THE United States emphatically won their ninth world men’s 4x400 gold from the last 10 finals yesterday but the absence of their women’s team allowed the Netherlands to take gold after one of the performances of the week by anchor Femke Bol.
Bol began the World Athletics Championships in Budapest by inexplicably falling metres short of the line as she battled for gold in the 4x400 mixed relay but, after recovering to win the 400m hurdles, she ended it with an extraordinary burst down that same home straight.
Yesterday’s race looked open but gold looked out of the question for the Dutch after three laps.
Bol collected the baton in third place, almost 20 metres adrift of leaders Jamaica and 10 behind Britain and was still well back going into the final straight.
She overhauled Britain’s Nicole Yeargin and though first place still looked impossible with only 20 metres to go, she somehow dragged herself up to and beyond Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams on the line.
The Dutch clocked 3:20.72, Jamaica’s second successive silver came in 3:20.88, with Britain taking bronze in 3.21.04.
The US men, who have won four of the last five Olympic golds as well as their worlds domination, were always in control of their race and came home well clear in 2:57.31.
Quincy Hall and Vernon Norwood built an early lead before Justin Robinson, who also got a gold in the mixed relay, stretched it to give anchor Rai Benjamin a virtual lap of honour.
That made four out of five relay golds following their double sprint success on Saturday and mixed 4x400 on opening night.
It also left them away and clear at the top of the medal table with 12 golds and 29 medals in all. Canada and Spain were next on the podium with four golds each.
France took a surprise silver as a national record 2:58.45 gave them their first medal of the championships. Britain took bronze in 2:58.71, holding off back-to-back silver medallists Jamaica.
Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championships when he pipped Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem in the men’s javelin.
Chopra won Olympic gold in Tokyo but managed only a silver at the worlds in Eugene last year. The only other Indian to win a medal at the worlds was Anju Bobby George, who took bronze in the women’s long jump in 2003 in Paris.
Chopra soared into the lead on his second attempt with an 88.17 metre effort, with the 25-year-old turning his back and celebrating in trademark fashion with his arms aloft immediately after his throw, knowing it was good.
Pakistan’s Nadeem, coming back from elbow surgery and a knee injury, produced his season’s best effort of 87.82 on his third attempt to win the silver medal, while the Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch took the bronze with 86.67.
In the women’s high jump, Yaroslava Mahuchikh sailed to victory for Ukraine’s lone gold medal of the Worlds, a remarkable achievement in a season disrupted by the war in her homeland.
The 21-year-old, who was forced to flee her home town of Dnipro, cleared 2.01 metres for her first world outdoor title after a pair of second-place finishes.
The bronze medallist at the Tokyo Olympics missed on three attempts at 2.07 before taking an emotional bow.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway raced to victory in the 5,000m, bouncing back from bitter disappointment in the 1,500m four days earlier.
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