Tentoglou was not lucky this time. Leading the event up to the last attempt with 8.32 m, he saw Wang pass him with 8.36 m. My take is that, given Tentoglou's talent, he should be able to land consistently at 8.50 m or beyond so as not to be vulnerable to "oi polloi". This would ask a little bit extra work but he can do it and become thus the indisputable king of long jump. Ehammer made the good choice to opt for the long jump and not for the decathlon since he ended up winning bronze with his 8.16 m performance, to the detriment of Massó (olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo) who ended up fourth after Wang's jump. Montler was a disappointing 11th with just 7.81 m, while T. Gayle, the reigning champion, suffering from a bone bruise could not obtain a valid jump in the qualifiers.
Women's long jump saw Ugen, Iapichino and Gardasevic go out in the qualifiers (the latter fouling all three jumps). L. OroMelo was the last qualified with 6.64m while I. Spanovic-Vuleta just scrapped into the final with 6.65 m. She could do no better than seventh with a 6.68 m, performance. The final was eventful with OroMelo taking the lead with a personal best of 6.89 m. It turned out that that was enough for bronze. E. Brume took the control of the event with 7.02 m while M. Mihambo fouled her first two attempts. But thanks to her experience she managed to land a 6.98 m on her third try, pushing Q. Brooks, 6.88 m, down to fourth place and J. Sawyers out of the first eight. She then went on to jump 7.09 m on her fourth and 7.12 m on her last attempt consolidating her victory.
Reigning champion C. Taylor went out in men's triple jump qualifiers. And W. Claye could do no better than eleventh in the final. The gold and silver medals were decided on the first jump with Pichardo jumping 17.95 m and Zango 17.55 m. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Y. Zhu had to content himself with bronze this time and a performance of 17.31 m. J. Díaz could not participate in the championships having switched alliance form Cuba to Spain just this year. But, since he is just 21 years old, he will have several more occasions.
Barshim confirmed what we already knew: he is the best high-jumper today. And the lightness he exudes is something unique. He won the event with 2.37 m ahead of Woo 2.35 m. Tamberi was not considered among the favourites but you should never underestimate him. In the end he lost the bronze medal to Protsenko on count-back at 2.33 m. I must say that I am somewhat disappointed by J. Harrison who could do no better than 2.27 m (after having failed to make the US team in the long jump).
The unfair exclusion of Russian athletes from international competitions deprived us of the presence of Lasitskene and a great fight at the top. As I wrote already I cannot condone the punishment of athletes, or scientists, or artists, for the decisions of a misguided head of state. With Lasitskene absent, Mahuchikh was elevated to favourite status. Curiously, she would never take the command of the event. Up to 2.00 m it was a "reborn" Valortigara who was first. I must say that after her 2.02 m jump in 2018 she had a succession of so-so performances and I had started to think that the 2018 performance was a "lucky" one. Well, I was wrong. She was in great shape in Eugene and her bronze medal is amply deserved. In the end Mahuchick lost to Patterson both clearing 2.02 m. (It's funny because we were expecting an australian to shine, in the person on McDermott-Olyslagers, and in the end it was Patterson who won the event). Geraschenko, in constant progress this year, went over 2 m at last (but she could do no better than fourth) while Levchenko, once a really promising athlete (silver world medalist in 2017 when she was just 19 years old), is having one so-so year after the other, eliminated in Eugene with 1.90 m in the qualifiers.
There was one noteworthy absence, also due to the exclusion of russian athletes, in women's pole vault, that of the reigning world champion A. Sidorova. Her absence was going to make the task of the remaining athletes easier. In fact, prior to the championships, Stefanidi had stated that 4.85 m would suffice for a medal. And she was spot on. Unfortunately for her that height was beyond her possibilities this year, and with 4.70 m she had to content with a fifth place. Nageotte added the world title to her olympic gold thanks to a first try clearance of 4.85 m while S. Morris need two tries. N. Kennedy was the surprise bronze medal winner.
I have written time and again on Duplantis and how he is a unique talent. In an article of mine, two years ago, when Duplantis started breaking the world record I wrote:
Forget Bubka, forget Lavillenie. Pole vault has just one name: Duplantis.
