Athletics

Two world records fall on final day of world championships

Hosts US dominate with record medal haul

25 July 2022 - 06:23 By Reuters
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Nigeria's Tobi Amusan celebrates winning the women's 100m hurdles final.
Nigeria's Tobi Amusan celebrates winning the women's 100m hurdles final.
Image: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Nigerian Tobi Amusan won 100m hurdles gold on Sunday in what was initially announced as a world record 12.06 seconds, but later ruled ineligible as the wind speed exceeded the legal limit.

Amusan broke the world record earlier on Sunday by running 12.12 in the semifinal at Hayward Field.

She recovered from a slightly slower start to put on a pristine performance over the barriers, .17 seconds clear of silver medallist Britany Anderson of Jamaica.

"The goal was to come out and to win this gold," said Amusan.

"I believe in my abilities but I was not expecting a world record at these championships. The goal is always just to execute well and get the win so the world record is a bonus."

Puerto Rico's Olympic champion Camacho-Quinn accelerated at the midway mark but lost a close battle with Anderson over the final strides after hitting the last hurdle, going home with bronze in her first World Championships.

The US' Olympic silver medallist Kendra Harrison, whose 2016 record Amusan broke in the semifinal, was disqualified.

Sweden's Armand Duplantis in action as he clears 6.21m to set a new world record during the final.
Sweden's Armand Duplantis in action as he clears 6.21m to set a new world record during the final.
Image: REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel

Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record with a jump of 6.21m on Sunday on the way to winning his first gold medal at the world championships.

The Olympic champion cleared 6.00m to make sure of the title then set a championships record of 6.06m, edging Dmitri Markov's mark of 6.05m set in Edmonton in 2001.

The 22-year-old then set his sights on his own record of 6.20m set at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade earlier this year and improved upon it by 1cm with his second attempt.

"I was getting a bit tired towards the end so I really appreciate you guys," Duplantis said in an on-track interview at Hayward Field.

"This was awesome and I love being in Eugene."

American Chris Nilsen jumped 5.94m to take silver on countback ahead of the Philippines' Ernest John Obiena.

Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen crosses the line to win the men's 5,000m final.
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen crosses the line to win the men's 5,000m final.
Image: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Jakob Ingebrigtsen made up for his 1,500m disappointment by winning the world 5,000m title in emphatic style on Sunday, taking the lead with three laps to go and driving home at a pace nobody could live with.

The Norwegian was beaten into second in the 1,500m by Briton Jake Wightman but avoided any risk of a similar last 200m burn-up by going clear after the early stages had been slow in very warm early evening conditions.

Ingebrigtsen came home in 13 minutes, 09.24 seconds ahead of Jacob Krop of Kenya, while Uganda's Oscar Chelimo found a home-straight burst to take bronze after American Grant Fisher had looked set for a medal until being tripped with 90m to go.

"It feels amazing. I felt really good today," Ingebrigtsen said.

"I won it and I needed it."

The race had been one of the most eagerly-anticipated of the championships as it featured three current Olympic champions.

Ingebrigtsen won the 1,500m in Tokyo, Selemon Barega of Ethiopia the 10,000m and Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder, the 5,000m.

Cheptegei made the early running but it was a steady pace. Such was the heat that Ingebrigtsen twice diverted on the back straight to take advantage of a drinks station before slotting quickly back into the pack.

The biggest crowd of the championships in Eugene, Oregon, steeped in distance history in the home of former Olympian Steve Prefontaine, really got into it, delivering a rolling roar around a sold-out Hayward Field.

Aware of how he had been outkicked on the final bend in the 1,500m, the Norwegian hit the front three laps out and cranked up the pace as the field strung out behind him.

He never got more than a couple of metres clear but that was enough, punching the air as he crossed the line.

"This is already my fifth attempt to become a world champion outdoors and my third world championships," said the 21-year-old.

"Finally, I became the world champion. It has been very difficult after the 1,500m. I have been very, very disappointed with myself even though I got the silver medal.

"Today I felt very good. It's a tough distance but I felt very strong after the heats."

Talitha Diggs, Abby Steiner, Britton Wilson and Sydney McLaughlin of the US celebrate winning the women's 4x400m final.
Talitha Diggs, Abby Steiner, Britton Wilson and Sydney McLaughlin of the US celebrate winning the women's 4x400m final.
Image: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The US collected their third successive women's 4x400mrelay world championships title in dominant fashion on Sunday, finishing well clear in 3:17.79 ahead of Jamaica and Britain.

