Team USATF Shines Strong in This Week's Performance of the Week - World Championships Edition

Track and field fans voiced their choices in the World Championships Edition DyeStat's Performance of the Week poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

Readers’ Choice: Jenny Simpson

With 29.59 percent of the vote, Jenny Simpson won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Mo Farah with his second-place tally of 25.00 percent.

Simpson has become a master at running championship 1,500-meter races. Prior to the 2017 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in London, she had earned three global medals in the World Championships and the Olympic Games, gold, silver and bronze. Simpson earned bronze last year at the Olympics in Rio.

Running in the final of the 1,500 on the fourth day of the championships, Simpson held position in the middle of the pack, within striking distance of the front of the race. The opening lap, led out by Great Britain's Laura Muir, was 65 seconds, but then Muir slowed the pace, bringing the pack through 800 meters in 2:17.

From there, the big moves began. By 1,200 meters, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and the Nike Oregon Project was at the front, pushing hard with Faith Kipyegon of Kenya. The third lap had been completed in a much faster 61 seconds.

The race was on over the last 300 meters, with Hassan and Kipyegon sprinting all out. Simpson held back, knowing the sprint down the back straight was unsustainable. She waited and made her move around turns three and four.

Coming off the final turn, Simpson was in fourth. But while she was hitting her fastest speeds, the women in front of her were slowing down. Simpson passed both Hassan and Muir, securing second place and a silver medal. Her final time was 4:02.76, just 0.17 seconds behind Kipyegon.

Watch Jenny Simpson's Post-Race Interview

Editors’ Choice: Sam Kendricks

Sam Kendricks came into the IAAF World Outdoor Championships on a tear. He had yet to lose in 2017, having won 11 straight pole vault competitions.

A year ago, Kendricks captured the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio, behind the world record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France and surprise gold medal winner Thiago Braz da Silva of Brazil.

This year Braz da Silva was unable to start, fighting injury issues, but Lavillenie was still a formidable opponent. So too were two Polish jumpers, Piotr Lisek and Pawel Wojciechowski.

As has become common, Kendricks opened at the first height, 18-0.5 (5.50m). He went clear on his first attempt, a trend that Kendricks would maintain through the fifth height of 19-3.75 (5.89m). However, Lisek and Lavillenie also went clear.

The bar then went up to 19-6.25 (5.95m). For the first time in the competition, Kendricks knocked the bar off. He did it again on his second attempt. But so too did his competitors.

Lisek missed on his final attempt, guaranteeing Kendricks at least a silver medal. Then it was Kendricks' turn. He went clear.

Lavillenie would have followed, but the only way for him to win gold would be to clear the next height before Kendricks. He passed his final jump and the bar went up to 19-8.5 (6.01m).

Once again, Kendricks jumped first. It was his third overall failure in the competition, but he had two more attempts at 19-8.5 if he needed them.

All the pressure was on Lavillenie for his final jump. He needed to clear 19-8.5 on his first attempt to move into the lead. Otherwise he would finish third. In the end, the Frenchman could not go clear, and thus it was Kendricks who earned gold.

Kendricks retired from the competition with his gold medal secured, not wanting to risk injury in the moment. Despite the season not yet being over, Kendricks has capped an amazing year that saw him become the fifth American to clear 6.00 meters with a gold medal. Kendricks is the first American to win the World Championships pole vault since Brad Walker in 2007.