BEIJING (AP) — On a night when the United States was looking for five medals in the two sprint hurdle races at the world championships, only Aries Merritt delivered — a bronze for the kidney patient that should feel like gold.

The world-record holder will be flying home for a kidney transplant next week but he still outperformed his teammates in the 110-meter hurdles final, challenging Sergei Shubenkov to the end but finishing behind the Russian and silver medalist Hansle Parchment of Jamaica.

"It means the world to me," Merritt said.

Defending champion David Oliver banged hard into two early hurdles and finished seventh.

In the women's 100 hurdles, the American team was thinking of a sweep. In the end, they were swept off the podium, with 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson crashing in her heat and Kendra Harrison disqualified after a false start in the semifinals.

In the final, defending champion Brianna Rollins banged into the first hurdle and never recovered. Danielle Williams gave Jamaica gold.

In the marquee event at the Bird's Nest on Friday, Dafne Schippers ran the fourth-fastest time in history to win the 200 and completed an incredible switch from heptathlete to sprinter. Her victory denied Jamaica its fourth gold medal in the two fastest races on the track.

"When I looked and saw the time," Schippers said, "I thought the clock was broken."

Two years after winning bronze in the punishing seven-event discipline, the Dutchwoman edged Jamaican sprinters Elaine Thompson and Veronica Campbell-Brown with a perfect dip for the line to add gold to the silver she won in the 100.

After overtaking three runners down the finishing straight, Schippers crossed in 21.63 seconds to beat the 28-year-old championship record by .11 seconds.

"It was a fight. Only in the final meters did I know it was possible," said Schippers, who drew from her experience in the heptathlon. "It helped me because when my body doesn't feel good, your mind is strong."

Ashton Eaton excelled just as much in the decathlon as he returned following a two-year absence. In the last event of a superlative first day, he finished the 400 in 45.00 seconds, slashing .68 seconds off the world decathlon mark he shared with 1968 Olympic champion Bill Toomey.

"It was all about having fun," said Eaton, who won the opening 100 in a championship record 10.23 seconds.

Eaton leads after five events with 4,703 points, 173 points more than Damian Warner of Canada.

Also, Tianna Bartoletta won her second long jump world title, 10 years after her first. The American took the lead for the first time in the final on her last attempt when she jumped 7.14 meters.

In the morning, China finally earned its first gold medal of the competition with Liu Hong leading a 1-2 finish ahead of teammate Lu Xiuzhi in the 20-kilometer walk.

Despite the early start, tens of thousands of fans packed the stands at the Bird's Nest to welcome home the walkers and cheer their first victory as the championships headed into the final weekend.

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Raf Casert can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rcasert