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More news articles Jones retains world indoor 60m hurdles crown
Bryan Clay, Christian Cantwell, Blanka Vlasic, Meseret Defar and Deresse Mekonnen also defend their titles in Doha
LOLO JONES retained her world indoor title in the 60m hurdles and after struggling to qualify, the defending champion blasted to a championship record of 7.72 to move to No.3 on the all-time lists.
After losing concentration in the semi-finals, the American star was only fourth in 8.04 but Jones made no such mistake in the final. Running from lane two, the former US champion enjoyed a terrific start and the 27-year-old ran a superb technical race to retain her title and reduce her lifetime best and championship record to 7.72.
Former world indoor champion Perdita Felicien upped her game to claim silver in a season’s best of 7.86 while her Canadian team-mate Priscilla Lopes-Schliep took third in 7.87.
Jones’ compatriot Bryan Clay also retained his title in the heptathlon. The former world outdoor champion won the title with 6204 to defeat team-mate and world decathlon champion Trey Hardee with 6184.
In the triple jump, Olga Rypakova upset defending champion and pre-competition favourite Yargelis Savigne from Cuba in an enthralling competition. The Kazakh moved into the lead with a fifth round effort of 14.93m and the Olympic fourth placer extended her supremacy in the final round to improve her Asian record to 15.14m for No.3 on the all-time lists.
Steve Hooker proved his ascendancy as the world and Olympic champion wrapped up the title with his very first vault of the competition. The Australian came into the competition at 5.70m, which he easily cleared at his first attempt, before soaring to a championship record and world-leading mark of 6.01m.
Malte Mohr and Alexander Straub took silver and bronze for Germany while Newham & Essex Beagle Steve Lewis had to settle for equal sixth at 5.45m.
Fabrice Lapierre won Australia’s second gold medal of the day in the long jump as the World Athletics Final winner took the title with 8.17m from defending champion Godfrey Mokoena (8.08m) and Mitchell Watt (8.05m).
Frenchman and world No.1 Salim Sdiri was shunted down from fourth to second in the final round.
USA’s Christian Cantwell completed the hat-trick, winning a very high quality shot put competition. The champion from 2004 and 2008 trailed former world outdoor champion Andrei Mikhnevich until the final round, when the defending champion produced a marvellous competitive effort of 21.83m to defeat Mikhnevich and world bronze medallist Ralf Bartels, who set a PB of 21.44m.
Dylan Armstrong took fourth in a Canadian record of 21.39m while Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski finished fifth with a Polish record of 21.20m.
Blanka Vlasic won her second world indoor title with a clearance of 2.00m from Spain’s Ruth Beitia and USA’s Chaunte Howard-Lowe.
On the track, Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar won her fourth consecutive world indoor title in the 3000m in 8:51.17 while compatriot Deresse Mekonnen also defended his title in the 1500m.
In the 400m finals, Debbie Dunn from the USA won the women’s final in 51.04 while Chris Brown from Bahamas won the men’s final in a season’s best of 45.96.
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