‘A long time coming’ as Kenya’s Lilian Odira wins 800m gold at World Championships

TOKYO – At the end of the day, Kenya’s Lilian Odira was just “grateful” as she produced a storming finish to win an astonishing 800 metres world gold on Sept 21, smashing her personal best by almost two seconds and erasing the 42-year-old championship record.

The 26-year-old looked out of it with 30 metres to go but surged past two Britons leading the race to win in 1min 54.62sec, beating the mark set by Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova at the first World Championships in 1983.

Georgia Hunter-Bell squeezed past her compatriot Keely Hodgkinson to take silver in a personal best 1:54.90, with the Olympic champion adding bronze to two previous world silvers in 1:54.91.

Hodgkinson had suffered a series of hamstring issues and returned to action only six weeks ago, but she has been in imperious form since and was the favourite.

It looked set for a British 1-2 but Odira somehow found an extra gear to overhaul them both.

“This is my first World Championships and I am really grateful to be leaving it as the world champion,” Odira said. “It has been a long time coming. The 800m is always very tactical. The first lap today was very fast. I knew I had to push on the second one. It was so quick.

“I was paying attention to what was happening with other runners. I was just following the pace of the race. I managed to have the most powerful finish and I got lucky to be going home with a gold medal.”

In the day’s other finals, Cole Hocker, who was disqualified from the 1,500 metres, earned redemption in the 5,000m by timing his run to the line to perfection to clinch a first world title.

The 24-year-old American, Olympic champion at 1,500m, crossed the line in 12:58.30 to make amends for being disqualified from the shorter race for barging through his rivals at the finish of his semi-final.

“I wanted to end the world championships on my terms,” said Hocker.

“I felt I was robbed in the 1,500m. I knew I had the opportunity today, that I had the legs to take this field. I had a lot of bodies ahead of me but I felt very strong, enough to pass them one by one.”

Belgian Isaac Kimeli took silver in 12:58.78, while Frenchman Jimmy Gressier claimed bronze to add to his stunning gold in the 10,000m in Tokyo.

In the relay events, Botswana produced a brilliant performance to win the men’s 4x400 metres, edging out the United States and South Africa in a blanket finish to become the first African winners of the event.

The US resumed normal service in the women’s final with individual 400m champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone anchoring them to gold in 3.16.61, ahead of Jamaica and the Netherlands.

The Americans then ended the championships in style as Noah Lyles and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden helped their country to emphatic golds in both 4x100m relays in driving rain.

Jefferson-Wooden, who won the 100-200m double in Tokyo, took the lead at the last exchange and Sha’Carri Richardson brought the baton home in 41.75sec.

Jamaica finished second in 41.79 to send sprint queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce into retirement with a 17th world championship medal. Germany came third in 41.87 for bronze.

In the men’s race, Lyles took the spotlight again as he brought the US home in 37.29 for his second gold after he won a fourth successive 200m following his bronze in the 100m.

Canada took silver in 37.55, with the Netherlands delighted with bronze in a national record 37.81.

Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers, twice Olympic silver medallist, won the high jump gold on countback but only after a nervous wait during a long rain suspension.

Both she and Poland’s Maria Zodzik cleared 2.00m, with Ukraine’s Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh sharing bronze on 1.97m with Serbia’s Angelina Topic. 

The US top the medal table with 16 gold, five silver and five bronze medals, with Kenya (7-2-2) second and Canada (3-1-1) third.

Meanwhile, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said the nine-day World Championships had been “extraordinary” and praised the people of Tokyo for creating such a great stadium atmosphere.

“It’s nine days of just outstanding athletics, and actually in a way so much more,” he said.

“This has been a championship for the ages, there have been many, many outstanding memories for me and pretty much every discipline, track and field, has thrown them up.”

He was also delighted to have a full house of around 58,000 for most nights, with more than 600,000 spectators attending overall. Those numbers were particularly significant coming after the Covid-delayed Olympics held in the same stadium in 2021 with no fans allowed in. AFP, REUTERS