Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie will have to wait until the next World Championships to have a shot at winning the world title. It looked like it was going to be the year the World Record (WR) holder would win it, and he started very well after clearing the 5.80m with ease in his first attempt.
However, three failures in clearing 5.90m saw the European champion miss out on a place on the podium. The surprise package was Canada’s Shawnacy Barber who took the GOLD, with defending champion Raphael Holzdeppe settling for Silver as Pawel Wojciechowski claimed Bronze.
In the women’s Pole Vault, World Leader Nikoléta Kyriakopoulou easily qualified for the next round of the women’s Pole Vault, needing just one jump of 4.55 to go through, but so also was 2011 World champion Fabiana Murer.
America’s Jeff Henderson produced the best performance in the men’s Long Jump as he led other 11 athletes who qualified for the final with a leap of 8.36m. Olympic Champion Greg Rutherford had the second best mark of 8.25m, but it was surprising to see America’s Marquis Dendy not make the next round.
Keshorn Walcott who had fitness concerns coming into this World championships, suffered a shock elimination in the men’s Javelin. The Trinidad & Tobago athlete who won the 2012 Olympic GOLD, has gone past 90m this season and was a strong favourite, but he will have to come back stronger next year at the Rio Olympics.
Kenya’s Julius Yego is another thrower to have gone past 90m this year, and the World leader had no problem making it through the qualification rounds into the final.
Colombia’s Caterine Ibaguen retained her Triple Jump title after going a distance of 14.90m. That feat saw her set a new Season’s Best, further underlining her dominance since the last two years. Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko set a new Israel National Record to take Silver in 14.78m, with Olympic Champion, Olga Rypakova winning Bronze after leaping her best of 14.77m
The women’s Discus will definitely be between 2011 Central American and Caribbean champion, Cuba’s Denia Caballero and defending champion, Sandra Perkovic. Both eased through to the final with, Caballero who had already beaten Perkovic this year throwing 65.15m in the first round. Perkovic threw 64.51 and would be eager to go further in the final.
Discus will be the field event most observers will watch out for on Day 4, but the men’s Long Jump will equally be exciting.
Click here to read our review on the Track events
