Photo Credit: Dan VERNON for World Athletics
By A Correspondent
Oblique Seville is the new 100-metre world champion. On a fantastic day of competition in the World championships in Tokyo on Sunday, Seville outclassed the field while his Jamaican team-mate Kishane Thompson came second and two-time World champion Noah Lyles took the bronze.
As the Jamaican section of the crowd in a packed National stadium rejoiced their country’s 1-2 finish in the short dash, the sprint legend, Usain Bolt, watching restlessly in the VIP box, joined the celebration in his own style.
The Americans took three of the six gold medals on offer on this second day of action in the championships. The gold winners , all from women, were Tara Davis-Woodhall in long jump, Valerie Allman in discus and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in the 100 metres.
A relatively lesser-known distance runner from France, Jimmy Gressier, took the men’s 10,000m and the Kenyan, Perez Jepchirchir claimed the women’s marathon in a memorable sprint past Ethiopian Tigst Assefa inside the stadium. At the end of the day, Jamaica added a gold and silver from the men’s short dash.
After having witnessed a sensational women’s 100m final in which Jefferson-Wooden destroyed the field over the last 40 metres, leaving Olympic champion Julien Alfred and the others adrift, the men’s 100m clash produced another spectacular finish as Seville edged his better-rated team-mate, Thompson, in the last ten metres.
Seville was rated high among experts before the championships began, but he did not have the credentials to match either Lyles, reigning Olympic champion and six gold medal-winner including the relays in the World championships and Thomson, who had won the Olympic silver in Paris and headed the season lists with a 9.75s in winning the title back home at his Nationals.
Despite the disqualification of Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebego for a false start and his own yellow card for a slight twitch on the blocks, Seville had the best start of the seven-man field with a reaction time of 0.157s. American Kenny Bednarek, who was fourth in 9.92s had the worst at 0.211s.
Thompson looked poised for a final surge past the 50m mark but Lyles, as is his wont over the last stages, too picked up the tempo with Seville together in line with his team-mate’s shoulder at the final ten metres. Seville managed to clinch it by five-hundredth of a second from his countryman while Lyles (season best 9.89s) was another three-hundredth of a second behind.
The Jamaicans wrested the gold from the US after a gap of four editions after Bolt and Yohan Blake had ruled the world 100m from 2009 to 2015.
"The last time Jamaica won the men's 100m world gold medal was in 2016, when Usain Bolt got it," said Seville who clocked a personal best today at 9.77s.
“I have proved that I am a true competitor, that I have the determination of a champion. But still, I was panicking. I didn't know what was going on throughout the semifinal. Finishing strong in the last 30 to 40 metres was something I was struggling with the whole season, I just didn't recognise it,” said the new sprint champion.
Lyles who took the defeat gracefully, posed for the photographers proudly along with the Jamaicans. After all, he had a medal and the 200m in which he is better, was yet to come. He could afford to smile still in defeat.
Jefferson-Wooden was completely dominant in the women’s 100m final after she passed the 50-metre mark. In the end, she clocked a championship record of 10.61s, followed by Jamaican Tina Clayton (personal best 10.76s) and Julien Alfred (10.84s).
Several previous champions including defending champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the US and the Jamaican sprinting legend, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce faded away against the brilliance of Jefferson-Wooden, Clayton and Alfred.
Once Tara Davis-Woodhall opened the women’s long jump competition with a 7.08m the gold seemed settle firmly in the American’s grasp. Olympic champion in 2021, Malaika Mihambo tried her best after that coming close to a 7-metre mark and yet failing. She had a best of 6.99m while Davis-Woodhall stretched her lead to 7.13m in the fourth round. Natalia Linares of Columbia had a 6.92m for the bronze.
Valarie Allman won the one gold that had been missing in her impressive collection. She opened the discus throw competition with a 67.63m effort that could not be breached. She improved it to 69.48m in the fifth round to win the title in the World championships to add to the two gold medals she has from the Olympics.
Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir produced one furious kick on the 100m straight inside the stadium to snatch the World championships marathon title from Ethiopian Tigist Assefa on Sunday.
It was reminiscent of the finish at the Paris Olympics when Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands took on Assefa into the road leading up to the stadium and beat her by three seconds. This time, the gap was two seconds. Assefa had yet again ended up with the silver in a marathon.
“I don’t like to think I lost gold,” said Assefa after the gruelling race that Jepchirchir won in 2:24:43, her sixth best career timing in the hot and humid conditions.
Julia Patermain won the bronze, Uruguay’s first ever medal from the World championships. Patermain, born in Mexico and having had education in Britain and the US, said: “I cannot believe it, I am in shock”. She clocked 2: 27:23.
Jepchirchir, marathon Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, said she was not expecting the gold today. “But when I saw I was 100 metres from the finish, I just started to kick. I found some hidden energy”, the31-year-old Kenyan would say later.
American Susana Sullivan who led for much of the first half of the race was fourth in 2:28:17, her best finish in a global championship having finished 58th in the last edition.
Assefa took the defeat philosophically. “I don’t like to think I lost gold,” said Assefa. She had bettered Chepchirchir’s women-only marathon record in London with a 2:15:50 in April this year.
“I had some difficulties in my preparation for Tokyo, taking a long rest after breaking the world record So I’m just happy I finished the race with the silver medal,” said the Ethiopian.
Frenchman Jimmy Gressier won an unexpected gold in the men’s 10,00m his sheer sprinting power over the last 50 metres of a gruelling race in extremely sultry conditions, left the rest including 2021 Olympic champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia hopelessly responding to the inevitable.
In a slow race, in which the runners had to break off to cool themselves down at the water stations, Gressier clocked 28:55.77, a personal best while second-placed Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha had 28:55.83 for the silver and Swede Andreas Amgren 28:56.02 for the bronze.
Asia had an unsuccessful day today with Japanese Mebuki Suzuki (29:33.60) and Jun Kasai (29:41.84) finishing in 20th and 22nd places respectively in the 10,000m. Indian Gulveer Singh (29:13.33) was 16th.
Thai Puripol Bonsoon (10.17s) was eliminated in the semifinal stage of the men’s 100m placing seventh in one of the heats.
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