Cuban outdoor world record-holder Dayron Robles won a speedy 60m hurdles final to share the world indoor championships spotlight with a faltering Yelena Isinbayeva and Frenchman Teddy Tamgho on Sunday.
Robles equalled the third-fastest 60m hurdles of all-time with his run of 7.34 seconds for a photo-finish win over Terrence Trammell, who was two-hundredths of a second behind to tie the US record.
“The world indoor record [Briton Colin Jackson’s 7.3 in 1994] will fall one day,” said Robles, whose best time is 7.33 seconds.
“I am as excited as breaking the world [outdoor] record,” the Olympic 110m hurdles champion said.
David Oliver of the US took third and Chinese defending champion Liu Xiang, who continues to recover from Achilles surgery, was seventh.
Isinbayeva left the championships perplexed after unexpectedly crashing out of a second consecutive global championship without a medal.
“I really do not know what happened,” said the 2008 Olympic champion and world record holder, who failed three times at 4.75m after opening successfully at 4.6m.
“Maybe I was too tired emotionally,” Isinbayeva said. “I hope in the summer world records will come [again].”
Brazilian Fabiana Murer claimed the gold at 4.8m, a mark Russian silver medallist Svetlana Feofanova also cleared.
Isinbayeva was fourth behind Polish outdoor world champion Anna Rogowska.
Tamgho, just 20, provided the shock of the three-day meeting with his world record leap of 17.9m on his final triple jump.
“I knew I had it in me because last year in Bercy I had a foul close to 18m,” the former world junior champion said.
“Today, I thought if I won, it would be around 17.6m. But after the Cuban [Yoandri Betanzos] jumped 17.69, I had to react,” he said.
Betanzos finished second and compatriot David Girat was third.
Kenyan-born American Bernard Lagat also set a mark of distinction, winning his second 3,000m title six years after the first.
His time of 7 minutes, 37.97 seconds made him the oldest man to win a world indoor championships gold medal.
“My kids woke up at 7am in the morning to watch their daddy,” Lagat said. “So I needed to show them something.”
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