Double Olympic champion from Belgium Nafissatou Thiam held off a valiant effort from the Dutch Anouk Vetter to reclaim the world heptathlon title at the ongoing World Athletics Championships.
Vetter, who also finished second best behind Thiam in Tokyo, went into the final 800m event 19 points ahead.
Needing to keep the finishing margin lower than 1.3 seconds over the 800m distance to win the gold, she looked tired from the start and finished over two seconds slower than the Belgian to settle for silver.
Nafissatou Thiam led at the end of Sunday’s action before Vetter hit back with a personal best in long jump and a strong showing in the javelin event to edge into a slender lead.
American Anna Hall, 21, took bronze while Britain’s defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who edged out Thiam in the 2019 worlds, finished eighth after a disappointing showing throughout.
Meanwhile, in other events, Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim won a third successive world high jump gold after clearing world-leading 2.37 meters with ease as all his rivals struggled to get close
With the gold medal in the bag, he attempted a championship record of 2.42m but failed. World indoor champion Woo Sang-hyeok of South Korea took silver with Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko collecting bronze.
Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas also won a third world championships gold in the triple jump event after the Olympic champion jumped 15.47 meters to win her third straight world title.
Jamaican Shanieka Ricketts collected her second consecutive world silver with a best of 14.89m while American Tori Franklin took bronze in front of her own crowd.
Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase won the women’s marathon title in a record time finishing in two hours, 18 minutes, and 11 seconds, smashing Paula Radcliffe’s record of 2:20:57 set in 2005.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon won the women’s 1,500m final to take her second world gold after finishing the race in three minutes and 52.96 seconds.
