Noah Lyles king of sprints, Shericka Jackson produces run for the ages in women’s 200m

BUDAPEST – There was double world sprint joy for Noah Lyles on Friday, while the second-fastest women’s 200m run in history saw Shericka Jackson dash Sha’Carri Richardson’s hopes of also achieving the 100m-200m sweep.

Lyles became the fifth man to do the double – and the first since Usain Bolt in 2015 – as he claimed his fourth individual World Championships title in Budapest.

“In my documentary, I talked about wanting it to be done, being different from anybody else, and winning double golds was one of the things on my list,” said the 26-year-old American, who could win a third gold in the men’s 4x100m relay.

“I wanted to show I am different. Today, I came out and showed it.”

He won in 19.52sec, his teammate Erriyon Knighton clocked 19.75 for silver, while Letsile Tebogo of Botswana captured the bronze in 19.81.

Lyles also did some serious self-reflection after finishing third in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I knew that many guys were coming out here with the idea of taking this from me and, to be honest, they have the ability to and, after what happened in Tokyo, I said I don’t believe in ‘deserving to win’ anymore,” he said.

“Just because I won it two years in a row (at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022) does not mean that it belongs to me.”

In the women’s event, Jackson produced a run for the ages as the 29-year-old Jamaican rebounded from the disappointment of being beaten by Richardson in the 100m to time 21.41, breaking her own championship record set in 2022.

Her time was just 0.07sec slower than the world record of 21.34 set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.

The United States’ Olympic bronze medallist Gabby Thomas took silver in 21.81, while Richardson ran a personal best of 21.92 to add a bronze to the gold she won in the 100m.

“I feel like I am a living testimony that you can create something if you really want it and never give up,” said Jackson, who switched to 100m-200m from 400m only in 2021.

“Even if I was pretty close to the world record, it was not the thing on my mind when I ran. As for the world record – I’m close, I’m close, I’m getting there.”

In other finals on Friday, Yulimar Rojas left it to her last jump in the women’s triple jump, winning gold in 15.08m and snatching victory from Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, who had led from the first round with a mark of 15m.

“It was very difficult. The fact that I won the competition with my last attempt makes it very special and memorable,” the 27-year-old Venezuelan said.

Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi took a leaf out of Rojas’ book as she grabbed the javelin title with her last throw.

Her 66.73m denied Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, who threw 65.47m in the first round. Australia’s Mackenzie Little was third with her 63.38m mark. AFP