Bowie’s dip worth its weight in gold

PERFECT TIMING In a neck and neck race, American sprinter pips Ivory Coast’s Ta Lou by a narrow margin to be crowned as champion

America’s Tori Bowie delivered a finish line masterclass when she timed her dip perfectly to win the women’s 100m World Championship gold in spectacular style on Sunday, leaving Ivory Coast’s MarieJosee Ta Lou with a consolation silver.

The momentum of 26-yearold Bowie’ exemplary dip sent her sprawling onto the track but by the time she recovered enough to look at the big screen she saw that she had won by one hundredth of a second and denied Ta Lou the chance to claim Ivory Coast’s first world title in any event.

Olympic champion and race favourite Elaine Thompson never got going and finished fifth, as Dutchwoman Dafne Schippers took bronze.

Ta Lou appeared to have the race sewn up but fatally failed to throw herself at the line and there were moments of suspense before the result appeared on the stadium scoreboard.

The 26-year-old Bowie, who finished in 10.85 seconds, went one better than her silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year while Ta Lou was left to ponder another desperately unlucky finish.

“I never give up until I’m over the line,” Bowie said. “Ta Lou went away fast but she always does. It didn’t bother me and I just kept pumping my legs and arms until the finish.

“The dive doesn’t feel too good now. But that has saved me at championships in the past. I’ve got a couple of days to recover before the 200 heats so I’ll be okay.” I was able to attack, too.

“Whether it was a fierce throw or not, I tried my hardest in the last throw and it worked. I did not want to do 22m in the qualification and then lose it in the final.”

Greece’s Ekaterini Stefanidi, the new queen of the pole vault, added the one missing gold medal to her big-event collection when she soared to the world title with the best vault of her life on Sunday.

In a repeat of last year’s Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro, the destination of the gold came down to a straight fight between the ever-consistent 27-year-old Stefanidi and American Sandi Morris.

In Rio, Stefanidi had won on countback but this time the victory was much more emphatic as she had 16 centimetres to spare over Morris, clearing a national record 4.91 metres to her rival’s 4.75m.

It meant that Stefanidi, who has been winning championships since she took the world youth title 12 years ago and has been unbeaten in eight competitions this summer, added the world crown to her Olympic and European titles.

She wrapped up her latest victory with a first-time clearance at 4.82m, having brushed the bar faintly, as Morris, having failed once at that height, then gambled on pushing the bar up to 4.89m and failed twice.

Nafi Thiam of Belgium eased her way to heptathlon gold on Sunday to go with the Olympic title she claimed in Rio last year. The Belgian went into the final event, the 800 metres, with a 172-point lead over Germany’s Carolin Schafer – roughly 12 seconds on the track in the London Stadium. That meant Thiam could take it relatively easy and that is exactly what she did.

The 22-year-old has a personal best of 2:15.24 in the 800m but she fell towards the back of the chasing group in the third heat and came in last in a time of 2:21.42. It was still enough to secure her first world title as she finished on 6,784 points. “I’m super happy,” Thiam said.

Schafer was in a more perilous position and needed to make sure she did better than Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands, who was behind her in the standings by just three points.