Relay glory, triple gold for Team USATF on penultimate day of World Athletics Championships – US Track & Field

BUDAPEST – Extinguishing any doubts about Team USATF’s sprint relay prowess, the men’s and women’s individual 100 gold medalists anchored U.S. quartets to 4×100 victory, while Chase Ealey repeated her winning ways in the women’s shot put on Day 8 of the World Athletics Championships at the National Athletics Center.

The three golds took the U.S. medal total to 27, 11 of them gold, and helped boost the team points total to 255, 134 ahead of Jamaica, the next highest scoring country.

The brightest star of the Championships, Noah Lyles completed a rare triple as he anchored the American men to victory in the men’s 4×100 to go with the 100 and 200 golds he won earlier in the week. Boasting the three most recent world champions in the 100, Team USATF’s quartet of Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes and Lyles got the baton around the oval successfully to win in 37.38, almost a quarter-second ahead of silver medalists Italy. Jamaica took bronze in 37.76 as five teams broke 38.00 for only the second time in meet history.

Successfully defending the title they won at Oregon22, Team USATF’s women’s 4×100 squad of Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas and Sha’Carri Richardson set a meet record of 41.03 with the fastest time in the world this year and the fourth-fastest time ever. Davis ran a sizzling leadoff leg before pressing the baton into Terry’s left hand, whereupon the anchor from last year’s gold medal team held her own against Jamaican legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Thomas stretched the zone to take the stick from Terry and then rocketed around the bend, completing a picture perfect final pass with Richardson. The 100 champ was not going to be caught, even by Jamaica’s 200 gold medalist Shericka Jackson, as she romped down the home stretch to complete the sprint relay sweep. Jackson crossed the line in 41.21 for silver, with Great Britain earning bronze in 41.97.

Just as she did to win at Oregon22, Chase Ealey dropped a bomb on her first attempt in the women’s shot put, going 20.35/66-9.25 to put up a mark that would not be challenged by anyone but herself. Ealey improved to 20.43/67-0.5 in round five to seal the gold. Canada’s Sarah Mitton snagged the silver in the fifth round with a 20.08/65-10.5, pushing last year’s silver medalist, Lijiao Gong of China, back to bronze at 19.69/64-7.25. Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo had the same best as Gong, but lost out on second-best attempts. An opening round 19.51/64-0.25 by Maggie Ewen stood up as her best of the day and placed her sixth. Earlier in the day, Adelaide Aquilla was 23rd in qualifying at 17.42/57-2 and Jalani Davis was 26th at 16.93/55-6.5.

One of the surest bets in the meet, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis easily won the men’s pole vault with a clearance at 6.10/20-0 before taking three tries at a world record height of 6.23/20-5.25. Silver went to Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines at 6.00. Two costly misses at 5.85/19-2.25 put last year’s silver medalist, Chris Nilsen, in a bronze medal tie with Australia’s Kurt Marschall as both men made 5.95/19-6.25 and then missed all three attempts at 6.00/19-8.25. Zach McWhorter needed two tries at the opening height of 5.55/18-2.5 and also had to go twice at 5.75/18-10.25. He couldn’t clear 5.85/19-2.25 and placed eighth.

Canada went 1-2 atop the final point standings in the men’s decathlon, with the gold going to Pierce LePage with a world-leading 8,909 points. Olympic champion Damian Warner scored a season best 8,804 and Grenada’s Lindon Victor set a national record of 8,756 for bronze. The lone American to finish, Harrison Williams had a good second day and capped it off with a 4:22.69 1500 to total 8,500 and place seventh. In seventh place with 6,093 after the discus, Kyle Garland dropped out after a no-height in the pole vault, and last year’s bronze medalist, Zach Ziemek, withdrew after four events yesterday.

Another Canadian, Marco Arop, won the nation’s first gold in the men’s 800, going from the back of the pack to the lead at 600 and then staving off all challengers to cross the line in 1:44.24 for an easy win. Bryce Hoppel was fifth at the bell in 53.08 and began to swing wide down the backstretch to hold that position. Hoppel couldn’t make any headway against the field in the final 200 and faded to seventh in 1:46.02.

