Lyles and Richardson continue to shine in World Champs
Gold medalists in men's and women's 100 meters anchor victorious 400 relay teams
Perhaps I’m being too much of a stickler, but after watching the U.S. men’s and women’s 400-meter relay teams roll to victories in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Saturday, I found myself asking the same question about both squads.
How fast could they have run if they had solid baton passes on each of the three exchanges they were required to make during their respective races?
The U.S. men, anchored by 100 and 200 champion Noah Lyles, clocked 37.38 to finish well in front of second-place Italy (37.62) and third-place Jamaica (37.76) while running a time that was tied for the ninth fastest in history. And they did that with three sub-par handoffs.
The American women, anchored by 100 gold medalist Sha’Carri Richardson, ran 41.03 to the 41.21 clocking of second-place Jamaica and the 41.97 effort of third-place Great Britain.
Their time was the fourth fastest in history, despite poor passing on the first and second exchanges.
Christian Coleman got the U.S. team off to a great start on the first leg of the men’s 400 relay, but he ran up on the outgoing Fred Kerley before they made their exchange.
Kerley proceeded to run a strong leg down the backstretch, but it took him and third leg Brandon Carnes two attempts to make their connection, and then Carnes had a similar issue with the outgoing Lyles, who proceeded to blow open the race once he had the baton in his hand.
The first exchange for the U.S. women was similar to that of the American men as Tamari Davis ran up on TeeTee Terry. But things got more dicey on the next exchange as Terry and the outgoing Gabby Thomas did not connect on their first attempt and Thomas ended up looking back to make sure she received the baton on the next try.
Thankfully for the Americans, the exchange between Thomas and Richardson was a solid one, for Shericka Jackson — fresh off her 21.41 victory in the 200 in Friday night — was running the anchor leg for Jamaica. And a delayed handoff could have been the difference between winning and finishing second.
As it was, Richardson received the baton with a one- or two-meter lead on Jackson and she maintained that advantage through the finish line before letting out a celebratory yell and then being inadvertently tackled by Coleman who had run over to congratulate her.
Not surprisingly, the sub-par passes did not seem to be on the mind of the perpetually positive Lyles after he had become the first man — since Usain Bolt of Jamaica — in eight years to win 100 and 200, and run a leg on the victorious 400 relay team in the World Championships.
“This is the third gold for me here.” Lyles said in a World Athletics post. “It's sensational, amazing. You can't do better. It's out of control.
“I love Team USA because everybody is coming here thinking 'I'm going to win'. We're able to put that into a team effort and then we're unstoppable.
“The individual races are all business but the team is fun. We all know we are fast. We don't have to worry about whether we are going to win. It is just about getting the stick around and trusting each other. It's fun to do this. I don't put pressure on myself. Right now I'm happy, but I'm joyful for life.”
The 400 relays were two of eight event finals contested on Saturday, the second-to-last day of these championships.
The other gold medals were won by Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in the women’ 5,000 meters, Swede Mondo Duplantis in the men’s pole vault, Canadians Pierce LePage in the decathlon and Marco Arop in the men’s 800, American Chase Ealey in the women’s shot put, and Ethiopian Amane Beriso Shankule in the women’s marathon.
The 29-year-old Kipyegon had displayed a lethal kick while setting world records of 3 minutes 49.11 seconds in the 1,500 meters, 4:07.64 in the mile, and 14:05.20 in the 5,000 this season. Yet none of the other 15 runners in the race on Saturday were willing to push the pace in an attempt to open up a lead on her so the race did not come down to a kick.
Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia, winner of the 10,000 last Saturday, ran the first lap in 65.82 seconds, but things slowed down quickly after that as 800 meters was passed in 2:20.00.
After Ejgayehu Taye of Ethiopia led the field through the first kilometer in 2:55.34, Beatrice Chebet of Kenya was in first place when she came through two kilometers in 6:04.25. The pace got slow enough at one point in the race that the 800-meter segment from 2,400 to 3,200 meters was run in 2:32.30.
