2, World Championships

The next day was the Women's javelin and shot put qualifying in the morning with the women's shot put final held later that night.

A shot of the women's shot sectors...

...and a picture of the women's jav sector. I think that's Barbora Spotakova on the runway (the World Record holder from the Czech Republic), I don't remember for sure though.

Here is Christina Obergfoll getting one of her throws re-played on one of the big screens.

Rachel Yurkovich right after releasing one of her qualifying throws (the javelin is at the top of the picture) that would qualify her for the finals later that week! She is the first American woman to ever qualify for a World Championships Women's jav final!

The majority of pictures/videos I got from the 2nd day were of the evening session...
EVENING SESSION PICTURES
Well, this wasn't quite back at the stadium yet. But I took this picture to show that you really could buy ANY drink at the train station, and drink it anywhere you wanted (Yes, if you're wondering, I had it on the train on the way to the stadium.)
Unfortunately, I got to the stadium a little late in the evening (no, not because of the Jack Daniels and cola, but simply because I left my hotel too late) so I missed the beginning of some of the events, and I unfortunately missed the medal ceremony for the Men's shot put. Not all was lost though.
I got there right after the medal ceremony, while the medallists were still having their pictures taken by the press. Here's Cantwell with Berlino, the World Champs mascot.
Me and Tomasz Majewszki, silver medallist in the shot. When I showed my grandparents this picture my Grandma asked "Is he standing on a step or something?" No, Grandma, he's just that freaking big.
Me and Christian Cantwell, the gold medallist!
Many coaches and athletes like to debate whether the spin or the glide is a better method of throwing the shot. Some say taller athletes shouldn't spin because its too hard to stay in the circle, others say it doesn't matter how tall you are, the spin will benefit anyone. After meeting Majewszki and Cantwell up close, I realized that on top of being incredibly strong and quick, these guys are MASSIVE, and it doesn't really matter if they spin, glide, or chew the shot up and spit it out...the ball is simply going to go far!
The headline event of the night, was of course the Men's 100m. All the attention was of course on two athletes...
Usain Bolt,
and Tyson Gay. In case you're on the edge of your seat reading this, they both qualified for the final. In the mean time, the Women's shot final was also going on.
As the video says, this is Michelle Carter of the USA's first throw, which ended up being a foul. She threw well later in the competition though, 18.96m/62'-2.5" to place 6th.
This was Nadine Kleinert's first throw, a 20.06m/65'-10" effort that put her in first place at the time, and it was also a personal best at the time, hence the German crowd's reaction. Despite getting another personal best later in the competition at 20.20m, she still finished 2nd to Valerie Vili of New Zealand. Don't ask me how I didn't get any pictures/vids of Vili...I guess I just had a brain fart and missed her somehow.
The women's shot put actually was a hell of a competition with a duel between Kleinert and Vili for the 1-2 spots, as well as the bronze medal position changing a few times (it finally went to Lijiao Gong of China with a 19.89 throw). However unless you are a thrower, that is not what you'll remember about the 2nd night of the Berlin World Championships. Unless you've been living in a cave you know by now what happened...

It turns out my camera gives you about 5 seconds of notice before the battery goes dead. The men for the 100m final were literally down in the starting blocks, the official ready to pull the trigger, me ready to record the race on video...and my camera friggin' died! Of course, I was able to turn it back on briefly after about two minutes, which allowed me to get these pictures of the aftermath of Usain Bolt redifining the physical limits of humanity.
By the end of the night, everyone sitting near me knew I was American, since I cheered so loud for all the Americans and waved my flag and all that. After the 100m race, a German guy turned to me and said, "Congratulations, new national record for you! 9.71 is not bad!" To which I responded, "9.71 is insane! It really is insanely fast - Bolt was just that much faster!"
At the end of the night, they began removing the javelin sector that had been there earlier for the heptathlon javelin competition. At this point, people were still cheering for Bolt. I of course was in the stadium still, too, trying to comprehend what happened. When the race was over, all I knew was that Gay had come in 2nd - I hadn't paid attention to the clock at all. When I finally looked over and saw the time - I don't even know what to write. I still can't describe it.
Whats the perfect way to end a night like that? German beer, of course.
This is a bar I stumbled across that I decided to have some drinks at at the end of the night. I don't know what it means, but as you can tell, it's a soccer bar.
This bar really is a must-visit for any soccer fan. If you're in Berlin, go to the Zoologischergarten train station, and when you exit, head in to the busier part of the city. Walk right past the Burger King, and you'll come across this bar. After having a Berliner Pilsener, I had an Erdinger, which comes in this glass...
The top of the glass is a soccer ball, if you're trying to figure that out. And, the beer was great too.