Facing weather conditions that got progressively warmer minute by minute, Team USATF’s women’s marathoners chose very different race plans. Making her international debut, Susanna Sullivan took the lead after 5K and held that position through 10K in 35:31, but the pack caught back up and most of the pre-race favorites started to establish themselves in the top 10. Former American record holder Keira D’Amato, who was eighth at Oregon22, briefly took the lead through the halfway point in 1:14:29. As eventual winner Amane Beriso Shankule of Ethiopia took the lead with just over 10K remaining, Lindsay Flanagan was moving up near the lead group and she was ninth at 35K. Shankule never let go of her lead and won in a season best 2:24:23, with fellow Ethiopian Gotytom Gebreslase taking silver in 2:24:34 and Morocco’s Fatima Gardadi bronze in 2:25:17. Flanagan, the 2015 Pan American Games silver medalist, was the highest-placing American in ninth at 2:27:47, with D’Amato 17th (season best 2:31:35) and Sullivan 58th (2:44:24).

Winning the women’s 5000 to go with the 1500 she won earlier in the week, Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon had the best kick over the final 200 and stopped the clock at 14:53.88. Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands earned silver in 14:54.11 and bronze went to Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet in 14:54.33. Elise Cranny steadily moved up from the back of the pack and placed ninth in 14:59.22, while Alicia Monson was 14th in 15:04.08.

HEATS

Men’s 4×400

The surprise of heat one was India, running close to the U.S. for much of the way before Justin Robinson closed it out to give the Americans a 2:58.47 win and a spot in the final. Starting in lane nine with no one to pace off of, Trevor Bassitt was very solid and after a 45.3 split handed off in the lead to Matthew Boling, a gold medalist in the mixed 4×400. Boling slowly moved into the inside lane down the backstretch and had a 44.4 carry to stay in the lead. Chris Bailey gave up no ground with a 44.3 split, the fastest of the heat, and then Robinson brought the baton home in 44.5 for victory with India setting an Asian record in second at 2:59.05. Jamaica won the second heat in 2:59.82.

Women’s 4×400

Disaster struck on the third exchange, knocking the U.S. out of the final. Lynna Irby-Jackson opened up with a very good 50.8 and passed to Rosey Effiong, who ran in tandem with Britain’s Amber Anning, her Arkansas teammate, splitting 49.6 to stay in contention. Quanera Hayes ran a respectable third leg before a mishap on the final pass to Alexis Holmes earned the squad a disqualification. Holmes was beyond the zone when she took the baton from Hayes, ending hopes of a fourth straight world title.

A full list of results along with a schedule of events can be found here.

*records subject to usual ratification procedures

TEAM USATF MEDAL TOTAL (27)

Gold (11)

Ryan Crouser, men’s shot put (23.51/77-1.75, championships record)

Mixed 4×400, Justin Robinson, Rosey Effiong, Matthew Boling, Alexis Holmes (3:08.80, world record)

Noah Lyles, men’s 100 (9.83, =world lead)

Grant Holloway, men’s 110H (12.96)

Sha’Carri Richardson, women’s 100 (10.65, championships record)

Laulauga Tausaga-Collins, women’s discus (69.48/228-0)

Katie Moon, women’s pole vault (4.90/16-0.75 – shared gold)

Noah Lyles, men’s 200 (19.52)

Chase Ealey, women’s shot put (20.43/67-0.5)

Men’s 4×100, Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes, Noah Lyles (37.38, world lead)

Women’s 4×100, Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas, Sha’Carri Richardson (41.03, championships record)

Silver (8)

Anna Hall, women’s heptathlon (6,720 points)

Tara Davis-Woodhall, women’s long jump (6.91/22-8)

Valarie Allman, women’s discus (69.23/227-1)

JuVaughn Harrison, men’s high jump (2.36/7-8.75)

