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BUDAPEST: Noah Lyles stormed to victory to win the 100m world title on Sunday and then set his sights on a third successive 200m crown, something Joshua Cheptegei achieved in the 10,000m.
Lyles, the charismatic 26-year-old American who has battled depression, had said he was mentally in a good place coming into the world championships in Budapest.
It showed as he clocked 9.83sec — the fastest 100m time of the year — in front of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The blue riband event of the track was guaranteed a new champion after 2022 victor Fred Kerley followed Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Marcell Jacobs in failing to make the final.
“They said it couldn’t be done. They said I wasn’t the one,” said Lyles after forcing his way to the line first. “But I thank God I am.”
Cheptegei produced a magisterial display in what might be his final track championships as the Ugandan became the fourth man in history to win three successive world 10,000m titles.
Hungary traditionally has revered more the throwers than the runners and Bence Halasz did not let his nation down as he set the pace in the men’s hammer final with his first throw of 80.82m.
The 26-year-old brought the crowd to their feet and raised the decibel levels on what is the country’s national holiday, St Stephen’s Day, but eventually had to settle for bronze.
Canada’s Ethan Katzberg, 21, took a surprise gold with 81.25m, with Poland’s Wojciech Nowicki taking the silver in 81.02.
While there were beaming smiles from Lyles, Cheptegei and Katzberg there were tears of joy for British heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson as she regained her world crown.
Johnson-Thompson had suffered injury misery after her 2019 success in Doha.
The lack of atmosphere in the stands for some of the track events prompted a response from Norway’s 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen as he took command of his semi-final.
Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will pray the same fate does not befall her as it did Kerley.
The 36-year-old looked in decent shape as she coasted into Monday’s 100m semis and moved a step closer to equalling pole vaulter Sergey Bubka’s record of six titles in the same event.
In-form American rival Sha’Carri Richardson set the fastest qualifying time of 10.92sec while another Jamaican contender, Shericka Jackson, also cruised through her heat.
Faith Kipyegon is another who can dream of a third world crown — though not successive ones — as the Kenyan phenomenon breezed into Tuesday’s 1,500m final.
The 29-year-old will face perennial rival Sifan Hassan, the Ethiopian-born Dutch runner having rebounded from her traumatic fall in the closing metres of Saturday’s 10,000m final.
Amid the raucous cheers for Halasz and the men’s 100m, Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta won a barely noticed women’s long jump with a best of 7.14m on her fifth attempt.
American Tara Davis-Woodhall claimed silver with 6.91m and Romania’s Alina Rotaru-Kottman snatched bronze from Nigerian Ese Brume with her last jump of 6.88.
Earlier on Sunday, Maria Perez completed a Spanish double in the 20km race walk after comfortably beating Australia’s Jemima Montag to win the women’s event on Sunday, with Antonella Palmisano of Italy taking bronze.
Defending champion Kimberly Garcia Leon of Peru led a breakaway group that at the halfway mark included Perez, Montag, Olympic champion Palmisano and Yang Jiayu of China, the 2017 winner and current world record holder.
But Perez, like compatriot Alvaro Martin in the men’s event on the opening day of the championships on Saturday, pulled away with around 5km remaining and crossed the line in one hour, 26 minutes and 51 seconds.
The 27-year-old finished 25 seconds ahead of Montag and became the first Spanish woman to win the event at the world championships.