No doubting Dubois
Sprint star in right place at the right time for a title No joy ride for Diegnan
WHEN it came to the biggest race of his life Christian Coleman’s whereabouts came as no surprise.
He had put a black mark against his own name by three times in a year not being where he said he would be when the drugs testers came to call.
But on a sultry night in Qatar it was never in doubt he would be found on the podium’s top step.
In the first global major of the post- Bolt era, the 23- year- old stormed to the world 100 metres title inside the Khalifa Stadium.
He even made sure everyone knew exactly where he would be by alone qualifying from the semi-finals in a sub-10 time. Drawn in lane three, the 5’9 rocket kept that form, leading from start to finish before crossing the line and letting out a scream.
Winning
His winning time of 9.76 seconds is the sixth quickest of all time and put clear daylight between him and Justin Gatlin (9.89) and Andre de Grasse (9.90) in the minor places.
Zharnel Hughes, sixth in 10.03, had harboured hopes of being the first Brit sprinter since Darren Campbell in 2003 to win an individual world gong.
That chance is now Dina AsherSmith’s, who qualified third quickest for today’s final of the women’s 100m behind Shelly-ann Fraser-pryce an Marie-josee Ta Lou. Asher-smith, FRANK WARREN expects Daniel Dubois to be challenging for a world title within a year.
Dubois needed just 2mins 10secs to stop Ghana’s Ebenezer Tetteh at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday to add the vacant Commonwealth heavyweight belt to the British title he won in July.
Now Warren is convinced ‘Dynamite’ Dubois will challenging for the belts held by Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr sooner rather than later.
He said: “He’s one of those fighters who can end the fight. As soon as he lands those the Diamond League champion over 100m, came to the Arabian Peninsula with more than one expert backing her for a sprint double.
But that assumed Shelly-ann Fraser-pryce would run as she did when beaten by Asher- Smith in Brussels earlier this month.
Instead the three-time world champion scorched to the fastest 100m heat in world championship history, clocking 10.80secs slowing down.
Asher- Smith, who was just 12 when mum-of-one Fraser-pryce won the first of her two Olympic titles, was no slouch, winning in 10.96.
But the 23-year-old will know she has her work cut out to get the better of the evergreen Jamaican today.
Hours earlier the champs had got bombs it can be all over, and I’m just thrilled and excited about what he can be. He can go on and win a world title very quickly.
“All the guys are tied up at the top and by the time they sort themselves out hopefully Daniel will be in a mandatory position to challenge one of them.
“Next year, towards autumn, there will be an opening for him. He’s just working his way through the belts, and the most important thing is he keeps learning.
“He has a great jab, one of the best in heavyweight boxing, and if he catches anyone with it he will take them out.” off to a hugely controversial start with a midnight women’s marathon run in 30-degree heat and humidity of 70 per cent.
Blasted
Decathlon world champion
Kevin Mayer blasted the decision to stage the worlds in
Doha after a brutal race in which 28 of the 60 competitors dropped out and 30 ended up at the medical centre.
“Clearly by organising the championship here, they didn’t put the athletes first, they’ve mostly put them in jeopardy,” he said. “Even if people aren’t saying it out loud, it’s obvious it’s a catastrophe.”
UCI Road World Championships
LIZZIE DEIGNAN missed out on a fairytale victory as Holland’s Annemiek van Vleuten won in the women’s elite race.
Deignan (above) led the peloton through her home town of Otley, but finished in the pack, crossing the line 31st, 5m 20s down.
It was a first world road race title for the 36-year-old Van Vleuten.
She said: “This was really crazy. I’m a bit crazy, I train a lot and that helped me to be ready.”