Americans take three of the four relay gold
Photo Credit: Mattia Ozbot for World Athletics
Daniel Stahl won the discus gold on his last throw on a rain-ruined last day of the World athletics championships as the US once again proved that there was none close enough to provide a challenge.
As rains, sometimes heavy, marred the closing day action, with the men’s discus disrupted for more than two hours, Noah Lyles added one more gold to his bulging overall collection through the sprint relay and Jefferson Melissa Thompson-Wooden took her third gold  in this edition, also with a short relay triumph in a championship record. She had previously won the sprint double.
There were unexpected reversals for defending champions as Col Hocker of the US upstaged several fancied rivals including world and Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the men’s 5000m final, and Kenyan Lili Odira upstaged Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson of Britain and defending champion and her countrywoman Mary Moraa in the 800m final.
Nicola Olyslagers of Australia won the women’s high jump final that also was resumed after rain delay like the men’s discus, in the process pushing world record-holder, defending champion and Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine to joint third place. Olyslagers won on a countback from Poland’s Maria Zodzik after the two were tied at 2.00m. Young Angelina Topic of Serbia shared the bronze with Mahuchikh at 1.97m.Mahuchikh had been troubled by injuries this season.
That the programme on the final day was not completely ruined despite the rains almost throughout, spoke volumes of the organisational capabilities of the Japanese, but it was surely not an experience that the athletes would have relished. Conditions were unimaginable when the discus event resumed with rains coming back again and the athletes slipping and committing fouls all too frequently. The volunteers and technical officials had to work furiously to get the circle ready before resumption and the struggle continued for much of the rest of the competition.
Asia had little to cheer on the final day and the continent ended up with 10 medals, one more than last time in 2023, but with no gold medal compared to three in the Budapest edition and five in the Eugene edition. China had four medals this time, two silver and two bronze, compared to two bronze in 2023 while Japan had two bronze medals compared to a gold and bronze in the last edition.
Stahl put everything into his final throw that measured 70.47m and displaced world-record holder Mykolas Alekna of Serbia at the top of the standings. Alekna who had led from the second round with 67.84m could not respond in the final round. It was not a day on which the discus men could throw 70-metre-plus in treacherous conditions. Alex Ross provided island nation Samoa its first ever World medal by taking the bronze at 66.96m that came in the fifth round.
“This was my first rainy championships ever”, said Stahl who defended his title from the Budapest edition. He had won in 2019 also. He danced in the rain with his umbrella before the competition resumed after a couple of hours of delay. Every other event was over by then.
“Sometimes things like this happen. There are delays, the competition takes time. I just tried to reboot my energy. Mentally, I was ready for the last throw” said the Swede who added the second gold to his country’s tally, the first having come from the peerless pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis.
Moraa obviously misjudged her opening lap pace of 55.73s in the women’s 800m. It was too fast for anyone’s comfort. The Kenyan just could not respond as Britons Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell picked up speed with the home straight in sight, Hodkinson seemed to gain further with 90 metres to go, but it was the final kick of Odira, coming up from behind, that shattered Hodgkinson. Bell added to her team-mate’s misery by edging her at the finish for the bronze. Odira clocked 1:54.62, a world lead and personal best, Belll was one-hundredth of a second ahead of Hodkinson at 1:54.90 for the silver. This was the first time three women broke 1:55 in the same race. In the process, the oldest championship record was broken. It stood since 1983 in the name of Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova at 1:54.68.
“I didn't have any expectations; I was just following the pace of the race. I managed to have the most powerful finish and I got lucky to be going home with a gold medal.”, said Odira.
Hocker, one of the surprises in 2024 Olympics at 1500m, came from behind on the home straight to take the men’s 5000m on Sunday. His devastating kick on the straight proved too much to handle for the Belgian, Isaac Kimeli who held on for the silver despite a late challenge from Frenchman Jimmy Gressier just like he had provided in winning the 10,000m. Hocker, who was disqualified in the 1500m for making contact with another runner through a narrow gap, timed a personal best 12:58.30, Kimeli 12:58.78 and Gressier 12:59.33. Ingebrigtsen finished tenth in 13:02.00.
The US men’s and women’s sprint relay teams expectedly took the gold medals though they had a fight on their hands from Canada and Jamaica respectively in the finals. There could be no stopping the showman Noah Lyles as he powered the US team to an expected victory in 37.29s to add to the 200m gold he had won earlier.
In the women’s 4x100m, Sha’Carri Richardson, not in her 2024 form in these championships and yet full of verve, held off Jonielle Smith on the anchor to deny Jamaica a possible gold that could have made it a grand farewell for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who ran the first leg for her country in her final appearance at the Worlds. She, however, had a share in the silver, her 17th medal overall in ten editions of the championships.
An incredible anchor from individual 400m runner, Busang Kebinatshipi gave Botswana the gold in the men’s 4x400m after the US seemingly had the title in its grasp. With hurdles winner Rai Benjamin ready to take his second gold of the meet. The US was reinstated on Sunday morning after it finished out of the qualifiers bracket the previous evening in a re-run of the heat with Kenya that went out. At a disadvantage in lane one, the team did well enough to raise gold hopes till Kebinatshipi came with a 44.14s anchor that could not be matched.
The US women’s 4x400m team had no such worries with a strong team anchored by 400m winner Sydney McLaughlin-Levronne, history’s second fastest one-lapper, who clocked 47.82s in her team’s championship record of 3:16.61. Jamaica was second at 3:19.25 and the Netherlands, with Femke Bol, the 400m hurdles winner, on anchor, third in 3:20.18.
Germany’s Leo Neugebauer won the decathlon that came down to the last of the ten events, 1500m, though there were no missed heart-beats for the German in the end. He won with 8804 points, with Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico at 8784 and American Kyle Garland at 8703.
Fifty-three nations won at least a medal with the US topping with 26 medaLs including 16 gold, Kenya taking second with 11 including seven gold and Canada five including three gold medals. The US had 29 medals last time but with a lesser gold tally of 12.
The next edition of the championships will be held in Beijing.
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