Lyles wins third 200m title for rare world sprint double

American Noah Lyles won his third world 200m title on Friday to become the first male sprinter since Usain Bolt in 2015 to seal the sprint double at the World Athletics Championships. Lyles, who charged to 100m gold last weekend, clocked 19.52sec for the win with teenage teammate Erriyon Knighton claiming silver in 19.75sec.
Botswana’s 20-year-old Letsile Tebogo claimed the bronze medal in 19.81sec to go with his silver from the 100m. Lyles follows in the footsteps of now-retired Jamaican superstar Bolt, who completed the sprint double three times at these championships in 2009, 2013 and 2015.
He becomes just the fifth man to achieve the 100/200 metres world double after Bolt, and the American trio of Tyson Gay in 2007, Justin Gatlin in 2005 and Maurice Greene in 1999.
With a best time of 19.31sec in the 200m, Lyles is the third fastest man in history though still some way off Bolt’s world record of 19.19sec set in 2009. He had announced before the championships that he was aiming to break Bolt’s record, but despite an electric start at the National Athletics Centre and a masterful home straight, that mark was never in danger.
Lyles had also vowed after his stunning victory in the 100m that he was aiming for a golden treble as a “start of a dynasty”. The US quartet earlier qualified for the 4x100m relay final on Saturday, winning their heat in a world-leading 37.68sec and offering Lyles the chance of that third gold should he be named in the final quartet.
Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who won bronze in the 100m, finished in fourth in 20.02sec, just ahead of a third American, Kenny Bednarek (20.07). Canada’s reigning Olympic champion Andre de Grasse came in sixth in 20.14, just ahead of Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic.
Jamaican Andrew Hudson, included after running his semi-final on Thursday with glass in his eye following a golf buggy crash en route to the track, was eighth, with Joseph Fahnbulleh in ninth spot.
A little earlier, Shericka Jackson produced the second fastest women’s 200m time in history of 21.41sec to destroy a top-class field and retain her title. The 29-year-old Jamaican’s victory was never in doubt as she ran a superb bend to enter the straight with a clear lead, leaving the others to battle for the minor medals.
USA’s Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas took the silver in 21.81sec while her compatriot Sha’Carri Richardson ran a personal best of 21.92sec to add a bronze medal to the gold she won in the 100m. For Jackson it was sweet revenge after she had to fill the silver medal position in the 100m.
Her time was just seven hundredths of a second slower than the world record set by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner 35 years ago. The Jamaican burst from the blocks and swallowed up both Thomas and Richardson in the outside lanes. Thomas could make no impression as they powered down the straight while Richardson rallied slightly to pass Julien Alfred.
Britain’s 2019 champion Dina Asher-Smith could not land a blow and finished seventh with Ivory Coast’s 2017 silver medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou eighth and last. It extends the USA women’s 200m title drought that dates back to Alysson Felix’s third successive title in Berlin in 2009.
Jackson and Richardson will clash for a third time at these championships in today’s 4x100m relay. Thomas and the outspoken Richardson have not always had the easiest of relationships but the teammates were all smiles as they did a victory lap. Jackson, who switched from the 400m in 2021 after winning Olympic and world bronze, trailed after them as she soaked up the crowd’s applause. She stopped at one point to give her running spikes to a young boy in the crowd. The boy’s expression changed from astonishment to a broad smile before an official took them off him.
Venezuela’s Rojas wins fourth straight triple jump gold
Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in astonishing style to win a fourth consecutive women’s triple jump. Rojas jumped 15.08m on her sixth and final attempt having struggled in the early rounds while Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, who had led for five jumps, took silver with 15.00m.
Cuban Leyanis Perez Hernandez claimed bronze with 14.96m. After the opening three jumps in Budapest, Rojas stood just eighth with a best of 14.33m, scraping into the top eight of the 12-strong field who advance to the second half of the competition.
The Venezuelan fouled in her fourth and fifth jumps, on each occasion grimacing in anguish as she picked herself up from the sandpit. Yet somehow Rojas dug deep to muster all her technical prowess and physical might for her sixth and final attempt, sailing out to her winning 15.08m.
She could barely believe it when the distance flashed up on the big screen, collapsing to her knees with her hands covering her face. Up until that point, all the signs were that European champion Bekh-Romanchuk, who also won world silver in Doha in 2019, would win. Bekh-Romanchuk leapt a season’s best of 15.00m on her first attempt to take control of the leaderboard as Rojas looked in dreadful early form. But the Ukrainian eventually had to be content with silver, her country’s first medal of these championships.
Japan’s Kitaguchi wins
women’s javelin title
Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won the women’s javelin title in dramatic fashion producing the decisive effort in the final round with a mark of 66.73m. The 25-year-old, who may well get to defend her title in front of her home fans in Tokyo in two years time, dashed the dreams of Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado. The 32-year-old had led from the first round with 65.47m and was unable to improve on it with her final effort. Mackenzie Little of Australia also snuck into the medals with her final throw, taking bronze with 63.38m.