Paris (AFP) – American Gabby Thomas streaked to Olympic 200m glory ahead of Julien Alfred in Paris on Tuesday, depriving Saint Lucia of a famous sprint double. Alfred had claimed a first-ever medal for her tiny Caribbean island nation when she won the 100m on the weekend, but she had no response when Thomas hit the bend and powered away down the final straight at the Stade de France. The US took gold and bronze either side of Alfred, as Thomas clocked 21.83sec for the victory and Brittany Brown rounded out the podium.
“I don’t think it could have gone any better,” said Thomas, who added that she had taken inspiration from watching teammates Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, and even Alfred in the men’s and women’s 100m. “My coach told me the only thing I need is to get the lead and finish strong, and I did that.” There were no complaints from Alfred. “I did feel ready for the 200m tonight,” she said. “I feel good, no complaints at all. First Olympics, to go back with gold and silver, I can’t ask for more than that.”
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It is the first time since the Montreal Games in 1976 that there were no Jamaican sprinters on the podium of either the women’s 100 or 200m. There was a huge upset earlier in the evening when Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr were deprived of victory in the men’s 1500m by fast-finishing American Cole Hocker. The race had been billed as a crunch set-to between the Norwegian gold medallist from the Tokyo Olympics and Britain’s reigning world champion. But in the end, Hocker raced through on the inside for a totally unexpected victory in an Olympic record of 3min 27.65sec. Kerr bagged silver in a British record of 3:27.79, while Ingebrigtsen came fourth after being passed by another American, Yared Nuguse, who clocked 3:27.80.
Hocker might be a relative unknown on the circuit, but the American insisted becoming Olympic champion had been his season’s goal. “I wrote that down and I repeated it to myself even if I didn’t believe it,” the 23-year-old said. “If they let me fly under the radar, then so be it. I think that might’ve just been the best.”
Ingebrigtsen complained that it was “just 100 metres too much,” having led the field out at a fast pace over the opening 800 metres. “Of course it’s a tactical error,” he said. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, who himself won two Olympic 1500m golds for Britain, had predicted the final could be a “race for the ages” given the bitter rivalry between Ingebrigtsen and Kerr. And so it proved, but not quite as Coe had foreseen as the unfancied Hocker stole the show with his late surge.
There was more hammer throw joy for Canada as world champion Camryn Rogers won the women’s competition with 76.97 metres. Her victory came just 48 hours after teammate and fellow world champ Ethan Katzberg secured the men’s hammer gold. The pair embraced trackside, Rogers draped in a Canadian flag.
There was no surprise in the men’s long jump as multiple global medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou retained the men’s Olympic long jump title. Tentoglou managed a best of 8.48 metres for his second gold, having also won at the Tokyo Games three years ago. Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock took silver with 8.36m while Italy’s Mattia Furlani claimed bronze, just 2cm adrift.
There was a second Olympic record on the night as Bahrain’s world champion Winfred Yavi won the women’s 3000m steeplechase in 8min 52.76sec. Uganda’s defending champion Peruth Chemutai took silver in a national record of 8:53.34 and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich claimed bronze in 8:55.15.
American reigning champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol of the Netherlands set up a mouth-watering final in the women’s 400m hurdles after each easily won their semi-finals. It also means Bol remains on course in her audacious bid for treble gold, having already anchored the Dutch quartet to 4x400m mixed relay glory. Her third event will be the women’s 4x400m relay.
© 2024 AFP
