Two medals of Russians
The main event of the eighth day of the Doha World Cup for Russian fans was the men's high jump final. Until recently, it seemed that only Ilya Ivanyuk, who is one of the leaders of the season with a jump of 2.33 m, would fight for medals. But just a few days before the competition, good news came - Mikhail Akimenko, who had taken the same height, achieved neutral status and arrived in Qatar.
The chances that one of them would eventually rise to the podium could be estimated as high. This season, in men's high jumps, there is no pronounced favorite who could be given a gold medal in advance. The statistical leader was Belarusian Maxim Nedosekov, but he made his attempt at 2.35 m only once in Minsk and never climbed more than 2.30 m.
Mutaza Essa Barshim could be considered a more dangerous rival. The most famous athlete of Qatar at home was to defend the world title, and if not for last year's injury, doubts about his success would not have arisen. Nevertheless, at the previous starts of the season Barshim was not particularly noticeable. However, already in qualifying for the World Cup, he looked very good and made it clear that health problems were behind.
The final competition began from a height of 2.19 m, at which none of the favorites had any problems. The bar then rose five centimeters, and Nedosekov did not immediately deal with it, while Akimenko, Ivanyuk and Barshim confidently moved on. One attempt was enough for them at the following heights of 2.27 m and 2.30 m, where Cuban Luis Enrique Sayas unexpectedly joined them in the first place. Nedosekov, along with Australian Brandon Stark and Canadian Michael Mason, also remained in the fight, but were inferior to the leading quartet in attempts.
At an altitude of 2.33 m, the Belarusian jumper stopped using two attempts and immediately conquered the bar. But the leadership of Nedosekov stopped Akimenko, who also quickly repeated a personal record. The remaining participants had to tinker - no one was able to take the height either from the first approach, or from the second. Still, Barshim was able to join the leaders, which caused a deafening noise in the stands of the Khalifa, and then Ivanyuk. Moreover, the judge forgot about the third attempt of the Russian - they already began to raise the bar when he wanted to start the jump.
Barshim continued to please the Qatari fans and the first time he conquered 2.35 m, adding eight centimeters to his best result of the season. But he did not become the first. Immediately Akimenko flew over the bar, and then Ivanyuk, who, after trying, shared the second place with Barshim. Both Russians thus broke their personal records. Mistaken Nedosekov had to transfer attempts to the next height of 2.37.
The Belarusian immediately knocked down the bar twice, and for the first time in 18 years in this discipline, two Russian athletes immediately rose to the podium. Neither Ivaniuk nor Akimenko could already fall below third place at their debut World Cup. But to rise above the first too. Barshim took a height of 2.37 meters on the first attempt, and the Russians were not able to repeat his result. Akimenko became the silver medalist, and Ivanyuk closed the top three medalists - for both this is a fantastic result.
'@mutazbarshim retains his World Men's High Jump title on home soil with 2.37m.
WHAT. A. FEELING.
No words can describe this crowd right now.
We love you Doha 🇶🇦🇶🇦🇶🇦 # WorldAthleticsChamps # Barshimpic.twitter.com / HJQ6o9Em3a
According to the head of the All-Russian Athletics Federation (VFLA) Dmitry Shlyakhtin, the Russians showed "incredible beauty jumping" and showed character and will.
“Akimenko, who has not performed at international competitions for four years, is his first adult start, at which he set a personal record, did not flinch. Ilya Ivanyuk will also return from Doha with a personal record and a smart attempt at 2.37 m. The guys are heroes because they managed to prove themselves in the stands, which simply “breathed” Barshima. It was a very cool fight, I feel proud for the guys, for their coaches, for our entire team, ”Shlyakhtina quotes TASS.
Record two months later
One of the most memorable events of the year in athletics was the world record of American Dalaila Muhammad in the 400 meters hurdles. On July 28, she ran the distance for 52.20 s and beat the 14th hundredth achievement of Julia Pechenkina, which had been held for 15 years.
But the world record of the Olympic champion in 2016 did not last long. Muhammad herself beat him in the finals of the Doha World Cup. First of all, she fought for gold with her young compatriot Sidney McLaughlin, who did not lag behind throughout the distance. To win, Muhammad had only to rewrite the story again, and in the end she stopped the stopwatch at around 52.16 s. McLaughlin lost only seven hundredths in this phenomenal race. The bronze medal was won by the representative of Jamaica Rachel Clayton, who was at the finish after a whole one and a half seconds.
🇺🇸 goes 1-2 as Dalilah Muhammad breaks own 400m hurdles world record in 52.16 on way to #WorldAthleticsChamps gold. @GoSydGo clocks impressive 52.23 for silver.
📰: https://t.co/IaCzxsFaOIpic.twitter.com/lmdQFPMyn2
Kenyan dominance
The next arena of confrontation between Kenya and Ethiopia was the men's 3000m hurdle race. This year, Ethiopians were more than ever close to upsetting their main rivals. The leader of the Kenyan national team and world champion Conceslus Kiproto was tormented all summer because of injuries, and the fans had no idea what form he was in. At the same time, the Ethiopians Lamecha Girma and Getnett Valais, along with Moroccan Sufyan El-Bakkali, showed very powerful results this year.
