By A Correspondent
Miltiadis Tentoglou specializes in last-gasp jumps to snatch gold medals. Or so it seemed, as the Greek, reminiscent of his Tokyo Olympic Games triumph, pulled off a desperate last-round jump to take the long jump gold from Jamaican Wayne Pinnock in the World championships at Budapest on Thursday night.
The were tied at 8.50m with Tentoglou opening his competition at that distance to have seemingly taken the upper hand in the contest and the Jamaican equalling that in the second round. Having started with an 8.40m in the first attempt, the relatively unheralded Jamaican was sitting in the gold-medal position. Tentoglou turned the script upside down with a last-round jump of 8.52m.
The night saw Jamaica taking two gold medals, their first in these championships so far, while Dutchwoman Femke Bol, the favourite in the 400m hurdle, won as expected. Camryn Rogers of Canada added her country’s second gold medal in the hammer throw event, Ethan Katzberg having snatched a surprise title in the men’s section earlier.
An unexpected Jamaican success on Thursday came in the women’s 100m hurdles where Danielle Williams, given little chance against Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and world record holder Tobi Amusan, regaining her title that she had first won back in 2015.
The other Jamaican gold was also equally surprising in the men’s 400m where 21-year-old Antonio Watson, the 2017 World Youth champion, recorded a stunning victory in 44.22s. Watson found a higher gear on the home straight to come back from his last position at 200m metres to romp home. Two former champions bit the dust in the process. Former world champion and current world record holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, finished seventh in 45.11s while Kirani James, the 2011 champion from Grenada, was disqualified for a lane violation.
Tentoglou had won almost everything that mattered in the event till yesterday except the World outdoor title. He had taken the silver behind Chinese Wang Jianan last time when the latter snatched his gold away with a last-round jump of 8.36m. The 25-year-old Greek had won the Tokyo Olympics gold with a last-round 8.41m that tied him with Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria who had to be contended with the second on a countback.
Tentoglou appeared to have taken a big stride towards that elusive gold when he opened with 8.50m, his season best. But Pinnock who surprised everyone in the qualification round with his world-leading 8.54m, showed that he was in no mood to give up so early in the contest. He came up with a matching 8.50m in his second round, having done 8.40m in the first.
That gave the 22-year-old Jamaican the lead straightaway since he was ahead on countback. No matter how much Tentoglou tried after that, there could be no change in the standings. Tentoglou produced a foul, 8.39m, another foul and 8.30m to now face the prospects of falling short for the second successive world championships.
The Greek drew oxygen as he waited for the crowd to egg him on for his final jump, and uncorked a jump that drew instant cheers from an appreciative audience that included a small band of flag-waving Greek supporters. For a moment there was doubt whether the jump was wind-legal. It was. Then the question was whether he had clinched it. He did with 8.52m.
There was still one jump left for Pinnock who had improved from 8.14m last year to 8.54m this year, a difference of 40.0cm in just over a year. Pinnock could manage only 8.38m on his final jump and the gold was Tentoglou’s.
There were disappointments for Asia. Defending champion Wang Jianan, not at his best this season (for that matter he was nowhere his best last season also when he upset everyone in the final), could go only up to 8.05m to take fifth place.
For India, there was bigger disappointment as world-leader Jeswin Aldrin (8.42m), committed two fouls in his opening attempts in the final after scraping through qualification, before finally settling for the 11th place in the 12-man final, with 7.77m.
Femke Bol unmatched
Last year at Eugene, when Sydney McLaughlin went through her ten-hurdle routine, leaving spectators in awe, and her rivals trailing well behind in another race for the silver and the bronze, Bol had won the silver. On Thursday, without McLaughlin, who pulled out of the championships because of a “minor injury”, the field was left for Bol to dominate.
The Dutchwoman ran a calculated hurdles race. She kept within herself without trying to burn the track in the first half of the race, came through the final bend ahead of the rest and cruised through the home straight confident of victory.
American Shamier Little, having shown good form this season, was expected to pose a stiff fight but that did not materialize. To Bol’s winning time of 51.70s, Little could manage only 52.80s. Another American, former world record holder Dalilah Mohammed had shockingly failed to progress from the semifinals.
Rogers wins hammer gold
Canadian Camryn Rogers had won the silver in women’s hammer last year. She ensured this time that she would be better placed this time after her opening throw. That measured 77.22m. The 24-year-old Canadian who had posted a national record of 78.62m in May this year, could not overhaul her first attempt. Nor could others manage to threaten her.
American Janee Kassanvoid threw 76.36m for the silver while the 2019 world champion DeAnna Price who started with two fouls, took the bronze with 75.41m
“Ethan really set the stage out there,” said Rogers about the surprise gold that countryman Katzberg won in the men’s hammer earlier. “I feel Canada is making its presence known across the world. Being able to win this medal for Canada means the world to me. I am so proud to represent my country on the world’s stage.
“You never know what can happen on the day of the finals. Everything is possible and that is what makes championships so exciting. On the day you need to be ready to throw your best. “
Williams regains title
With world record holder Tobi Amusan having come through a provisional suspension for an anti-doping rule violation that was lifted just in time for her to compete in Budapest, and not being in any great form, the talk centred around Camacho-Quinn adding to the Olympic gold she had from Tokyo.
If Amusan was not in crackling form, then there was former world record holder Kendra Harrison of the US who could stretch Camacho-Quinn. That was the pre-race calculation.
In the end, no one perhaps noticed Williams coming through from lane two. The Jamaican had the best start of the final at 0.132s reaction time and she blazed through to the finish in 12.43s, just a hundredth of a second from the Puerto Rican Olympic champion.
Harrison settled for the bronze at 12.46s, while another Americana Nia Ali who was also a medal contender, finished last in 12.78s. Ali, 2019 champion, was also done in by a poor start. Amusan faded to sixth in 12.62s after having shown early in the championships that she could live up to her billing.
“I knew it was going to be tough. I came out here knowing that I could win, but I would have to give everything I had. I still don’t believe I won against such a stellar field,” said Williams.
“My starts have always been good. The finish is usually my problem, but I spoke to my sister yesterday and she said I need to make sure to race over all the hurdles because I wasn’t going flat out through all of them. Today, I was determined to take it all the way,” the newly-crowned world champion said.
“I’m not upset at all,” said Camcho-Quinn. “After I won a bronze at the last World Championships, now I have a silver. If I add my Olympic gold medal, I have the whole collection to be proud of.”
Watson’s stunning victory in 400m
If Jamaica had seemingly taken a back seat through these first six days, especially their women sprinters, Wiliams and Watson were ready to change that status.
Watson ran a blinder of a home straight in the 400 metres flat. One could rarely have associated anyone with that finish, not one who did not have success at the senior global level. But the youngster did produce a fast turn down the final 90 metres, overhauling Briton Mathew Hudson-Smith, the silver winner from Oregon, and the rest of the field in 44.22s, only poorer than his PB of 44.13s clocked in the semifinals in Budapest.
This was Jamaica’s first gold medal in the event in the championships since Bert Cameron took it in 1983.
With defending champion Steve Gardiner of the Bahamas collapsing on the home straight, clutching his hamstring in the semifinals, and world record holder Niekerk not in top form, it was an open race in which Watson grabbed his chance to take the gold.
Quincy Hall of the US was third in a personal best 44.37s.
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