Despite battling an elbow injury that had restricted his participation through most of the season, Ryan Crouser – three-time Olympic gold medallist – added a third World Championships gold to his collection in Tokyo. Having thrown just once to qualify for the final, Crouser launched the put 22.34m to climb the top step of the podium. In Saturday’s other finals, Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet outran Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay in the women’s 10,000m, while the USA took gold in the 4x400m mixed relay.
Mexico’s Uziel Munoz was a shock silver medallist in the shot put behind Crouser, with Italy’s Leonardi Fabbri taking the bronze. New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh missed out in agonising circumstances, with Munoz setting a national record of 21.97m on his final throw.
Chebet won the 5,000-10,000m double in Paris last summer, and her final kick was far too much for Tsegay, the defending champion. Italy’s Nadia Battocletti repeated her Paris performance, taking silver ahead of Tsegay, who had to settle for bronze.
The US quartet of Bryce Deadmon, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Jenoah McIver and Alexis Holmes were a cut above the rest in the mixed relay, equalling the Championship record of 3:08.80 while taking gold. Femke Bol ran a storming final leg for the Netherlands as they took silver, while Belgium edged out Poland for the bronze.
In the men’s 100m heats, all the favourites – the USA’s Noah Lyles, Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville, and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo – made it safely through to the semifinals. Both those races and the final will be run on Sunday. South Africa’s Gift Leotlela was the fastest in the heats (9.87s), while both Thompson and Lyles cruised through with identical times of 9.95s.
For all updates on the World Championships, follow RevSportz