in qualifying the Jamaican Wayne Pinnock had already questioned the favoritism of the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou with a jump of 8.54 meters to be the world leader of the year the first time, without anesthesia. Well, both have starred in a stellar duel that has been decided in favor of the Hellene in his great specialty, against the ropes in the last attempt.
After jumping both 8.50 and Pinnock leading by an inch in his second best jump (8.40 to 8.39), the Jamaican went to 8.38 in the sixth. The Olympic champion needed to jump 8.41… and he went up to 8.52 to achieve his best jump of the year when it had to be done. The bronze went to the also Jamaican Tajay Gayle with 8.27, the same mark that relegated another compatriot like Carey McLeod to fourth place.
It rains it pours, so to speak. Tentoglou achieved the European title in Berlin’18 in the fifth jump (8.25) to relegate the German Heinle to silver and went even further in the 2019 European Indoors with 8.25 in the sixth jump that he left with a span of noses to the Swedish Montler. Or the most popular, when he needed to go to 8.41 in the Tokyo Games to snatch the gold from the Cuban Echeverria… and he jumped 8.41!
The other figure of the day was Femke Bol. Without the injured world record holder Sydney McLaughlin and after her fall on the mixed 4×400 grid that left the Dutch quartet without a medal, all eyes were on her and she did not disappoint.
The prodigious athlete of 1.83 meters and a waist as high as long is her stride dominated the 400 meter hurdles final at will with a remarkable record of 51.70followed by American Shamier Little (53.80) and Jamaican Rushell Clayton (52.81).
The 100m hurdles final was exciting and the Nigerian world record holder Tobi Amusan bit the dust after missing three controls and competing with the provisional pardon of World Athletics (sixth with 12.62)… If his last name had been Amusov he would not have received it. The Jamaican Danielle Williams beat with 12.43one hundredth less than the Puerto Rican Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and three less than the former US world record holder Kendra ‘Keni’ Harrison.
Absent in Budapest, the former American champion Vernon Norwood, the gold in 400 smooth went to the Jamaican Antonio Watson (44.22), ahead of the British Matthew Hudson-Smith (44.31) and Quincy Hall (44.37), from the United States. Finally, Canada also took the women’s hammer with Camryn Rogers (77.22), who was accompanied on the podium by the Americans Janee’ Kassanavoid (76.36) and DeAnna Pryce (75.41).