Rojas's final jump, Kitaguchi's last throw and Lyles's double victories at Worlds
B
oth Yulimar Rojas and Haruka Kitaguchi triumphed at the World Athletics Championships with their final attempts while Noah Lyles added the 200m title to his 100m crown here.
Yulimar Rojas, the world record holder and Olympic champion in the women's triple jump, was far from her best form as she was eighth in 14.33m with only one jump to go, reports Xinhua.
But the 27-year-old Venezuelan only needed one opportunity to leave everyone behind. A final jump of 15.08m enabled her to win the world title four times in a row, as Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine and Cuban Leyanis Perez Hernanedez followed behind in 15.00m and 14.96m respectively.
"It was very difficult. The fact that I won the competition with my last attempt makes it very special and memorable," said Rojas. "This is my seventh world championship gold in a row (outdoors and indoors), but this is the most special of all of them. My last attempt was proof of the hard work I have done, my mental state and my self confidence. "
Although the result was far behind her personal best of 15.67m, Rojas said she didn't care. "The only thing I had in mind was to win the gold."
In the women's javelin throw final, Colombian veteran Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado held the top position firmly in 65.47m with her first try, but Japanese Kitaguchi, who couldn't surpass the 63m mark in her previous five attempts, made a tremendous throw to turn around the table in 66.73m.
"The key thing to win this title was just to believe it," said 25-year-old KitaguchiI who won a bronze medal at last year's World Championships. "My goal (at last year) was just to get into the final. This time, coming to Hungary, my goal was a medal and even higher - I wanted the gold."
Neither Olympic champion Liu Shiying of China nor two-time world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber from Australia made a podium finish. Barber's teammate Mackenzie Little was third in 63.38m.
In the men's 200m final, American Lyles took his third straight world title in this distance in 19.52 seconds and became the first man to make the 100m and 200m doubles at the World Championships since Jamaican legend Usain Bolt in 2015.
Lyles teammate Erriyon Knighton took the silver in 19.75 while Letsile Taboo of Botswana finished third in 19.81 seconds.
"It is a great feeling to know I did something not a lot of people have done," said Lyles who also eyes on winning the third gold from the 4x100m relay event.
Jamaican Shericka Jackson also took victory in this distance as she defended her title by slicing off 0.04 second from her previous Championships record of 21.45 seconds.
Americans Gabrielle Thomas and Sha'Carri Richardson followed behind in 21.81 and 21.92 seconds respectively.
✔️ Rojas's final jump, Kitaguchi's last throw and Lyles's double victories at Worlds
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