The four of them took the lead in the final race in Doha, and after the bell ringing, signaling the last lap, Kiproto and Girma accelerated to play gold only among themselves. They ran absolutely synchronously and also equally overcome all obstacles. Even at the finish line it was not clear who would win. And yet, the second gold in a row and the fourth medal for his career was won by Kiproto, who was only one hundredth of a second ahead of Girma. Kenya won the men's steeplechase at the world championships for the seventh time in a row and became the first country to dominate the men's program for so long.
Gold for 🇰🇪 in the 3000m steeplechase! 🥇 @ KipConseslus is the world champion in 8: 01.35 - wins by just 0.01 seconds.
His time is the second fastest winning time in # WorldAthleticsChampspic.twitter.com / i0pBvFn4f1
Cuba vs Cuba
Even after qualifying in the women's discus throw, it became obvious that only three athletes would lead the fight for medals. In addition to the current world champion Sandra Perkovich from Croatia, two cubes claimed the victory - the gold winner of 2015, Denia Caballero and Jaime Perez. The three of them came too far from all the other girls.
In the final, they had to determine in what order they line up on the podium. Perkovich made the first bid, throwing the disc at 66.72 meters, but Perez responded immediately with an attempt at 68.10 meters. Her leadership continued until the fourth round, when Caballero was further 34 centimeters further. Perez immediately responded with another impressive throw already at 69.17 meters, which no one was able to beat.
Perkovich had already surrendered by that time and didn’t even want the judges to measure her attempts. She became a bronze medalist and joined Yarelis Barrios from Cuba and Nicolaet Graç from Romania, who won four medals at the World Championships.
Yaimé Pérez leads a Cuban 1-2 in the #WorldAthleticsChamps discus final!
She becomes world champion with a 69.17m effort 🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/EuL30B5l4f
Colombian surprise
The eighth day ended with the men's final at a smooth 400 meters. From the tension that prevailed at the Khalifa stadium, even the speaker system broke down, and the participants of the race were left without a presentation to the public.
After the main favorite and leader of the season Michael Norman from the USA dropped out of the fight in the semi-final, the struggle between themselves was fought by natives of the Caribbean countries - Stephen Gardiner with the Bahamas and Kirani James from Grenada. But James tempered his ardor for the finale, and Gardiner was seriously determined to rise to the highest step of the podium after silver at the last world championship.
The Bahamian athlete in the end did not allow anyone to get close to himself, but behind his back the struggle for medals was serious. Suddenly, the second place went to the Colombian Anthony Zambrano - his compatriots had never been prize-winners in running disciplines. The 21-year-old athlete set the record for South America and left with bronze US representative Fred Curley, who was second before the final turn.
Super speedy from @_SpeedyStevie 🇧🇸
The Bahamian clocks a national record 43.48 on his way to #WorldAthleticsChamps 400m 🥇 pic.twitter.com/g4m0f0gIrW
Prize dispute
In women, the high jump competition is long over, but the passions around them continue to rage. The husband of the three-time world champion Maria Lasicki, television commentator Vladas Lasickas criticized the way the 26-year-old athlete reacted to the victory of the All-Russian Athletics Federation. He said that athletes for a gold medal receive an SMS message with congratulations from the head of the federation and a bouquet of flowers, while boxers at the recently concluded World Cup in Yekaterinburg were reckoned with a new car and prize money of five million rubles.
Boxers from their federation for winning the World Cup: car + 5 million rubles 👍🏻
Athletes from VFLA: SMS from the head of the federation with a bouquet 😂 pic.twitter.com/ZR8qVfxG7G
VFLA President Dmitry Shlyakhtin did not leave this attack without attention. He replied to Lasickas that the competition in Doha has not yet ended, so it’s premature to talk about the payment of prize money from the federation.
“In addition to Maria Lasitskene, there is still Sergey Shubenkov, just in case, Angelika Sidorova, the world championship has not ended yet. Therefore, the Federation is not going to hand over anything separately to Maria Lasitskene, because today it is necessary to complete the World Cup and all things are decided at the end of the season. Therefore, I believe that the statement itself does not sound correctly, ”said Shlyakhtin to RBC-Sport.
Lasickas continued the conversation in absentia and said on Twitter that he had in mind the performance of Mary not in Doha, but at the last World Cup in London, when she won her second gold medal of the competition.
Dmitry Anatolyevich, I had in mind the 2017 World Cup in London. It ended already 2 years ago 😉 pic.twitter.com/y9VIJoH3Qd
- Vladas Lasitskas (@VladasLasitskas) October 4, 2019Klishina’s injury
The World Cup in Doha was not without losses in the Russian team. At the last moment, the silver medalist of past competitions Daria Klishina withdrew from the competition. She will not be able to perform in the long jump and will be preparing with renewed vigor for the next Olympic season, when she fully recovers.
“Unfortunately, my team and I decided not to play at the World Championships in Doha and were forced to withdraw. The reason was an injury to the anterior surface of the thigh, which would not allow me to show a high level of jumping here. I flew here, continued to train, but today, after a control training, the coach and I decided not to speak. It is more important now to prepare smoothly and without forcing for the Olympic season, and not to speak here at all costs. Of course, I’m upset, but it’s a sport, ”Klishina told the VFLA press service.
Qualification in women's long jump will be held on October 5, and only Elena Sokolova will represent Russia in it. This year, Klishina had an active 6.84 m jump, which allowed her to be in 14th place in the list of the best of the current season.