Golden girl in orange

London, August 12 

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Dutch powerhouse Dafne Schippers led from gun to tape to retain her world 200 metres title on Friday, holding off a spirited charge from Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou, who had to settle for another near-miss silver.

With Olympics champion Elaine Thompson opting not to race the 200 and Tori Bowie pulling out after winning the 100, things had looked easier for Schippers. However, the Dutchwoman, who took bronze in the 100, had to use every inch of her strength to hold off Ta Lou and win in 22.05 seconds.

“I fought for that,” Schippers said. “I have worked so hard this year so I am so happy. Two times in a row is very special.” 

She now joins American Gwen Torrence (1991-93) and Jamaican Merlene Ottey (1987-95) as the only women to medal in both 100m and 200m at successive World Championships.

“This last year was not the easiest for me. I changed everything and got a new coach, so I’m very happy,” Schippers added.

“My secret is enjoying the sport and enjoying my racing. I feel a little bit nervous starting out, but I’m a final runner and I’m grateful for the experience now it’s over.” 

Ta Lou had lost the 100m final by one hundredth of a second after failing to dip on the line and though she did lean this time she was just behind Schippers in 22.08, still a national record.

Olympics 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who stumbled in sight of gold and slipped to fifth in the 400m final, this time trailed badly coming off the bend but produced a barnstorming last 30 metres to overhaul 21-year-old home hope Dina Asher-Smith in 22.15.

“Another silver but I am so happy,” said Ta Lou. “At the camp before these championships I felt a problem in my legs but I didn’t want to tell my coach. I prayed that I would be ok and I have been. I did all I could in that race. To get a silver medal is more than I could have asked for. It has been a special week for me.” 

Caribbean miss

With no Jamaicans making the final it also marked the first time the Caribbean sprint powerhouse has failed to take a gold in either the men’s or women’s 100 or 200 metres finals since 2005 and the first time since 2003 the country’s women did not take any medal in those events. 

Coburn, Frerichs complete shock US one-two

Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs stunned the World Championships by winning gold and silver in a dramatic women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase final on Friday, the first Americans to get medals in the event.

The two Americans were not counted among the outright favourites heading to London, although Coburn did win bronze at the Olympics last year.

The woman who beat her to gold in Rio was world record holder Ruth Jebet of Bahrain, who led at the 1000m and 2000m splits. But going into the final lap, Jebet faded and was overtaken by the Americans and Kenyans Hyvin Jepkemoi and Beatrice Chepkoech.

The leading pack was heavily congested heading into the last 200 metres.

But Coburn launched herself over the final water jump in a daring move that led to her surging down the final straight to win in a Championship record time of 9 minutes 2.58 seconds.

“Oh my goodness, what a race to be part of,” she said. “I have memories from 2015 and 2016 where I went too early for the last push, so I just had to keep trusting myself and be patient, and it looks like it paid off.”

She is the first American athlete since Horace Ashenfelter, who won gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, to win a global title in the 3,000m steeplechase.

Frerichs finished in 9:03.77 to complete a brilliant one-two for the US and smash her own personal best by 16 seconds. Both women’s times were well under the American national record, set by Coburn at the Olympics last year.

“I would never have believed this could happen. Maybe fifth or sixth, but silver? Wow, I am shocked. This is an absolute dream,” Frerichs said.

“I felt like the crowd gave me a lot of energy and lifted me to my greatest ever performance.” 

Team USA will go home feeling like they have upset the 3,000m steeplechase status quo, with Coburn and Frerich’s medals adding to Evan Jager’s landmark bronze in the men’s event on Tuesday.

That fact was not unnoticed by Jepkemoi, the 2015 champion, who claimed the bronze medal in an event usually dominated by Africans.

“I am very happy to win the bronze medal. The Americans went very fast, as you saw with the championship record. I did all I could to win that race but they were stronger,” she said.

Jepkemoi finished ahead of Chepkoech who recovered impressively from a bizarre mishap on the first lap when she forgot to take the water jump and had to go back round to complete it before catching up with the field. — Reuters

Neeraj vows to come back stronger

He can’t really figure out what went wrong but rising Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra has vowed to come back stronger by correcting the “flaws” that led to his unexpected early ouster. “There is something lacking in my throwing, that is for sure. I don’t know now whether it’s a technical issue or some other factor. I have to find out and rectify it and come back stronger,” Neeraj said. 

“I need some time to do that, to improve my technique. I have been taking part in competitions continuously for the last four-five months. Now I want some time for training to prepare myself for future events. I am waiting for the new coach to come.”

Neeraj came without a coach as former javelin throw world record holder Uwe Hohn of Germany is yet to join the national team. “After (former coach) Gary Calvert left, I have been training alone. I am waiting for the new coach to come. In an ideal situation, it would have been better to have a coach but that is not in my hands,” he added. — PTI

Reese wins fourth long jump world title

American Brittney Reese claimed her fourth world long jump title after a tense, tight contest in which only six centimetres separated the top four competitors. Darya Klishina, competing as a neutral athlete after the Russian federation was banned over state-sponsored doping, took silver for her first medal at a major event after jumping seven metres for the first time in six years.

Titleholder and Olympics champion Tianna Bartoletta won bronze, squeezing on to the podium with her last jump ahead of Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic who missed out on a medal at a global event for the first time since 2013.

Reese won with a leap of 7.02 metres on her third attempt and had to endure a nerve-wracking finale after receiving a red flag on her next three jumps.

The 30-year-old said it was an emotional moment after her grandfather passed away two weeks ago. “I’ll be continuing to Tokyo 2020. I’m not done yet,” said Reese, who became the first woman to win four gold medals in long jump at the World Championships. — Reuters  

Poland’s Fajdek wins hat-trick of hammer golds

Pawel Fajdek, the colourful hammer champion from Poland, became the first man to win three successive world titles with a dominant triumph. The bespectacled, tattooed 28-year-old, whose World Championships triumphs have gone hand in hand with Olympics calamities, completed a hammer double for Poland after Anita Wlodarczyk’s equally conclusive triumph in the women’s event.

The silver went to Russian Valeriy Pronkin, competing under the neutral flag, as he produced a final-round throw to consign Fajdek’s Polish rival Wojciech Nowicki to the bronze. It was a typically commanding victory for one of the biggest favourites of the entire championships as the bearded Fajdek produced easily the three biggest throws of the night, headed by one of 79.81 metres.

On winning, the 120kg giant threw himself on to the hammer circle and lay on his back, arms and legs outstretched in delight. “Three-time world champion, I made history! What more could I expect?” he said.

Inexplicably, Fajdek had not just failed to qualify for the London Olympics final but also last year in Rio when he was an even more dominant favourite. — Reuters

Indian 4x400m relay teams crash out

The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team was disqualified while the men finished 10th to crash out. The women’s quartet of Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, Anilda Thomas and Nirmala Sheoran clocked season’s best 3 minutes 28.62 seconds to finish seventh in the first heat but the team was disqualified later for lane infringement. Jisna, who ran the first lap, committed the infringement. “We could have done better had we trained together for a longer time. All four of us were training separately,” Poovamma said. USA will start tomorrow’s final as favourites, having clocked a world-leading time of 3:21.66. The men’s quartet of Kunhu Muhammad, Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Anas and Rajiv Arokia finished fifth in its heat and 10th overall, clocking a season’s best of 3 minutes 2.80 seconds. World and Olympics champions United States qualified fastest in 2:59.23. — PTI