Kipyegon, not surprisingly, was content to bide her time. She was in eighth place when Tsegay led the field through 4,000 meters in 12:13.83 before she moved into the lead a lap later.
Tsegay and Chebet were Kipyegon’s closest pursuers at that point, but Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands had moved into second place behind Kipyegon when the Kenyan clocked 13:57.29 at the start of the bell lap.
Hassan, who had placed third in the 1,500 on Tuesday after battling Tsegay for first in the 10,000 before falling with about 30 meters left in the race, ran off of Kipyegon’s right shoulder down the backstretch and around the final turn. But Kipyegon was able to keep her at bay down the home straightaway to cross the finish line in 14:53.88.
Hassan placed second in 14:54.11, followed by World cross country champion Chebet in 14:54.33. Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi of Kenya finished fourth in 14:56.62, with Taye and countrywoman Medina Eisa next in 14:56.85 and 14:58.23, respectively.
Tsegay, who had outkicked Chebet and Hassan in winning a 5,000 in a Diamond League meet in London on July 23, faded to 13th in 15:01.13.
Kipyegon’s victory came four days after she had won an unprecedented third World title in the 1,500 and it made her the first woman to win that race and the 5,000 in the same World Championships.
“This has been an amazing year for me,” she said in a World Athletics post. “Making history today, winning two gold medals in a championship is what I was dreaming for this season. I have been patient, waiting to be able to break world records and win double golds. But my dream just came true, it is amazing.
“The race was not easy. It was a tactical one but I am mentally stable and have managed to push myself.”
Defending men’s pole vault champion Duplantis had suffered his first loss of the season — and only his second in two years — when he finished fourth at 5.72 meters (18 feet 9¼ inches) in the Herculis EBS Diamond League meet in Monaco on July 21. But he looked sharp on Saturday, clearing 5.55 (18-2½), 5.85 (19-2¼), 5.95 (19-6¼), 6.05 (19-10¼), and 6.10 (20-0) on his first attempts.
The 23-year-old Olympic champion then had the bar raised to a world-record height of 6.23 (20-5¼), but missed all three of his attempts.
Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines, who placed third last year, finished second at 6.00 (19-8¼), which tied the Asian record he set earlier this season. Kurtis Marschall of Australia and Chris Nilsen of the U.S. tied for third at 5.95, followed by Thibault Collet of France at 5.90 (19-4¼).
“I'm really happy about all these consecutive golds,” Duplantis said in a World Athletics post. “I don't know where this one ranks, but I'm happy to keep winning. This was maybe the craziest atmosphere I've ever competed in so it meant a lot to be able to turn on a pole vault show for them. There were so many Swedish supporters here, it almost felt like I was in the Stockholm stadium.
“I'll be ready for Paris and the Olympics but right now I want to live in the moment and enjoy these World Championships and this title. I'll celebrate this, then think about Paris.”
Decathlete LePage had won his first medal in a global title meet when he finished second in the World Championships last year and he topped that placing on Saturday with a superb second-day performance.
Leo Neugebauer of Germany was in first place at the end of the first day with 4,640 points. He was followed by LePage at 4,610, who was ahead of Olympic champion and fellow Canadian Damian Warner at 4,578, and Lindon Victor of Grenada at 4,476.
But while Neugebauer had sub-par efforts of 14.75 in the 110-meter high hurdles and 47.63 (156-3) in the discus to start the second day, the 27-year-old LePage was running a personal best of 13.77 in the high hurdles and throwing a solid 50.98 (167-3) in the discus. As a result, he had a 125-point lead over second-place Warner, a 140-point advantage over third-place Victor, and a 164-point lead over fourth-place Neugebauer heading into the pole vault, the eighth event of the decathlon.
He then cleared 5.20 (17-0¾) in the pole vault and threw the javelin 60.90 (199-10) to enter the 1,500-meter run with a 154-point lead over Victor, a 184-point advantage over Warner, and a 239-point lead over Neugebauer.
