Silver and Shubenkov's record
This year, the organizers of the World Cup decided to shrink the program of competitions in 110 meters hurdles. If the semi-finals and the finals are usually held on different days, this time the two races in the evening session were shared by less than three hours. They did not even begin to move the medal race to the very end of the day, as happens with a 100 meter run.
The last time this format was used at the 2013 World Cup. These were the first competitions in which Sergey Shubenkov was considered the favorite. Six years ago, he won the semifinals with a result of 13.17 seconds, but then became one of three athletes who worsened their performance in the final. Nevertheless, Shubenkov then became a bronze medalist and began a medal series at the World Championships, which in Doha could be a record - no one has yet won awards in the 110-meter hurdles in four consecutive world championships.
To begin with, Shubenkov had to show himself in the semifinal race. His main rival in this race was the season leader with a score of 12.98 seconds, American Grant Holloway. He started very quickly and created a tangible reserve, but Shubenkov won the finish spurt, managing to reduce the gap to the minimum before his eyes. As a result, two runners were separated by eight hundredths of a second, and together they went further.
The company in the final race was made up of Jamaican Omar MacLeod, who with a result of 13.08 won the second semifinal, Spaniard Orlando Ortega, who was the best in the third with a time of 13.16. Better Shubenkova before the main event of the evening also ran the Frenchman Pascal Martino-Lagar, showing 13.12 s.
The finalists for the 110m hurdles are decided.
Who will be crowned world champion tonight? # WorldAthleticsChampspic.twitter.com / FykjHPNR9f
The final race flew quickly, but a huge amount of events took place. Shubenkov again started worse than anyone and at the first hurdles he saw the backs of rivals. Holloway immediately burst forward with MacLeod and Ortega. But the Russian again amazingly ran the second half of the distance, catching up on the last meters of the race leaders.
At that moment something happened that was even predictable to some extent. MacLeod shifted too far to the right, touched Ortega, who was running alongside, and fell onto the track, at the same time slowing down the Spaniard. Two favorites eliminated the fight for medals, and Shubenkov rose to second place. To his great happiness, he ran along the far right path, on which the Jamaican would not have threatened him. Holloway won, and Martino-Lagar became the bronze medalist, from whom Shubenkov took revenge for last year’s defeat at the European Championships.
For the Russian national team, his medal was the third at the World Championships in Doha. Earlier, pole vaulter Angelika Sidorova and high jumper Maria Lasitsken celebrated the victory.
The youngest in the field gets the 🥇
21-year-old @Flaamingoo_ is the 110m hurdles world champion in 13.10. # WorldAthleticsChampspic.twitter.com / GLjxY4qb8b
Faydek's fourth triumph
Another finale with Russian participation took place in the men's hammer throw. Two years ago, this discipline brought silver to Valery Pronkin. But he did not come to Doha to defend his medal, as he had not received neutral status again. At the same time, the 25-year-old athlete has the fourth season result in the world, shown less than a month ago.
In his absence, unofficially, two athletes represented Russia at the tournament. Experienced Dmitry Lukyanov in February was noted by a powerful result of 78.97 meters, but in Doha he was not close to him. With an attempt at 73.47 m, he took only 19th place in the qualification and was left without a final. But Evgeni Korotovsky made his way there, becoming the ninth with a 76.36 m throw.
But in the end, the only Russian representative took last place. In his best attempt, Korotovsky sent the hammer only 75.14 m.
The victory, and the fourth in a row, was won by the Pole Pavel Faydek, whose shell first flew 80.15 m, and then 80.50 m. The second place went to the Frenchman Kenten Bigot, who remained fourth two years ago. Never before had his compatriots been winners of the Olympic Games or World Championships in hammer throwing. The third place with a lag of one centimeter was taken by Hungarian Benzze Halas. Season leader Wojciech Nowitzki from Poland was fourth.
Gold for Poland in the men's hammer - again!
