Jamaican Gayle upsets Echevarria to take long jump gold

Jamaican Gayle upsets Echevarria to take long jump gold
Fecha de publicación: 
29 September 2019
0
Imagen principal: 

Tajay Gayle became the first Jamaican man to ever win a world title in a field event, upsetting favourite Juan Miguel Echevarria of Cuba to grab gold in the long jump at the world athletics championships on Saturday with the biggest leap of the season.

The 23-year-old sped down the runway at high speed, leaping into the air to claim a distance of 8.69 metres on his fourth attempt, recording a personal best and beating his Cuban rival's 8.65m season best.

Jeff Henderson of the United States, the 2016 Olympic champion, finished second with a jump of 8.39m, his longest effort of the year.

 Echevarria made a slow start and could not replicate his best form of 2019, taking bronze with a jump of 8.34m on his third attempt.

"I know I could have been better, but I'm happy I made it to the podium at an international competition," the 21-year-old said.

South Africa's Luvo Manyonga, the defending world champion, finished fourth with 8.28m.

 Elsewhere, Sifan Hassan displayed her remarkable versatility by producing a stunning final lap to win the women's 10,000 metres, an event she ran for the first time only in May.

The Dutchwoman overtook Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey just before the bell and powered away over the final lap to win in a season's best time of 30 minutes 17.63 seconds and claim the first world or Olympic title of her career.

Gidey, who also started to run 10,000 metres this year, was second and Kenya's Agnes Tirop third.

 DeAnna Price won the women's hammer to become the first US athlete to claim the title.

Price, who led qualifying with 73.77 metres, threw 77.54 metres with her third attempt as she took advantage of the absence of four-times world champion Anita Wlodarczyk who was sidelined with injury.

The 26-year-old, who celebrated in front of fans with an American flag draped around her shoulders, had emerged as favourite after setting the season's best and North American record of 78.24 metres to win the U.S. title in late July.

Joana Fiodorow was second with a personal best of 76.35 and China's Wang Zheng took bronze with 74.76.

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.