Doha (AFP)

A fiery atmosphere, contests and incredible races: the penultimate day of the World Athletics Championships in Doha gave birth to an unforgettable evening at Khalifa stadium on Saturday.

It was therefore necessary to wait for the final stretch of the competition to see the World Championships blaze after a more than startling start on the track and in the stands. 24 hours after the world record of the American Dalilah Muhammad 400 m hurdles and the victory of local hero Mutaz Essa Barshim to the height, which had already capsized the public, the atmosphere remained electric with a solidly filled and first-rate performance.

- The kings of the world sprint -

The 4x100 relay men, the main highlight of the program, has kept all its promises with the return to the top of the United States. After a scarcity of 12 years at the Worlds, following the advent of Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt, the Americans took advantage of the retirement of "La Foudre" in 2017 and the outbreak of two cars Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles to resurface.

With Coleman, fresh world champion in the first 100m relay runner, and Lyles, king of the last 200m, the USA and their "dream team" did not have much to fear. Still, it was necessary to bring the baton to safety and not to be frightened as in the series, where the last transmission between Michael Rodgers and Cravon Gillespie was more than litigious, provoking a claim from Canada and Italy, finally refused.

But everything went perfectly for the Americans, winners in 37 sec 10, the third time of all time, and Coleman and Lyles can leave Qatar with two gold medals each, symbol of the comeback of the United States. United on the throne of the sprint, but more globally of the domination of the athletes from overseas on these Worlds.

For the French (Amaury Golitin, Jimmy Vicaut, Meba-Mickaël Zeze, Christophe Lemaitre), everything is on the contrary gone wrong, as since the beginning of the Worlds, since they dropped the stick from the first passage of witness, between Golitin and Vicaut. Christophe Lemaitre, who had skipped the 200m and was not lined up in the 4x100m relay series Friday, before being selected for the final, has not played any race in Doha.

- Hassan indecent -

In the women's 4x100m, there was no surprise with the overwhelming success of Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (41 sec 44), also a double gold medalist in Doha after her victory over 100 m.

At the triple jump, the logic was also respected and Yulimar Rojas remained the queen, two years after her coronation in London. If the Venezuelan, who had established the 2nd best performance in history (15.41 m) on September 6, did not improve the old world record of the Ukrainian Inessa Kravets (15.50 m, August 10 1995), she was again untouchable with a jump to 15.37 m.

The evening was also the scene of a weightless madness contest, arguably the best in history, with four pitchers over 22m. In this little game, the American Joe Kovacs was the strongest with a final throw at 22.91 m, winning a second title after 2015 and becoming the 3rd performer of all time, tied with the Italian Alessandro Andrei. His compatriot Ryan Crouser, Olympic gold medalist in 2016, and New Zealander Tomas Walsh, crowned in 2017, failed at a small centimeter (22.90 m both).

With the new success of the Dutchman Sifan Hassan in the 1500m, athletics has been brought back to his old demons. The protege of Alberto Salazar, suspended four years for "incitement to doping", and already victorious of the 10 000 m a week ago, has offered a double unprecedented at the World Championships flying over the race indecently, leading the peloton before escaping 300 m from the finish. No one was able to follow the infernal rhythm of the Dutch, who won in a prodigious time of 3 min 51 sec 95, the 6th best time ever recorded.

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