There's clearly something in the Canadian water and Faith Kipyegon goes legend while Noah Lyles shows us his digital prowess.
Hot streak
It was a sultry evening at the National Athletics Centre. Just as well the women’s marathon started bright and early before it got too hot. But even still, it wasn’t glacial as they all troted around the city this morning. Amane Beriso Shankule completed the 42.195km in 2:24.23 seconds and was suitably airy about the weather. “We knew what the conditions would be like and we prepared so it wasn’t that difficult for me. Actually, I wish they’d started the race a bit earlier so we could have registered a faster time.” Burning ambition, anyone?
Pole faults
There was a pole vault competition to decide who would challenge Armand Duplantis. Ernest John Obiena from the Philippines emerged from the throbbing mass. In this vignette, Obiena cleared 6.00m which forced Duplantis to linger awhile. Over went Duplantis at 6.05m and Obiena failed in his first attempt so he decided to set the bar at 6.10m. Duplantis again passed and Obiena botched his next two jumps to give the Swede a second world title on the trot. All that remained was for Duplantis to try and beat the world record of 6.22m set in Clermont-Ferrand in France back in February. So the bar went up to 6.23m. It was his only failure of the evening.
Buffer zone
The honour of world’s best athlete went to Pierce Lepage from Canada. The 27-year-old came top of the points chart after the 10-event decathlon. Here’s a thing. The world's second best athlete hails from Canada too. Damian Warner was 105 points behind Lepage. And Lindon Victor from Grenada came third. Leo Neugebauer from Germany led after the first five events on Day 7. But Day 8 wasn't great and he finished out of the medals in fifth place. Safe to say his ambitions were Pierced.
Faith Kipyegon and on and on
Another day, another title. The review makes it sound so easy. But we know that it’s not simple. Faith Kipyegon became the first woman to win both the 1500m and 5000m at the same world championships after she claimed the latter race on Day 8 following a pulsating sprint finish with Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands. Kipyegon hit the front with 600m to go when Hassan was in 10th place and although she made up ground on the Kenyan over the next 200m, Kipyegon held her at bay for the following 300m and won the race in 14:53.88 - nearly a minute slower than the world record she set over 5000m in Paris in June. Kipyegon, who says she has been inspired to her feats by her young daughter, added: “This has been amazing and I'm looking forward to motivate the young girls and young mothers out there to know that everything is possible.”
It was the young Americans
Another David Bowie allusion. It's apt though. Noah Lyles brought the American men home in the 4x100m relay and Sha'Carri Richardson turned on the afterburners to claim the gold for the women in a championship record time of 41.03 seconds. Richardson, 23, will return home from her first world championships with two golds from the relay and 100m as well as a bronze in the 200m. Lyles, 26, will depart arguably as the athlete of the meeting. A 100/200m double and a 4x100m title. And the ability to hold up three fingers while crossing the line at the end of a race.
