Yulimar Rojas breaks the world triple jump medal in Belgrade (© Getty Images)
Venezuela’s world and Olympic triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas improved her own world indoor and outright records to 15.74m with her sixth and last effort at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22.
Just as she did in Tokyo last summer, she saved her best until last – and this jump in a packed and enraptured Stark Arena surpassed the outdoor world mark of 15.67m she achieved on that occasion.
Silver was also decided in the final round as 2019 world long jump silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk took inspiration from the previous day’s gold medal high jump performance by her Ukrainian teammate Yaroslava Mahuchikh to move into second place in her second-best event with a final effort of 14.74m.
After the morning’s track final – the men’s 3000m – had seen Selemon Barega add Belgrade gold to his 2018 Birmingham silver ahead of Ethiopian teammate Lamecha Girma, there was more concluding drama in the men’s high jump as Korea’s Woo Sanghyeok won his country’s first ever world indoor title with a first-time clearance of 2.34m to thwart the title ambitions of Italy’s Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi.
Rojas, who now has three successive world indoor golds, had set her original world indoor record in Madrid on 21 February 2020. She missed that record by just two centimetres in her last competition before these championships on 2 March as she returned to Madrid for the concluding World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the season, but it was a clear hint of what was to come.
The rangy Venezuelan phenomenon – she is 1.92m (6ft 2in) tall – became outdoor world record-holder last year after surpassing the mark of 15.50m set at the 1995 World Championships by Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets.
But after establishing an unassailable lead with her first, almost misfiring, effort of 15.19m, the hunt was on the record – and it being Rojas, it was a noisy and high energy enterprise.
Rojas’s second effort looked huge as she landed close to the 16-metre mark, but the red light registered a foul, and while she screwed her face up after her third attempt it was still 15.04m.
After a fourth-round foul, the fifth round drew a welcome green light and figures of 15.36m – equalling the championship record. But there was more to come…
Bekh-Romanchuk’s silver came under final threat from Kimberly Williams, whose opening effort of 14.59m had been demoted to bronze, but while the Jamaican improved to 14.62m it was not enough to alter the final medal order.
Woo, fourth at the Olympics last year, was in a commanding position to set that right and become the second Asian winner of this event after Qatar’s Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim – not present in Belgrade – for most of the competition as he proceeded to 2.31m without blemish.
He was joined there by five others, however, including Tamberi, whose late decision to compete had lifted the profile of the event.
At this point, however, the 25-year-old Woo lost the initiative as he required three attempts to clear, dropping down the order as Loic Gasch of Switzerland and Tamberi took over the top two positions after making 2.31m at the second attempt.
Hamish Kerr of New Zealand and Thiago Moura of Brazil also managed 2.31m at the second attempt to remain in the mix, setting respective national indoor and area indoor records in the process.
But the competition tipped again, decisively, as Woo – who had stood with hands over his face after his second failure at 2.31m – sailed over 2.34m at his first attempt.
Nobody else could reach him, and Gasch took silver on countback with Tamberi and Kerr sharing bronze. Moura wound up fifth.
Woo, with only one failure, had the opportunity to move back into gold position with his second attempt at 2.31m, but he failed again, standing momentarily stricken on the mat with his hands to his face.
The event had been energised by the news that Tamberi, who had been in doubt over his fitness to regain the title he won in Portland six years ago, had given the event the thumbs-up after two days in which he had been operating as a one-man PR machine for the sport as he interacted and posed with fans around the Stark Arena. Socially speaking, this is a man for whom the Covid-19 pandemic hit particularly hard…
Tamberi, who was holding an icepack on a troublesome hamstring in between jumps, had a first failure at 2.24m but cleared at the second attempt and then went over 2.28m at his first attempt, bouncing contentedly on the mat to mark the achievement. He was back up and running.
But Woo was there too.
Ethiopian hopes in this morning’s men’s 3000m final of matching the medal sweep achieved by its women 1500m runners on the previous evening had disappeared once Berihu Aregawi, who topped the 2022 world list with 7:26.20, failed to make it out of the heats.
But being able to call upon the 22-year-old Olympic 10,000m champion Barega and the 21-year-old Olympic steeplechase silver medallist Girma made their chances of a 1-2 look healthy – and lo, it came to pass.
The race pace rose and fell in the opening half, with Barega moving to the front then dropping back.
As the final 1000m approached it was the tall figure of Girma who led from Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo and his compatriot Barega, who moved ahead again.
At the bell a group of seven were in the medal hunt. Barega went for broke and held on to win gold in 7:41.38 ahead of Girma, who took silver in 7:41.63.
Britain’s US-based Marc Scott, who set a European indoor 5000m record of 12:57.08 earlier this year, raced smart throughout and moved through to earn his country’s first medal at these championships as he won bronze in 7:42.02.
Four years after winning the world indoor 60m hurdles title at his home venue of Birmingham, Andrew Pozzi lined up to defend it with the figure of world indoor record-holder and world champion Grant Holloway immediately to his left.
That state of affairs soon altered as Holloway bolted clear to win the fifth heat in 7.40, easily fastest ahead of the next best qualifying time of 7.55 set very smoothly by France’s Wilhem Belocian. But Pozzi, after a hesitant start, rallied to take the second of three automatic qualifying places in 7.60.
Olympic bronze medallist Ronald Levy of Jamaica failed to progress to this evening’s semifinals.
Isaiah Harris, anchor leg runner for the United States in the opening men’s 4x400m relay heat, staggered home in obvious discomfort over the final 100 metres after clearly being stricken with a hamstring problem and had to be helped from the track after hanging on to second place behind Belgium, who claimed the automatic qualifying place in 3:07.43.
Would the US time of 3:09.11 achieved by the agonised Harris be enough to claim one of the three additional qualifying places? Sadly for the gallant, if perhaps unwise, Harris, the answer was no.
Spain was the top qualifier with 3:06.98 ahead of the Czech Republic on 3:07.25 and then Belgium.
In the women’s 4x400m heats the United States were fastest in 3:28.82 ahead of the Netherlands – still to call upon individual silver medallist Femke Bol – on 3:29.36 and Poland on 3:30.51.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
