Back to basics

DOHA, October 6

A United States quartet led by Christian Coleman blazed to the 4x100m relay title at the World Athletics Championships on Saturday, clocking the second fastest time ever at 37.10 seconds to end a 12-year gold medal drought.

Coleman, world 100m champion, put the Americans ahead with a stunning start and 200m gold medallist Noah Lyles completed the job, crossing the line with his arms raised triumphantly in the air as his teammates celebrated wrapped in American flags.

"We were all motivated to do something special and it just happened, everybody wanted it," said Lyles, who will leave his first world championships with double gold. "We all wanted to break the curse, a generational curse and bring on a new era," he added.

Defending champions Britain took the silver in 37.36sec, a European record, as Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake failed to catch Lyles on the final straight. Japan won bronze with a time of 37.43 seconds, an Asian record.

Ethiopia’s Desisa delights

Lelisa Desisa ended an 18-year wait for Ethiopia when he triumphed in a sprint finish against compatriot Mosinet Geremew to win a midnight marathon in 2:10:40 today. 

Desisa, last year's New York marathon winner and world silver medallist in Moscow six years ago, became the first Ethiopian to win the title since Gezahegne Abera in 2001. Geremew took silver and Amos Kipruto of Kenya the bronze. — Reuters 

Key results (day 9)

Men’s 4x100m relay: United States 37.10

Women’s 4x100m relay:  Jamaica 41.44 

Women’s triple jump:  Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) 15.37m 

Women’s 5,000m: Hellen Obiri (Kenya) 14:26.72

Men's marathon: Lelisa Desisa (Ethiopia) 2:10:40  

Men’s shot put: Joe Kovacs (USA) 22.91m

A mixed campaign for India at Worlds 

Doha: In what has been a tale of mixed fortunes for the Indian contingent at the World Athletics Championships, Asian champion Gopi Thonakal capped India’s campaign to finish 21st in the men’s marathon by clocking 2:15:57. Gopi's season best has been 2:13:39, which is also his personal best clocked in Seoul in March and was targeting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification mark of 2:11:30. The Indian men's and women's 4x400m relay teams both failed to reach the finals. The women's team comprising Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, VK Vismaya and Venkatesan Subha clocked 3:29.42 to finish sixth in their heat, while the men's team comprising of Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Anas, K. Suresh Jeevan and Noah Nirmal Tom finishned seventh in heat No. 2 and 13th overall out of 16 countries. While the 27-member Indian contingent was not expected to win any medals, it produced three finalists in the mixed 4x400m relay, men's 3,000m steeplechase and women’s javelin throw. IANS