The race was still somewhat close when Allyson Felix grabbed the baton, then it was not.
She shifted into that Felix gear and opened up a lead that grew wider and wider during the second leg of the 4x400m relay at the World Championships on Sunday.
The final two legs of the race were a formality, with the Americans winning in a cakewalk.
Photo: AP
It was Felix’s 11th world gold medal, tying her with Usain Bolt for most in the history of the championships.
What is more, it was her 16th career world medal — a mark that solely belongs to her.
It was a banner night for Felix and a banner 10 days for the US team, which brought home a team-record 30 medals, including 10 gold. That is only one short of the overall record held by East Germany.
The US squad finished the 4x400m in 3 minutes, 19.02 seconds. Previously, the largest margin of victory at worlds was 3.32 seconds. The US won this one over Britain by 5.98, and it was Felix’s second lap that helped set the tone.
As she finished her celebration lap, the crowd was applauding for Bolt who was taking one last lap to say farewell to the fans.
This has been a roller-coaster championship for Felix. She did not have her traditional kick in the final of the 400m and settled for bronze in a race won by teammate Phyllis Francis. Felix also helped the 4x100m relay team to a gold medal.
Those two relay golds are nice, but they do not make up for the one that slipped away in the 400m.
“Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. That’s not how I am,” Felix said.
About all those world medals: She does not have any of them, but she can visit them anytime she like at her parents’ house.
“I really don’t know what they do with them,” she said. “I guess they look at them sometimes. They’re really proud.”
The world championships also got its only world record on Sunday, and it was in the only new event — the women’s 50km walk.
Ines Henriques of Portugal bettered her own mark by finishing in 4 hours, 5 minutes, 56 seconds on the 2km loop in central London.
Only seven women started the race and only four finished.
Meanwhile, in a worlds of upsets right up to the last event, Trinidad and Tobago beat the US in the men’s 4x400m, producing only a little dent in an all-powerful performance.
Mutaz Essa Barshim won the world high jump title by clearing 2.35m without a miss.
The Qatari will get a chance to defend his title at home in 2019 when the world championships are in Doha.
Two-time Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic won the discus with a throw of 70.31m, well ahead of silver-medalist Dani Stevens of Australia, who set a continental record with a throw of 69.64m.
Caster Semenya won her third world title in the 800m, using her finishing kick to sweep past the competition in the finishing straight and win with ease over Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, giving South Africa its third gold of the championships.
In the 5,000m, Obiri ran away from favorite Almaz Ayana with 250m to go to deny the Ethiopian a long-distance double. She won in 14 minutes, 34.86 seconds.
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