Femke Bol on Thursday struck gold in the 400m hurdles amid an unexpected Jamaican double gold rush at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Bol made up for the disappointment of falling with the line at her mercy in the mixed 4x400m relay by producing a totally dominant victory in the hurdles in 51.70 seconds.
“It wasn’t easy to forget what happened in the final meters of the mixed relay, but my team was around me and they put me at my ease,” the 23-year-old Dutch athlete said. “I knew that 400m hurdles would be a chance to show up and I was confident. I have just had the best first 200 meters ever.”
Photo: Reuters
In the absence of defending world and Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Shamier Little of the US claimed silver, more than one second behind Bol, while Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton rounded out the podium.
Clayton’s bronze was one of five medals Jamaica won out of a potential 15 on offer in the evening session of the sixth day of action at the National Athletics Center.
Two of those were surprise golds.
First up was Danielle Williams, who shocked the field to reclaim her world 100m hurdles crown after previously winning the title in Beijing in 2015.
“When I won in 2015 it was unbelievable, but this took a lot of hard work, a lot of years of toil and injuries, and losing my confidence and battling to get back to this stage,” Williams said. “It’s awesome, Jamaica is a proud country and we love to win. I love to win.”
Then came 21-year-old Antonio Watson, who also upset a loaded field including South Africa’s world record holder Wayde van Niekerk to win gold in the men’s 400m.
Watson, 21, produced a perfectly-timed effort down the home straight to win in 44.22 seconds.
“I am excited I managed to go home with a victory. I was surprised too,” Watson said. “I did not have any secrets in my race. I just came and ran my own race. I am really proud I am bringing gold to Jamaica ... it is amazing to win the gold medal at my first world senior championships.”
It looked like there might have been a third Jamaican gold in the men’s long jump, but Greece’s Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou went out to 8.52m with his sixth and final jump to push Wayne Pinnock into silver position.
Pinnock’s Jamaican teammate Tajay Gayle claimed the bronze.
The second field event of the night saw Camryn Rogers win the women’s hammer world title to give Canada their second gold in the event at the championships after Ethan Katzberg was crowned men’s champion last weekend.
Rogers took gold with a best effort of 77.22m, last year’s bronze medalist Janee’ Kassanavoid of the US finishing second (76.36m). Kassanavoid’s teammate DeAnna Price took the bronze (75.41m).
Newly crowned 100m champions Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson both advanced into their respective 200m finals.
Lyles’ semi-final had to be rescheduled after the golf buggy he was traveling in with his rivals to the track had a collision with another one, leaving Jamaican Andrew Hudson with glass in his eye.
“I was directly impacted when a bunch of glass went into my eye,” Hudson said. “They got most of the glass out. Now I’ve got to go back and have it looked at, make sure it’s OK. My eye is pretty blurry right now.”
Hudson was handed a spot in the final of the 200m despite finishing the semi out of the running for a top-eight spot. The track has nine lanes so can accommodate an extra athlete.
The incident did not deflect Lyles in his bid for a first sprint double by a male athlete since Usain Bolt in 2015, clocking an impressive 19.76 seconds.
Lyles is the two-time defending world champion over 200m and has said he wants to target Bolt’s world record of 19.19 seconds set back in 2009 at the Berlin world championships.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll get close to it,” Lyles told NBC. “I’m very confident in what we did. Today I ran 19.7 and wasn’t even really trying. I’m very confident in my ability.”
Richardson was equally at ease, albeit finishing second to defending world champion Shericka Jackson in her heat as all the favorites advanced.
Norway’s reigning world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen put the relative disappointment of silver in the 1,500m on Wednesday behind him to easily qualify for the final of the 5,000m.
Olympic champion and world record holder Joshua Cheptegei was a late withdrawal, the Ugandan who won the 10,000m pulling out with a foot injury.
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
RSS