Fred Kerley on Saturday led a US clean sweep in the men’s 100m final at the World Athletic Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and Chase Ealey helped give home fans a night to remember with the first US victory in the women’s shot put.
Kerley, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, timed his dip perfectly to clock 9.86 seconds and pip compatriots Marvin Bracy and Trayvon Bromell in front of an underwhelming home crowd at Hayward Field.
“It’s amazing to do it on home soil with the home crowd behind us. It’s a wonderful blessing to get a clean sweep,” said Kerley, who had run the fastest-ever World Championships heat on Friday in a scorching 9.79 seconds.
Photo: AFP
Bracy edged Bromell for silver by two-thousandths of a second after both ran 9.88 seconds. Another American, defending champion Christian Coleman, finished sixth.
Despite having four runners in the final, Bracy said getting three on the podium was easier said than done.
“To say it is one thing, to do it is another. We knew it was very much possible,” he added. “It was about three guys getting on the same accord.”
Photo: AFP
Italy’s Olympic 100m champion Lamont Jacobs, who has battled a thigh injury for several weeks, pulled out of the semi-finals earlier in the day.
In the shot put, Ealey threw 20.49m with her opening attempt to win the US team’s first World Championships gold medal on home soil and deny China’s Gong Lijiao a third successive title.
“I haven’t quite absorbed the information that it’s happened,” Ealey said. “It just feels really good.”
Photo: AFP
To remind herself to relax and breathe, Ealey said she glances at her forearm, where she has “breathe” tattooed on it.
This competition certainly left her breathless, because after her first attempt, no one could match her. It is the first time a female thrower has won the competition at worlds on her first-round attempt in the final.
Olympic champion Gong came close with her fifth try, which fell just 10cm short, but had to settle for silver, while Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands clinched bronze.
China did manage to win gold in the men’s long jump, Wang Jianan producing a last-round leap of 8.36m to snatch the title away from Tentoglou Miltiadis.
In the morning session, Ethiopian world record holder Letesenbet Gidey beat Sifan Hassan to win the women’s 10,000m gold in 30:09.94, the fastest time of the year.
Olympic and defending world champion Hassan, who has barely been seen on the track this year, ran out of gas in the final straight to finish fourth.
In the men’s hammer throw, Poland’s Pawel Fajdek produced the best throw of the year to become only the second athlete to win five back-to-back world golds, after pole vaulter Sergey Bubka.
Taiwan’s Chen Chieh just missed qualifying for the men’s 400m hurdles, after he finished fifth in 51.55 seconds in the first heat. The 30-year-old placed 30th overall in the qualifying heats.
Compatriot Chen Kuei-ru also failed to qualify in the men’s 110m hurdles, finishing eighth in 13.82 seconds in the second heat, and placing 34th overall in the qualifiers.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AP
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