Brazilian hurdles to gold medal
Alison Dos Santos, of Brazil, powered down the homestretch to take the 400m hurdles title at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, yesterday.
The underdog even if he had the fastest time and No 1 ranking coming in, Dos Santos held off a decorated field that included the world-record holder. Dos Santos finished in a championshiprecord time of
46.29 seconds. Americans Rai Benjamin and Trevor Bassitt won the silver and bronze.
Olympic champion and world-record holder Karsten Warholm, of Norway, has been dealing with hamstring issues and didn’t have his trademark kick at the finish. He wound up seventh.
Upon his finish, Dos Santos gave two bows to the cheering crowd. He broke Kevin Young’s world-championship record of 47.18sec set in 1993 in Germany. Dos Santos won bronze at the Tokyo Games last summer behind Warholm and Benjamin.
It was a night full of surprises with Jake Wightman, of Britain, winning the 1500m. He had a look of disbelief as he crossed the finish line ahead of Olympic champion and heavy favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen, of Norway. ‘‘Crazy,’’ Wightman said. Wightman won in 3min 29.23sec. His win broke a string of five straight world 1500 titles by the Kenyans. Spain’s Mohamed Katir flew down the homestretch to take home bronze.
Other winners included Australia’s Eleanor Patterson in the women’s high jump and Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia in the men’s discus.
Earlier, world 100m champion Fred Kerley slowed down midway through his 200m semifinal due to a cramp and finished sixth. His thoughts of two individual medals at the first world championships held on US soil were dashed.
Kerley, once a 400m specialist who moved down in distance before last year’s Olympics, won the 100 in 9.86sec and was expected to lead the Americans in the 4x100 relay this weekend. He hasn’t been ruled out.
Kerley’s departure opens a less challenging path for Noah Lyles, the defending world champion, 18-year-old Erriyon Knighton, and top-ranked Kenny Bednarek, all of whom advanced. The trio had the top three times, led by Lyles at 19.62sec.
The Jamaican women are poised for another sprint sweep after qualifying three for the final in the 200m.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah – the finishing order of the 100 – all advanced. Jackson had the fastest time at 21.67.
It was an easy night at the track for the medal favourites in the women’s 400 hurdles. Olympic champion and world-record holder Sydney McLaughlin, defending world champion Dalilah Muhammad and Olympic bronze medallist Femke Bol, of the Netherlands, easily won their first-round heats.
‘‘This event has become one of the main focuses for the last couple of years,’’ Muhammad said. ‘‘It could be any one of our days. So we’ll just see how it goes.’’