The World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon came to an end on a day of tumbling records and the USA team stamping their authority in track events.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis got the proverbial ball rolling, breaking his own pole vault world record with a jump of 6.21 meters to win his first gold medal at the World Championships.
The Olympic champion cleared 6.00m to make sure of the title before he cleared his own on record of 6.20m by 1cm set at the World Indoor Championships earlier this year. The prodigal 22-year-old becomes the first pole vaulter to have won gold at the Olympics, World Championships, World Indoor Championships, World Junior Championships, World Youth Championships, and European Championships.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan won gold in the women’s 100 meters hurdles in what was initially announced as a world record 12.06 seconds but was later ruled ineligible as the wind speed exceeded the legal limit. She finished .17 seconds clear of silver medallist Britany Anderson of Jamaica with Puerto Rico’s Olympic champion Camacho-Quinn taking home the bronze in her first World Athletics Championships.
World record holder Kevin Mayer of France made a remarkable recovery to regain the decathlon world title with a late comeback.
The silver medallist at the last two Olympics was sixth overnight but won the pole vault and javelin while his 10th-placed finish in the 1,500 meters – the final event – gave him a score of 8,816 points and his second world crown. Canada’s Pierce LePage took silver with 8,701 points while American Zach Ziemek collected bronze with 8,676 points.
German Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo continued her dominance in the women’s long jump by winning a second successive World Championship gold with a final leap of 7.12 meters while Olympic bronze medallist Ese Brume of Nigeria claimed silver with 7.02m and Brazil’s Leticia Oro Melo took bronze with 6.89m.
The US women easily won the 4x400m relay collecting their third successive world title in emphatic fashion by finishing in 3:17.79 to give the US their 13th gold medal.
Talitha Diggs got the Americans off to a solid start and Abby Steiner edged further ahead of Jamaican Janieve Russell in the second leg a day after helping the United States win gold in the sprint relay.
Britton Wilson widened the gap even more before anchor Sydney McLaughlin, who shattered the 400m hurdles world record on Friday, brought it home for gold with a remarkable 47.91 final leg, finishing some 20 meters clear. Jamaica finished in 3:20.74 for silver while Britain crossed the line clear third in 3:22.64.
The US men’s squad also won the gold in the 4×400 meters relay to win their eighth of the past nine world titles after finishing with a time of 2:56.17 seconds. Jamaica took a second successive silver with Belgium collecting bronze again after finishing third in Doha.
