Jennifer Varga / 24.hu
sports
The World Championships in Athletics in Budapest has reached its ninth and final day. The evening program did indeed include Hungarians, but at the same time it was a bit of fun, because in two hours we could see seven different finals. And the World Cup concluded with the 4×400 relay race.
One of the serious questions in the final program was whether Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who finished second in the 1,500m, can defend his title in the 5,000m. As usual, the Norwegian classic hid at the end of the field for a long time, and due to the high heat, he refreshed it several times after running. Then he made his move at the start of the last corner, and at the end of the race he overtook his Spanish rival by the last meter or two.
In the men’s javelin event, Narej Chopra, last year’s World Cup silver medalist and 2021 Olympic champion, was favorite to claim India’s first ever outdoor world title. Chopra was already convincing in the heats and now on the second series he cleared 88.17m to win the gold.
Before the women’s 800m, everyone was speculating if Thing Mo would make it to the finals, when it was previously believed that she wouldn’t even make it to the Budapest event. The American quickly took the lead, sprinting to the finish line, but then two more ran as well: Kenya’s Mary Moura won in a personal time of 1:56.03, Britain’s Kelly Hodgkinson was second, and Mo was third.
Bahraini Winifred Motele Yaffe won the women’s 3000m steeplechase. He only took the lead on the last lap, then let go of Beatriz Chepkoech, who had been leading confidently until then, and then on the wet ditch he seemed to get a bit caught in the obstacle, but he didn’t lose his head. Balance or momentum, so he finished first with a very convincing advantage. His time of 8:54.29 is the best in the world this year.
There is a 21-year-old world champion in the women’s high jump: Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahochsikh was the only one in the field to clear 201 cm. The final was particularly exciting, by the way, as three other people overcame a distance of 199 centimeters, while Briton Morgan Lake took a risk, but missed the podium in the end. Eleanor Patterson was second, and Nikola Oleslager third, meaning Australia took home two medals in the event.
The penultimate World Cup final was the men’s 4×400 relay, where the Hungarian team had set a national record in the semi-finals the previous day. The configuration of the field was interesting, for example, the Indian relay team also started in addition to the United States, Jamaica and Great Britain. The Americans advanced very quickly, only competing with records, although they failed to achieve this, but they still won confidently with a time of 2:57.31. The French relay, which broke the national record, came in second, while Great Britain came in third. Jamaica ranked fourth.
On the first day, Vemke Paul, who fell before the finish line, became the champion. In the women’s 4 x 400 relay, she started the last lap in third place. She had a serious disadvantage, but she ran more agile than her competitors. At first, he overtook the British and then the leading Jamaican competitor, so the last gold medal went to the Netherlands.