He then ran the 1,500 in 4:39.88 to end the competition with an 8,909-point total that crushed his previous best of 8,701 and moved him to sixth on the all-performer list.
Warner placed second with 8,804 points, followed by Victor with 8,756, Karel Tilga of Estonia with 8,681, Neugebauer with 8,645, and Janek Oiglane of Estonia with 8,524.
Victor’s performance moved him to to 14th on the all-time performer list and Tilga moved to 24th.
Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico and Kyle Garland of the U.S. dropped out of the competition after failing to clear a height in the pole vault.
Nonetheless, it was the first decathlon in history in which seven men scored 8,500 or more points and nine topped 8,400.
“This decathlon didn’t really start the best, and that’s why I fought really hard today,” LePage said in a World Athletics post. “I went all in from this morning and it makes me really proud. I had a couple of close calls. First, when I landed in the pit during long jump, I twisted my shoulder. It was rough. Then I got cramp at 1.99 during the high jump. This morning I pulled my hamstring before the hurdles. But this is the decathlon – we are used to a lot of injuries, you get through it.”
He then added, “I’ve come a long way. I’ve done so many decathlons with Damian and we’re always supporting each other, so it’s nice to share this podium with him.”
In the men’s 800, a strategic change that Arop had worked on this season played a big role in his victory.
Prior to this year, he had been a classic front runner. And while he had finished third in the World Championships using that tactic, conventional wisdom said it was going to be very hard for him to win a World title while leading the race from start to finish.
Therefore, he experimented with running in the pack during some races earlier this season and entered the World Championships confident that he didn’t have to lead a race from the get-go to win.
In the final on Saturday, he was in seventh place in the eight-runner field after the first 200 meters and had dropped back to eighth at 400. But he had moved into sixth place entering the backstretch and he ran the ensuing 100 meters in 12.26 seconds to lead the field through 600 meters in 1:19.31.
He then ran 12.42 for the next 100 meters around the curve to enter the home straightaway with a solid lead over Emmanuel Wangyonyi of Kenya.
Wangyonyi, who placed fourth last year, tried to overtake Arop during the final 100 meters, but the Canadian was still full of run and crossed the finish line with a winning time of 1:44.24 to Wangyonyi’s 1:44.53.
Ben Pattison of Great Britain closed well to place third in 1:44.83, followed by Adrian Ben of Spain in 1:44.91 and Slimane Moula of Algeria in 1:44.95.
“This means everything to me. I'm so glad to finally be able to do this on the world stage,” Arop said in a World Athletics post. “I don't want to be known as the guy who can only run one way. I tried to be patient tonight and put myself in a position where I could attack.
“I knew it was going to be a tactical race. I was up late last night figuring out different ways to win. One scenario was to kick from behind in the way I did. I guess it was worth staying up late.”
Ealey won her second consecutive title in the women’s shot put, but the American had not resembled a world beater for much of the season.
She had been beaten of six of 10 meets entering the World Championships and had bettered 20 meters (65-7½) once after doing that seven times last year. But she took the lead with a first-round effort of 20.35 (66-9¼) on Saturday, and after hitting 19.71 (64-8) in the second round and fouling in the third, she had a put of 20.04 (65-9) in the fourth round. She followed that with her top mark of 20.43 (67-0½) on her fifth attempt before committing an intentional foul on her sixth effort after a sub-par put.
Sarah Mitton of Canada, fourth last year, finished second at 20.08 (65-10½), followed by Lijiao Gong of China at 19.69 (64-7¼), Auriol Dongmo of Portugal at 19.69 (64-7¼), Danniel Thomas-Dodd of Jamaica at 19.59 (64-3¼), and Maggie Ewen of the U.S. at 19.51 (64-0¼).
Gong was awarded third place ahead of Dongmo because her second-best put of 19.67 (64-6½) was better than Dongmo’s 19.63 (64-5).
“It's even more satisfying than last year because this year I've struggled to get my technique sorted and get everything right,” Ealey said in a World Athletics post. “So, for it to come together at the right time is perfect.