Janee‘ Kassanavoid, women’s hammer (76.36/250-6)

Shamier Little, women’s 400H (52.80)

Gabby Thomas, women’s 200 (21.81)

Erriyon Knighton, men’s 200 (19.75)

Bronze (8)

Joe Kovacs, men’s shot put (22.12/72-7)

Daniel Roberts, men’s 110H (13.09)

Rai Benjamin, men’s 400H (47.56)

Keni Harrison, women’s 100H (12.46)

DeAnna Price, women’s hammer (75.41/247-5)

Quincy Hall, men’s 400 (44.37)

Sha’Carri Richrdson, women’s 200 (21.92)

Chris Nilsen, men’s pole vault (5.95/19-6.25)

Source: US Track & Field

Stats by K Ken Nakamura:

Day 8

W Marathon

16:09 for30-35km is the fastest ever for this 5km; previously the fastest was 16:31 from 2009

Gebrselase won second medal, having won gold last year, and silver today.

Gardadi won first medal for MAR in W Marathon in WC

For the first time in history, ETH won multiple medals (gold and silver) at the W marathon in WC;
previously in 2011 KEN swept the medals, and JPN won multiple medals twice in 1993 and 2003

WSP

18.57 tied the longest WSP that failed to qualify for the final in WC; 18.57 also failed to qualify in Eugene

Dec DT

54.64 Victor is the longest DT during Decathlon; previous best was 54.38 by Sykora from Eugene

And Victor improved it further to 54.97

4x400mR

3:00.33 by BEL is second fastest time that failed to qualify for the final of 4x400mR in WC; fastest is 2:59.95 by BOT from 2015

2:58.47 is fourth fastest heat time for 4x400mR in WC

800m

Arop won first gold for CAN at 800m in WC

Arop became first Pan American Games gold medalist to win the WC 800m.

Arop won second medal at 800m in WC, having won bronze in Eugene.
He became 10th runner to win multiple medals at 800m in WC

W5000

Kipyegon became first woman to win both 1500m and 5000m in WC

0.23 sec is the smallest winning margin at W5000m in WC;
previous min was 0.36 sec in 2009

For the fifth time in history, KEN won multiple medals at W5000m in WC; ETH won multiple medals four times; so KEN broke a tie

Hassan won first silver for NED in W5000m at WC; she previously won bronze in 2017

Chebet also won second medal; she won silver in Eugene

WSP

Ealey became fifth ShotPutter to win WSP multiple times at WC

7th medal for Gong at WSP in WC; she has 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze

First medal for CAN by Mitton in WSP at WC

0cm difference between 3rd and 4th tied the smallest ever in WSP in WC; it was 0cm in Eugene also

Decathlon

CAN became fourth nation to win multiple medals at Decathlon in WC; previously US, GER and FRG won multiple medals at WC Dec

Victor won first medal for GRN at Decathlon in WC

Second medal for LePage at WC Decathlon, having won silver in Eugene and gold today

Record 4th medal by Warner at Decathlon in WC

PV

Duplantis became third Vaulter to win PV multiple times at WC; Bubka won six times while Kendrick won twice

Obiena became first East Asian to win Silver in PV at WC

6.00m by Obiena was best 2nd place mark in PV at WC; previously, the best losing mark was 5.97 from 2019

Best 3rd and 5th place marks were established in PV at WC

4x100mR

Ninth gold for US in 4x100mR in WC; same as US women gold medal count

First Silver for ITA in 4x100mR in WC since 1983; this is ITA third medal ; also won bronze in 1995

FRA recorded best 6th place time in 4x100mR in WC

W4x100mR

41.03 is the championships record and 4th fastest of all time for W4x100mR

9th gold for US in W4x100mR in WC

US won both men and women 4x100mR for the third time in WC; previously US won both in 1987 and 2007;
JAM also won both events thrice, in 2009 and 2013, 2015

Correction Gong

8th medal for Gong at WSP in WC; she has 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze

Medals were reallocated in 2011 because Ostapchuk got DQ