Noah Lyles led a triumphant night for the United States on Tuesday at the World athletics Championships just hours after the sport had been rocked by the suspension of controversial coach Alberto Salazar.
Lyles produced a courageous performance to win the 200m title, whilst Donovan Brazier — who was part of the Nike Oregon Project that Salazar ran — became the first American to win the 800m World crown.
Sam Kendricks came out on top in men’s pole vault and joined legend Sergey Bubka in being the only men to successfully defend the title.
Lyles took time to get going but once he did and drew alongside Briton Adam Gemili he powered away — crossing the line and hugging his mother.
Different from Bolt
Despite some comparing Lyles to retired Jamaican legend Usain Bolt — the American has run faster than him both over 100 and 200m at 22 years of age — he said they were very different.
“Don’t say I’m the new Bolt,” he said. “I’m me. If you like me, I’ll happily entertain you. It’s my time.”
The 22-year-old Brazier charged clear down the back straight on the final lap to coast home in 1min 42.34 sec and break the 32-year-old championship record of Kenya’s Billy Koncellah.
Kendricks beat Sweden’s European champion Armand Duplantis on countback when both failed to go over at 6.02 metres having succeeded at 5.97m in a final conducted notably in a sportsmanlike manner.
The American monopoly was broken by Australian Kelsey-Lee Barber who won gold in the final throw of the javelin to become the first from her country to win a World title in the discipline.
Sable makes final
Avinash Sable qualified for the 3000m steeplechase finals under dramatic circumstances while Annu Rani failed to repeat her impressive qualifying round form to finish eighth in women’s javelin.
Sable initially failed to qualify for the finals despite bettering his own National record in an eventful first round heat but was later included after the AFI successfully protested that he was obstructed by other athletes during the race on Tuesday.
Asian champion P.U. Chitra clocked a personal best 4:11.10s as she finished eighth in her women’s 1500m heats but it was not enough to fetch her a semifinal berth.
The results:
Men: 200m: 1. Noah Lyles (USA) 19.83s, 2. Andre De Grasse (Can) 19.95, 3. Alex Quinonez (Ecu) 19.98. 800m: 1. Donavan Brazier (USA) 1:42.34, 2. Amel Tuka (BIH) 1:43.47, 3. Ferguson Rotich (Ken) 1:43.82. Pole vault: 1. Sam Kendricks (USA) 5.97m, 2. Armand Duplantis (Swe) 5.97, 3. Piotr Lisek (Pol) 5.87.
Women: Javelin: 1. Kelsey-Lee Barber (Aus) 66.56m, 2. Liu Shiying (Chn) 65.88, 3. Lyu Huihui (Chn) 65.49; 8. Annu Rani (Ind) 61.12 .