Day eight at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 ended in joyful fashion for the United States as Noah Lyles and then Sha’Carri Richardson anchored victories in the respective men’s and women’s 4x100m finals after earlier trademark wins for Faith Kipyegon in the 5000m and Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault.
Kipyegon, who had already won a third world 1500m title here, duly added gold in the other championship event in which she has set a world record this year, thus becoming the first woman to win 1500m and 5000m titles at the same World Championships.
Kipeygon led a richly talented and closely packed field to the bell, at which point Olympic champion Sifan Hassan shuffled up to her side for the inevitable sprint-off. The running was steady until the start of the back straight, when the world record-holder took off, pursued by the Dutch runner and her teammate Beatrice Chebet, world silver medallist last year.
The Kenyan powered to the line, peerless, remorseless, giving the mercurial Hassan no glimmer of hope that she could improve upon silver.
Having won a third world 1500m title, Kipyegon now had a world gold in a distance she ran earlier this season for only the second time since 2015 and in which she lowered the world record to 14:05.20.
Her time here was 14:53.88, with Hassan second in 14:54.11 and Chebet in bronze medal position in 14:54.33.
Arop shocks Wanyonyi
The men’s 800m title went to Canada’s Marco Arop, whose sudden emergence outside the early leader, Kenya’s 19-year-old world U20 champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, shortly after the bell threw the race off its expected course.
Wanyonyi responded, but could not regain the lead, taking silver in 1:44.53 as the Canadian, who earned world bronze in Oregon last year, earned a place on the top of the podium as he finished strongly in 1:44.24.
Ivory Coast (Women) and Nigeria (Men) were disqualified after the 4X100m finals.
Thus, the harvest of medals from Africa amounts to 7 Gold, 7 Silver and 6 Bronze on the eve of the closing of the championships.