Billed as the year of the Triple Jump, America’s Christian Taylor made sure the sport lived up to that hype by producing a World Leading mark of 18.21m to win GOLD at the 2015 World Championship.
In fact it was Taylor’s sixth effort that saw him leap to that incredible distance and got the whole stadium roaring in applause. Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo is another athlete capable of going over 18m, but he had to settle for Silver with his best mark of 17.73m. Former Olympic and World champion, Nelson Évora showed the experience of champion as he usurped Omar Craddock to Bronze with his last attempt of 17.52m.
Prior to the Championships, there was an expectation of an 18m mark, considering that both Taylor and Pichardo had already raised the bar this year in some of the Diamond League (DL) meets they competed in. The rivalry between these two became apparent when at the Doha DL they both surpassed 18m. On that day, Pichardo launched himself into prominence with 18.06m and Taylor doing 18.04m.
Taylor somehow has mastered how to come big in his last attempts, matching Pichardo’s DL record in Lausanne with his 18.06m mark. Having now won the title in Beijing, the American will be looking retaining his Olympic title in Rio next year, but he will be wary of Pichardo who is also capable of winning it.
Great Britain’s Jonathan Edwards holds the World Record (WR) of 18.29m, but that mark is now under threat as it looks likely to be broken very soon, and now Taylor has moved up to second in the all-time list.
The other big performance of the night came from Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk who set a new Championship Record of 80.85m to win the women’s Hammer throw. The lowest the WR holder did of all her six attempts was 74.40, and it was her on first try.
Wlodarczyk, who is the first woman in history to go past 80m, twice recorded marks over 80m, and has now won her first world title since Berlin 2009. China’s Wenxiu Zhang threw a Season’s Best of 76.33m to take Silver, while France’s Alexandra Tavernier won Bronze 74.02m.
In the men’s Discus, Piotr Malachowski and his compatriot Robert Urbanek easily made the final, with both men throwing 65.59m and 64.23m respectively. Jamaica’s Fedrick Dacres threw the best mark of 65.77 in the qualification series.
Track events:
Usain Bolt further underlined his legendary status as the greatest athlete ever, striding to victory in the men’s 200m final. The Jamaican claimed his second GOLD of the Championships, but beating Justin Gatlin for the second time in two days will delight him more.
Coming into Beijing, there were talks if Bolt would lose his title as Gatlin has been the best performer in the last two years. However, it was Bolt who yet again made history by winning his 10th GOLD on the scene where his greatness blossomed… Beijing.
In the women’s 400m, Allyson Felix got the one medal missing in her cabinet as she powered through to win GOLD in a World Leading time of 49.28s. Shaunae Miller won Silver, running a new Personal Best (PB) of 49.67s with Shericka Miller taking Bronze, also with a PB of 49.99s.
Aries Merritt ran the fastest time in the men’s 110m hurdles semi-final, winning with a time of 13.08s. The American will be many neutrals favourite, especially as he will be going for surgery after competing in Beijing.
Defending champion David Oliver finished second in his heat but qualified with 13.17s, with Dimitri Bascou pipping him on the line to win 13.16s.
Kenya could add to their medal’s tally as their big guys, Asbel Kiprop, Silas Kiplagat all made it through to the final of the men’s 1500m, qualifying with times of 3:38.97 and 3:38.13 respectively.
Eunice Sum almost didn’t make it to the final of the women’s 800m, finishing 3rd in heat 3 of the semi-final with a time of 1:57.56, but it was enough to see her through. Former champion Caster Semenya on her comeback after taking some time off following the controversy over her gender, finished 8th in heat 1 with a time of 2:03.18.
Day 6 just like the previous day threw up some spectacular shows especially from: Taylor, Felix, Wlodarczyk and Bolt. Maybe Day 7 might just be better.
