Nothing in athletics grabs attention like the 100m finals. Just a fraction less or more than ten seconds, and sometimes, a blink is enough to miss it. On the Day 2 of the Athletics World Championships at the Japan National Stadium, two 24-year-olds – Oblique Seville and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden – etched their names in the history books. Jamaican flair lit up the men’s 100m in a 1-2 finish, with the USA’s Olympic champion, Noah Lyles, having to settle for bronze. Jefferson-Wooden was an even more surprising winner in the women’s 100m.
Seville clocked 9.77s, a lifetime best on the grandest stage, relegating Kishane Thompson (9.82s), his more fancied teammate, to silver. Lyles clocked 9.89s. The USA’s Kenneth Bednarek, who was the fastest in the semis, finished fourth, while Botswana’s superstar, Letsile Tebogo, was disqualified for a false start.
In the women’s sprint, Jefferson-Wooden broke the Championship record with a personal-best time of 10.61s. Jamaica’s Tina Clayton clinched silver with her personal best of 10.76s, while Julien Alfred, the Paris Olympics 100m champion, had to settle for bronze.
The men’s 10,000m saw a nail-biting finish with France’s Jimmy Gressier (28:55.77) producing an impressive effort to out-kick Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha (28:55.83) in the last 50m to clinch the title. Swedish runner Andreas Almgren secured bronze. It was the first time a European nation had taken the 10,000m title at the World Championships since the Somalia-born Mo Farah won three in a row between 2013 and 2017. It was the first time since 1987 that two Europeans had finished on the podium.
Valarie Allman, the discus-throw queen, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo and Paris, finally clinched her first world title with an impressive throw of 69.48m.The Netherlands’ Jorinde van Klinken (67.50m) took silver while Cuba’s Silinda Morales (67.25m) settled for bronze.
Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Olympic champion, saved her season’s best efforts for the biggest stage. She leapt an impressive 7.13m in the long jump final to upgrade the colour of her medal – she won silver in the last edition. Malaika Mihambo of Germany came second with 6.99m and Colombia’s Natalia Linares finished third with a 6.92m leap.
The morning session on Sunday opened with Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s shock exit in the 1500m heats – the Budapest silver medalist couldn’t make it to the semifinals after finishing eighth in heat 4. The Norwegian has battled an Achilles injury most of this season.
With a season’s-best performance, Peres Jepchirchir out-kicked Tiget Assefa of Ethiopia to win women’s marathon gold while clocking 2:24:43. Julia Paternain of Uruguay was a surprise winner of the bronze.
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