By Yavuz Yavuz in Tokyo National Stadium
After a week of severe humidity, heavy rain soothed the evening on day six, the medal counter of which opened with men’s javelin throw final. Where the defending Olympic and world champions, Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra struggled, retro stars prevailed.
Neither of the recent global champions could reach 85 meters and Julian Weber, world leader of the season, failed to challenge the podium coming in fifth with 86.11, but the London 2012 champion Keshorn Walcott won his first ever senior world title with a throw of 88.16, while Grenada’s Andersen Peters, double world champion, followed with 87.38 for silver. Pan American champion Curtis Thompson stood on his first global podium by winning bronze - first men’s javelin medal in the worlds for the USA since Breaux Greer clinched bronze 18 years ago. India’s Asian silver medallist Sachin Yadav impressed with a personal best mark of 86.27, which made him fourth in the world.
In women’s triple jump, Leyanis Perez completed her indoor-outdoor double with a jump of 14.94. She began with a 14.85, then 14.90, and landed finally at her winning mark, and was never overtaken. Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica battled with world record holder Yulimar Rojas but in the end managed to edge her with a jump of 14.89 at the last leap. The defending champion, at 14.76, left Tokyo with bronze but after two years of hibernation proved she can still compete for the top.
ONE-LAP WONDER
The most anticipated finals of the night were those of 400 metres. On the men’s side, the Botswanan contingent of three delivered with a gold and a bronze, as Colleen Kebinatshipi extended her world leading time to 43.51 seconds for gold. Bayapo Ndori came in third in 44.20, completing the first ever men’s medals at Worlds over 400m for the country. Jereem Richards, a former bronze medallist in 200m, cut in line with a Trinidad and Tobago record of 43.72.
The much-awaited women’s final delivered in the most spectacular fashion, as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone crowned her first ever world title in 400-metre dash with a championship record of 47.78 on wet track, brushing 0.21 seconds off Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 42-year-old mark. She became one of the members of the sub-48 club in women’s 400m, alongside Olympic and world champion Marileidy Paulino, who clocked 47.98 for silver. Former winner Salwa Eid Nasser of Bahrain came in third.
This has been the deepest women’s 400m final to date, with all eight runners stopping the clock under 50 seconds. Setting the second fastest time ever over 400m, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone became the first athlete to win both 400m hurdles and 400m flat world titles.
Other notable results included Noah Lyles advancing to the men’s 200m final by clocking 19.51 in the fastest world semi-final ever, with four athletes finishing under 20 seconds. In men’s 800m semi-finals, Irish rising star Cian McPhillips shaved almost a second off of Mark English’s national record with 1:43.18, and became the first athlete of his country to qualify for the final of the event in world championships. With no less than nine athletes under 1:44 to advance to the final, this will be a race to watch.
