Sandi Morris at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest 26 (© Getty Images)
It might have been a long wait, but at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Saturday (12), USA’s Sandi Morris finally claimed her first global outdoor title.
The 34-year-old soared over 4.90m to take victory on countback ahead of compatriot Hana Moll, while Switzerland’s Angelica Moser was third with 4.85m.
The eight-athlete field was whittled to five after the bar ascended to 4.80m, where Morris needed a third attempt, the veteran coming up with a clutch clearance.
That meant she joined Moll and Moser along with New Zealand duo Imogen Ayris and Eliza McCartney in the hunt for the Ultimate trophy. Aware of how much room she had to spare at 4.80m, and her fifth-place position at the time, Morris then chose to pass at 4.85m, believing she could clear 4.90m.
“I decided to risk it for the biscuit,” she said. “All I needed to do was that same jump at 4.90m so I waited, gathered my energy and I knew I had the height. I was like, ‘forget 4.85m, that’s not going to win, so I’m going to jump 4.90m.’ I had to battle really hard for that title.”
Moll and Moser both cleared 4.85m at the first attempt, with McCartney and Ayris unable to do so, and Morris, Moll and Moser all failed their first attempts at 4.90m.
Morris soon stepped up for her second attempt, the lights flashing around the stadium in unison with the crowd’s clapping. And then she duly delivered, moving into the lead.
Moser failed twice more but Moll, the 21-year-old who looks increasingly like the future of this event, soared over at the third attempt, the height just 1cm below the PB she’d cleared to win the Diamond League title last week.
However, she was still behind on countback and then recorded three failures at 4.95m, with Morris twice failing at 4.95m and once at 5.00m.
Morris has won two world indoor titles, an Olympic silver and four world outdoor silvers, but this was her first global outdoor title.
This competition marked just the second time in history that two women had cleared 4.90m in an outdoor competition. The first time was at the 2019 World Championships, where Morris had taken silver.
Moll was a fan of the new event. “It is a lot less taxing not to have to do a preliminary round before the final,” she said. “I think that is one of the reasons why we saw so many high bars because everyone was fresh and ready.”
Moser was content with her showing. “It was a very long season and I'm pretty tired but I'm really happy that I could finish it with a good result,” she said. “After the European Championships, I struggled to recover because we had meet after meet, so I never really had the chance to rest. Now I am just looking forward to recovering and taking some time off.”
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics
