Daily Daegu: Is Day 4 Nick Symmonds time to shine?

Symmonds has been hot in Daegu so far
(TrackAndFieldPhoto)

Day 3 at Daegu ended in a flourish, with Americans Carmelita Jeter and Jason Richardson both claiming gold medals. Jeter continued to dominate in the 100, while Richardson has seemingly come out of nowhere in the past month in the 110 hurdles. While he was helped by Dayron Robles' DQ and pushing on Silver Medalist Liu Xiang, Richardson ran his best at the right time and was rewarded for it. Allyson Felix's doubled was thwarted by Amantle Montsho, but a Silver at the World Championships is nothing to sneeze at. Jillian Camarena-Williams also took home Bronze in the Shot Put. A great day for American sprinters, hurdlers and throwers!

But that's not what I generally cover here. The only distance event of Day 3 was the Men's Steeplechase and our boys didn't look so good. As I said on twitter yesterday, "the American Steeple contingent could use a Fam injection on the men's side and some Simpson/Pierce on the women's." Emma Coburn is the only American in either final and she looked great. But hopefully we can get stronger before London next year.

Day 4 brings on lots of distance fun as the Women's 5000 heats start up at 9:20 eastern tonight with Amy Hastings, the injured Molly Huddle and the white hot Lauren Fleshman gunning for the finals. After that, we'll get to see the Men line up in the 1500 prelims. Coming off a big win in London, Leo Manzano will be ready to go, with collegian Matt Centrowitz and Andrew Wheating bringing their Oregon flair to the line.

The American morning session of Day 4 kicks off at 7:35am eastern with the Women's 1500 semis, where all 3 ladies are still alive. At 8:00am, Nick Symmonds will take aim at the medal stand in a stacked 800. David Rudisha is a heavy favorite for Gold and Abubaker Kaki the same for Silver, but the bronze is wide open and Symmonds appears ready to bring it home. Watch out for a dual between Symmonds and 2004 Olympic Champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, for that last spot on the podium. Next, at 8:20am, Emma Coburn will finish her excellent season in the Women's Steeplechase final. Closing the night will be the next leg of the LaShawn Merritt redemption tour. After two excellent performances in the rounds, he looks to be the favorite to bring home the Gold in the Men's 400.

A very exciting night and day ahead after an exciting morning for us Americans!

You can watch on television and online via Universal Sports. Results are on the IAAF's Daegu site.

Follow writing about running on Twitter and Facebook