Tyson Gay edged Asafa Powell to win the 100m world title in 9.85 seconds on Sunday as invincible Swedish glamour girl Carolina Kluft retained her heptathlon crown.
US star Gay was red hot and never looked like being beaten as Jamaican world record holder Powell (9.96) faded to third behind Derrick Atkins (9.91) from the Bahamas.
It was a long anticipated meeting between two men at the height of their game, but despite Gay's pre-championship predications, Powell's world mark of 9.77 remains intact. "I was screaming for joy when I crossed the line," said Gay. "All I did was focus on reacting. My coach helped me a lot, he told me I was going to be world champion. At 70 metres, that's when I started reacting and kicking.
"I started to run like crazy, that's when I knew I really had a great chance to win the race." Powell said he panicked when he saw Gay on his shoulder, and it cost him the race.
"I felt him (Gay) coming on my shoulder and that's when I panicked. It slowed me down," he said. "I made a couple of mistakes and I lost the race." Kluft, unbeaten since 2002 in the seven-sport spectacle, posted a new European record of 7,032 points to shut out arch-rival Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine who scored 6,832 and Britain's Kelly Sotherton on 6,510.
The 24-year-old racked up personal bests in the high jump and 100m hurdles which got her off to a flying start on Saturday and she never looked back.
"It's amazing to have the personal record and to win at the same time. It's been two tough days but a great two days," she said, and downplayed talk that she may have competed in her last heptathlon. "No, I'm not retiring. I'm 24 years old and I'm just happy for this moment."
New Zealand's Valerie Vili also picked up gold, upsetting defending champion Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus on her final attempt to win the women's shot put in oven-like conditions at the Nagai Stadium.
Ostapchuk looked certain to win with her first throw of 20.04 metres but the 22-year-old New Zealander heaved the year's best of 20.54m in the sixth round to become only the second non-European to lift the title. Ecuador's Jefferson Perez claimed the other gold medal of the day when he clinched a hat-trick of 20 kilometre walk titles in stifling conditions that saw him collapse and writhe in agony immediately after finishing.
Perez, the world walk record-holder who timed 1 hour 22 minutes and 20 seconds, admitted it was one of the hardest races he had ever experienced. "This could be the toughest of my victories," he said. "I was walking so fast that in these conditions, I knew I could collapse. It was kind of suicidal."
Tunisia won its first ever world championships medal when Hatem Ghoula picked up bronze. Spaniard Francisco Fernandez won silver. Russia's record breaking pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who boasted last week that she is unbeatable, cleared 4.55 metres to coast through qualifying as she aims for her 21th world record.
In heat action, Veronica Campbell of Jamaica (11.08) and American Torri Edwards (11.13) were the fastest qualifiers into the semi-finals of the women's 100m.
The two rivals are the only women to duck the 11-second barrier this season, but veteran Merlene Ottey, now 47 years old, missed out in what was her 59th world championship race.
Earlier, African runners dominated the men's 3,000m steeplechase qualifying, with Ezekiel Kemboi warned the Kenyans would help each other to ensure they win gold in the final on Tuesday.
Jamaican Novlene Williams was fastest in the heats of the women's 400m and in the absence of Sanya Richards she will be confident of a podium place. With defending champion Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas also out with a hamstring problem, the medal race is wide open with Americans Dee Dee Trotter and Natasha Hastings expected to contend for gold.
Comments
Comments are closed.