Noah Lyles joins the world championships sprint double gang but Sha'Carri Richardson will have to wait another couple of years. And a year from the Olympics in Paris, French athletes haven't been showing any signs of supremacy.
Just another day at the office.
Yulia Rojas entered Budapest as the woman to beat in the triple jump. She’d won the last three world titles but she looked anything but the prime specimen. She wasn’t on her game at all: two foul jumps and a valid one that was abysmal that it left her eighth - of eight. With the final attempt she came over all alpha jumper and emerged from the sand following a leap of 15.08m to go in front of Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk who had been leading since the first jump with 15.00m. The Ukrainian cracked under the pressure. She botched her last jump. Et voilà, Rojas the proud owner of a record-extending fourth title. So are legends enhanced.
Another misfortune
Four years ago in Doha when Kevin Mayer was defending his 2017 world championship decathlon title, he pulled out with an Achilles injury while leading the field after seven of the 10 events. Defending his title from last year in Eugene, misfortune befell him after two events in Budapes. The Achilles in his left leg was giving him too much pain, he winced. Concerned about aggravating the injury and compromising his chances at next year’s Olympics, he called it a day. That’s not another way of saying déjà vu.
Worrying times
While Kevin Mayer limp, French athletics supremos were left to rue the team’s lack of medals. The tally showed none at the time of Mayer's exit in the morning session. And there would be none by the end of the evening because there were no French competitors in the four finals on Day 7. At least the male sprinters made it through their heat and into the 4x100m relay final on Day 8. Maybe there are some secret weapons being polished.
Noah’s arc
The Noah Lyles secret is well and truly out. The 26-year-old American won a third straight 200m title – a feat not seen since that Usain Bolt. Lyles also became the first man since Bolt to win the 100m and 200m at the same world championships and only the fifth man in the 40-year history of the extravaganza. Though Lyles does love self-promotion, he still has to eat very mushy humble pie up against the showman incarnate. The Jamaican – who endearingly anointed himself a ‘Living Legend’ after successfully defending his Beijing 100m and 200m Olympic titles in London in 2012 - won the sprint double at the world championships in 2009, 2013 and 2015. One down Noah, any more to go?
End of the lane
Sha’Carri Richardson was attempting to become only the fourth woman to claim a world championships sprint double. But the 23-year-old American was mashed up in the 200m final by Shericka Jackson, the very same lady Richardson had pipped to the 100m title. “I knew I was capable of winning,” said Jackson as she sported her gold medal on her chest after a second 200m crown on the trot. “It was just a matter of executing and I did that excellently.” Richardson finished third.