Pawel Fajdek wins his fourth #WorldAthleticsChamps title with 80.50m! 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/oy3QcTSkfw
Shkurenev's chance for a medal
Decathlete Ilya Shkurenev went on another campaign for the World Cup medal. He did not succeed in two previous attempts - in Beijing he took fourth place, and in London he was disqualified for breaking down the barrier and could not finish the competition. But since then he became the silver medalist of the European Championship and was the third in the heptathlon at the continental championship in enclosed spaces.
The start of the competition in Doha turned out to be encouraging for Shkurenev. He was, as usual, brought up by the starting form - a hundred-meter race. For the 11.02 seconds shown, he scored only the 15th amount of points. But Shkurenev corrected himself in long jump, where he was already the third thanks to an attempt at 7.61 m. Both results became his best this season.
Shot put is not Shkurenev's strength, but he tried to minimize the gap from competitors. The Russian broke his personal record by sending a shell to the mark of 14.71 meters and became 13th in this discipline, and turned out to be the seventh in terms of points with the prospect of rising much higher due to his best views.
These include high jumps, which were the next item in the program. Shkurenev was required to score more points than all the main favorites, including Frenchman Kevin Mayer, Canadian Damian Warner and Grenadian Lyndon Victor. The Russian man jumped 2.04 m this season, but he managed to add one centimeter to this result. Then the bar grew more and more, and each time Shkurenev conquered it on the third attempt. Only at an altitude of 2.11 m did he decide to stop the fight, as the other contenders for medals were far behind.
Only the Estonian Maisel Uybo, who conquered a height of as much as 2.17 m, was the best Russian. Because of him, Shkurenev, to the last day, running 400 meters, climbed only to sixth place. But in a full-time confrontation on the track, he immediately went around his closest rival. According to the results of five types, the Russian athlete scored 4340 points, and for him this is a very good indicator, which, taking into account the remaining disciplines, gives chances to fight for bronze with Victor.
Final without Rudakova
For the Russian athlete Vera Rudakova, the world championship ended ahead of schedule. The specialist in the 400 meters hurdles reached the semifinals the day before, but could not continue the fight for medals. In her race, the 27-year-old athlete took sixth place with a result of 55.57 s, which allowed her to become only 18th among all participants in this stage. For Rudakova, this result was logical - in Doha, she showed her best results of the season, but to reach the final they were not enough.
With the best results, two Americans reached the final of the women's 400m hurdles - the Olympic champion Dalaila Muhammad, who never won the world championship, and the world record holder among juniors Sidney McLaughlin. They were the only ones able to run out of 54 seconds.
But in the men's smooth run on one lap, one of the main favorites will not be in the final. The leader of the season, American Michael Norman, due to an injury, ran very weakly for himself and took one of the last places among all the semi-finalists. The two best results were shown by the Bahamian Stephen Gardiner and the representative of Grenada, Kirani James.
Asher Smith victory without rivals
Before the final competition, in which Sergey Shubenkov won a record medal, another race for medals took place - women identified winners in the 200-meter race. Most of the athletes, who spoke at a distance half as long, did not fight for the awards again, and it remained for those who did not become so lazy to play them.
The favorite in this situation was the vice-champion of the world from Great Britain Dina Asher-Smith. In the semifinals, she was utterly superior to all rivals, and in the race for medals she added even more. The athlete ran out of 22 seconds, which, for example, did not succeed to the winner of the last World Cup from Holland Daphne Schippers.
It is noteworthy that running 200 meters remained the only discipline in athletics in which the British athletes, men or women, did not win the World Cup or the Olympic Games. Asher Smith, thanks to a broken national record, filled this gap. She beat Brittany Brown, the second American, by 0.34 seconds. The third Swiss Mujing Cambundi brought her country the first medal in this form.
After 100m 🥈 comes 200m 🥇
🇬🇧 @dinaashersmith becomes Britain's first 200m world champion in history!
She clocks a 21.88 national record on her way to #WorldAthleticsChamps gold. pic.twitter.com/qyodGB6WDE