Jamaica’s Usain Bolt ran the fastest time of the year in 19.55 seconds to win a record fourth straight world 200m title and sweep the individual sprints at a major global championships for a fifth time in Beijing yesterday.
Five days after beating Justin Gatlin to win the 100m, the 29-year-old Olympic champion and world-record holder again proved too strong for the in-form American, who finished second in 19.74.
Anasco Jobodwana took bronze in 19.87 for South Africa ahead of Panama’s Alonso Edward, who was awarded the same time, but lost out on a medal by two 1,000ths of a second. Jobodwana’s time was 19.861 and Edward 19.863.
Photo: Reuters
The victory gave Bolt a record-extending 10th world championship gold medal and he could yet win an 11th as part of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team tomorrow.
Bolt, who had only run one race at the distance coming into the championships after an injury disrupted season, once again produced the goods when it really mattered.
The 29-year-old got out of the blocks quicker than Gatlin on his inside and was already in front at the bend, where the American picked up speed and looked like he might threaten the champion.
Photo: Reuters
Puffing his cheeks out and swinging his arms high, though, Bolt pounded down the home straight to victory, thumping his chest with his fist as he crossed the line.
“Usain Bolt’s a legend, man,” said Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who finished fifth in a personal best time of 20.02 at his first major championships. “Even myself, I even doubted him a bit, but Bolt is phenomenal. He knows what to do when it comes to major championships. All credit to him.”
In yesterday’s other events, Allyson Felix of the US won her ninth world championships gold medal and first at 400m with a dominating performance.
Photo: AFP
The Olympic 200m champion set off by far the quickest of the eight women finalists to hold a commanding lead by 150m.
Off the final bend she was 4m clear of her nearest rival, Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, who could not close the gap down the final straight.
Felix’s 49.26 seconds winning time was the fastest in the world this year, while Miller claimed silver in 49.67.
The bronze medal was won by Shericka Jackson, who led home Jamaican teammates in fourth (Christine Day), fifth (Stephenie McPherson) and sixth (Novlene Williams-Mills).
Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu, the champion in 2007 and 2013 and Olympic gold medalist in Beijing seven years ago, faded on the home straight and finished eighth in 50.63.
The gold medal won by 29-year-old Felix is only the third won by the US team after six days at the Beijing world championships.
Olympic champion Christian Taylor produced the second longest jump ever to win the world triple jump title.
The Dutch-based Taylor left it late, nailing a jump of 18.21m on his sixth and final attempt to add to the world championship gold he won in 2011.
Only world record holder Jonathan Edwards has jumped further, 18.29 in 1995.
Cuban rival Pedro Pablo Pichardo claimed silver with a best of 17.73m as 2008 Olympic champion Nelson Evora took bronze when he went out to 17.52m with his last jump.
Ethiopian track sensation Genzebe Dibaba kept her bid for a world double well on track yesterday.
Dibaba coasted into the final of the 5,000m in her attempt to emulate elder sister and the event’s world record holder Tirunesh by adding to her comprehensive victory in the 1,500m.
Olympic champion Aries Merritt stormed into the world 110m hurdles final with a gutsy display in his penultimate race before undergoing a kidney transplant next week.
The 30-year-old American clocked a season’s best 13.08 seconds to win his semi-final in the quickest overall time for today’s final in Beijing, but he faces a tougher battle on Tuesday, when he undergoes surgery.
Merritt ended 2012 with an Olympic gold medal and a world best time of 12.8, but a year later was told he might never run again after being diagnosed with a rare kidney disease.
Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk reclaimed her world women’s hammer throw title with a dominant performance.
Wlodarczyk, a silver medalist in Moscow in 2013 after winning gold in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011, threw a best of 80.85m for her second world title.
China’s Wenxiu Zhang claimed silver with 76.33m and France’s Alexandre Tavernier bronze (74.02).
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