“I've been training really well and I was really confident. I wanted to set a good early mark and set the pace. I think I did that. I risked this gold because I changed my technique to get better for Paris and the Olympics. That was what the change of technique was for. So hopefully in the future I will have more consistent throws like tonight.”
The women’s marathon started at 7 a.m. local time on Saturday, but the heat — which was nearing 80 degrees Fahrenheit (25 Celsius) by the end of the race — and humidity still took a toll on the competitors.
Not surprisingly, the pace was very cautious for much of the race as the lead pack passed the halfway mark in 1:14:30 and 25 kilometers in 1:27:52.
Things began to pick up in the sixth five-kilometer segment of the race as it was run in 16:34 as a nine-runner lead pack that included the Ethiopian quartet of Shankule, defending champion Gotytom Gebreslase, Yelemzerf Yehualaw, and Tsehay Gemechu came through 30 kilometers in 1:44:26.
The front group was down to the four Ethiopians, yearly world leader Rosemary Wanjiru of Kenya, and Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel an hour and fifty minutes into the race before Shankule led an Ethiopian break five minutes after that.
The four of them ran together for a couple of minutes, but Gemechu suddenly pulled off the course and appeared to be dealing with lower back issues.
Shankule, Yehualaw, and Gebreslase ran together for another seven minutes and then Shankule opened up a 10-meter lead on Yehualaw, who had another 15 meters on Gebreslase.
Shankule, who finished second in the Boston Marathon in April after her stunning 2:14:58 victory in Valencia, Spain in December, was soon well clear of her countrywomen, but it was obvious that she was hurting, as were they.
Yehualaw appeared to be headed for a second-place finish ahead of Gebreslase, but the defending champion began to look better and Yehualaw started to slow.
After being passed by her teammate, Yehualaw really began to tire. When Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi of Morocco sped past her at the two hour and 12-minute mark, I wasn’t sure Yehualaw was going to be able to finish the race.
Shankule was also losing ground up front, but she hung on well enough to cross the finish line 2:24:23, 11 seconds ahead of Gebreslase.
An ecstatic Garadadi finished third in 2:25:17, followed by Salpeter in 2:25:36, Yehualaw in 2:26:13, and Wanjiru in 2:26:43.
“We knew if we worked together, we could get a better result, and we worked well as a team today,” Shankule said in a World Athletics post. “We got the lead group down to six and then we pushed away with four of us. That was our plan because there was such a strong field.
“After we got rid of the rest, then it was a battle with my tough teammates. Gebreslase is a strong athlete and she wanted to defend her title. But all our team are strong. We wanted to win all three medals, of course, but that didn't go to plan in the end. We took gold and silver and we are happy with that.”
The only qualifying heats of the day were contested in the men’s and women’s 1,600-meter relay.
There were no big surprises in the men’s heats as the U.S. won the first race in 2:58.47 and Jamaica took the second in 2:59.82.
Jamaica and Great Britain won their respective women’s heats with times of 3:22.74 and 3:23.33, respectively.
But the U.S. team was disqualified for a passing zone violation in the second heat after finishing second to Great Britain in 3:23.35.
The violation occurred on the final exchange when U.S. anchor runner Alexis Holmes, who had run a 48.82-second anchor leg in the Americans’ victory in the mixed-sex 1,600 relay on the first day of the meet, did not receive the baton from Quanera Hayes until she was out of the passing zone.
Holmes had her hand behind her to receive the baton well within the zone, but she did not get it on the first try as she was looking forward instead of glancing behind her to make sure she had the baton. By the time she did receive it on the second attempt, she was clearly beyond the end of the passing zone that was marked with a blue line on the track.
When Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked her what happened, Holmes said that the team was in a tight race with Great Britain and “maybe we just panicked a little bit.”
The mishap means the U.S. will not get a chance to win its eighth title in the last nine World Championships in the women’s 1,600 relay when the final is run on Sunday.