Talitha Diggs got the Americans off to a solid start and Abby Steiner kept ahead of Jamaican Janieve Russell in the second leg a day after helping the US win gold in the sprint relay.

They maintained the lead through a series of clean changeovers before anchor Sydney McLaughlin, who shattered the 400m hurdles world record on Friday, brought it home for gold with a remarkable 47.91 final leg.

"I just wanted to give my team everything I had," said Diggs.

"It felt amazing."

Jamaica, who took bronze in Doha, finished far behind the US in 3:20.74, while Britain crossed the line in 3:22.64.

Allyson Felix, the most decorated woman in track, did not run in the final but earned a 20th world championships medal after making a surprise return for the US in the preliminary round.

Earlier in the meet, Felix helped the US to bronze in the mixed relay in what had been billed as her final world championships race before she retires this year.

The women’s relay was featured as the final track event instead of the men’s race for the first time in Eugene, where the US finished top of the medal table with 13 golds and a world championships record 33 total medals. 

The US maintained their stranglehold of the men's 4x400m relay on Sunday as they won world championships gold in dominant style.

The country has won eight of the past nine world titles and eight of the past 10 Olympic golds, and Sunday's crown never looked in doubt.

Elija Godwin and Bryce Deadmon were retained from the semifinals with newly-crowned individual gold medallist Michael Norman and Champion Allison, fourth in the final, drafted in and each man extended the lead as they came home in two minutes, 56.17 seconds.

In a race of their own 20m back, Jamaica took silver with Belgium collecting the bronze.

Kenya's Mary Moraa, Athing Mu of the US and Britain's Keely Hodgkinson in action during the women's 800m final.
Kenya's Mary Moraa, Athing Mu of the US and Britain's Keely Hodgkinson in action during the women's 800m final.
Image: REUTERS/Mike Segar

American Olympic champion Athing Mu added the world 800m title to her resume on Sunday as the 20-year-old cleverly squeezed out Briton Keely Hodgkinson in a neck-and-neck finish.

Mu took up the running with 300m to go but Hodgkinson, also second behind her in the Tokyo Olympics, went with her and when the American drifted slightly wide coming into the home straight, the Briton, also 20, squeezed into the gap and looked set to go past.

Mu though, fairly and gradually, eased back across and kept her shoulder in front of her rival, shutting the door to take the tape in one minute, 56.30 seconds, with Hodgkinson second in 1:56.38.

Kenya's Mary Moraa won the battle for bronze in a personal best of 1:56.71.

Gold medallist France's Kevin Mayer celebrates after winning the decathlon.
Gold medallist France's Kevin Mayer celebrates after winning the decathlon.
Image: REUTERS/Brian Snyder

World record holder Kevin Mayer of France regained the decathlon world title with a late comeback on Sunday after the event was blown wide open by an injury to Olympic champion Damian Warner.

Mayer, silver medallist at the last two Olympics, was sixth overnight but won the pole vault and javelin while his 10th-placed finish in the 1,500m - the final event - gave him a score of 8,816 points and his second world crown.

Canada's Pierce LePage took silver with 8,701 points while American Zach Ziemek collected bronze with 8,676 points. Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico, the overnight leader, finished fourth while defending world champion Niklas Kaul of Germany finished sixth.

Gold medallist Germany's Malaika Mihambo celebrates after winning the women's long jump final.
Gold medallist Germany's Malaika Mihambo celebrates after winning the women's long jump final.
Image: REUTERS/Aleksandra Szmigiel

German Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo continued her dominance in the women's long jump by soaring to a second successive world championship gold with a final leap of 7.12m  on Sunday.

World and Olympic bronze medallist Ese Brume of Nigeria claimed silver with 7.02m, while Brazil's Leticia Oro Melo took bronze with 6.89m. 

Italy's Massimo Stano won the men's 35km race walk at the World Athletics Championships in dramatic fashion on Sunday, edging Japan's Masatora Kawano by one second.

Stano and Kawano battled shoulder-to-shoulder as the leading pair in the final 4km, but the Italian coped well with the pressure and accelerated in the final 300m to seal the gold medal.

Grabbing an Italian flag when he was on the final stretch, the 20km race walk Olympic champion finished in a time of 2:23:14, while Kawano sank to his knees in despair after crossing the line a second later.

"I can't believe even if I won the Olympic gold. In theory, it would be easy to understand what happened today, but it is not," Stano said.

"I am happy to win gold in a different distance and show I can compete in other distances. Kawano did a great race. I had to change pace a few times to win today. He really tired me."


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