It was in fact the name of the post. This is all the more true today. Duplantis has brought pole vault to unimaginable heretofore heights. Winning the world title was a pure formality, which he did by clearing 6.00 m. He then went on to break the championships record with 6.06 m and then he offered us a superb world record at 6.21 m. Reigning world champion S. Kendricks was absent having undergone knee surgery at the beginning of May. E. Karalis could not repeat his success of Tokyo and exited at the qualifiers. E. Obiena won his first major medal finishing third on count-back form Nilsen at 5.94 m (an area record). E. Sasma, an athlete that I follow, did not disappoint me this time jumping a national record of 5.80 m. There were, as usual, stupid comments on tv concerning the records established outdoors versus ones established indoors. For those ignorant purists the outdoors records are the "real" one. I find such statements ridiculous. Pushing their skewed logic to the limit we should attribute greater value to records established against a strong wind and/or under pouring rain. This is pure malarkey. A record requires optimal conditions and for the vertical jumps they are guaranteed indoors. Now it happens that Duplantis is so great a pole vaulter that he can break his own record outdoors. But, as I said, Duplantis is unique.
The last time a woman threw the shot over 21 m was in 2011 when Dame Valerie Adams won the world title in Daegu with 21.24 m. Since then, a 20+ throw is an occasion for celebration and Lisovskaya's 22.63 m world record appears as something out of this world. Be that as it may, the world title was won by C. Ealey with a 20.49 m throw while L. Gong added another medal, this time a silver, to her rich collection, with 20.39 m.
The men's event saw a US medal sweep, Crouser, who was the pre-championships favourite, winning just by a slim margin: 22.94 to 22.89 m of Kovacs. T. Walsh could not make it to the podium this time. In fact bronze medalist J. Awotunde had three throws better than Walsh's 22.08 m the best being 22.29 m. J. Gill, a thrower I am following, was once again a finalist of the event, but I am not sure whether he will one day attain the podium.
I am really uncomfortable writing about the women's discus. Just as in the women's javelin last year a lucky throw by a so-so thrower sufficed in order to carry away the gold medal. B. Feng is a 65-66 m thrower and yet she managed a 69.12 m throw on her first attempt killing the event. Of course, Perkovic and Allman have only themselves to blame: being 70+ throwers could only manage 68.45 and 68.30 respectively and had to settle for silver and bronze. Reigning world champion Y. Pérez could only throw 63 m finishing seventh.
As the championships were approaching K. Ceh looked more and more as the favourite for the title. He confirmed it in Eugene winning with a championships record of 71.13 m. I think that breaking the world record is within his capabilities. The surprise came from 20-years-old M. Alekna who is already flirting with 70 m and obtained silver in Eugene with a 69.27 m throw. This time reigning champion D. Stahl could not attain the podium being beaten there by the 2017 champion A. Gudzius 67.55 to 67.10 m. F. Dacres was once more disappointing finishing ninth with just 64.85 m.
K. Barber doubled her gold medals in women's javelin throw retaining with 66.91 m the world title she had won in Doha. I must say that it is a little bit sad to see major titles won with 66 m throws. The post Spotakova-Abakumova-Obergfoll era is poor in performances and M. Andrejczyk who looked, as their heir after her 71.40 m throw, is plagued by injuries and it is not clear whether she will one day realise her full potential. She was out in the qualifiers in Eugene with 55.47 m throw. Ditto for E. Tzengko who could manage only 57.12 despite having a 65.40 m personal best established at the end of May. H. Liu, the asian record holder was also out with 57.59 m. S. Liu, the olympic "lucky" winner of last year, was second up to the last throw but was pushed out of the medals by K. Winger and H. Kitaguchi: 64.05, 63.27 and 63.25 m for the three of them.
It's really pathetic to see such great champions like Y. Yego and K. Walcott being unable to throw 80 m and exit in the qualifiers. Fortunately the new generation is here and confirming their great talent. A, Peters retained the title he had won in Doha with three 90+ throws winning with 90.54 m. N. Chopra proved that his olympic gold was not a fluke and obtained silver with 88.13 m. I kept an eye open for O. Helander who had recently thrown 89.83 m, but he was rather disappointing with 82.24 m, placing eighth. With Vetter and Rohler injured and Hoffman out in the qualifiers Weber was the only representative of the german javelin school and finished fourth with 86.86 m. A. Nadeem finished fifth, just as in Tokyo, and I intend to keep an eye open for him. We may have a new Chopra there.
Women's hammer throw was an open event due to the absence of A. Wlodarczyk, recently injured and D. Price, the 2019 winner, who withdrew, despite having contested the US Trials. In the end B. Andersen won with a 78.96 m throw. J. Kassanavoid obtained bronze with 74.86 m, a first major medal in athletics for a native-American woman. If you wonder who was the first native-American man to obtain a similar honour, this means that you are not reading my blog, since I have written about him I don't know how many times.
Just in case you find that these reports of mine do not suffice there are two excellent series of articles on the World Championships at Track and Field News and RunBlogRun. And of course the site of World Athletics gives the official results in full detail.
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