<p><br />Quick: Name the first athlete to win the 100m at consecutive Olympic Games.</p>
<p>Carl Lewis? Wrong.</p>
<p>Usain Bolt? Nope.</p>
<p>The first person &ndash; man or woman &ndash; to accomplish the feat was Wyomia Tyus, the US sprinter who unexpectedly won gold at the 1964 Tokyo Games and successfully defended her title four years later in Mexico City.</p>
<p>And yet, more than half a century later, Tyus&rsquo;s place in Olympic history as the first back-to-back 100m champion is often overlooked.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I guarantee you, you can ask people and they would not say me,&rdquo; Tyus said in a telephone interview from her home in Los Angeles. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re going to say either Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt. But you think about what I did. It took some 20 years before someone else even tied the record and close to 50 years before they broke it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The first to equal Tyus&rsquo;s achievement was Lewis, who won the 100m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and was elevated from second place to first in Seoul in 1988 after Ben Johnson was stripped of gold for using steroids.</p>
<p>Even then, Tyus remembers being slighted.</p>
<p>Watching the Seoul Games on television, she was stunned to hear the announcer declare that Lewis had just become the first person to claim consecutive Olympic 100m golds.</p>
<p>&ldquo;All my friends were calling me, asking, &lsquo;How could he say that?&rsquo;&rdquo; Tyus recalled.</p>
<p>Since her breakthrough, two other women have also won consecutive 100m titles: Gail Devers in 1992 and 1996 and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2008 and 2012.</p>
<p>Bolt later became the first person to achieve the triple, winning the 100m in 2008, 2012 and 2016.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I know one thing,&rdquo; said Tyus, now 75. &ldquo;If they speak of the 100m, they also have to speak of me and what I did, because I was the first.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/09b921c8-4a63-4f96-bbc2-ac68aae1f1d5.jpg?cachebuster=1e745cf2-7a53-452d-bd1f-95e0854890f4" alt="Wyomia Tyus" width="600" height="600" /><em><span style="font-size: 12px;"> Wyomia Tyus wins the 100m at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)</span></em></p>
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<p><br />Tyus&rsquo;s story is one of perseverance, resilience and grit: A sharecropper&rsquo;s daughter, she grew up on a dairy farm in a white neighbourhood in rural Georgia during the Jim Crow era. She overcame family tragedy as a teenager and went on to win four Olympic medals &ndash; the two 100m golds as well as gold and silver medals in the 4x100m relay. She also set or equalled the 100m world record four times.</p>
<p>Tyus was a member of the Tigerbelles, the group of African-American female runners coached by the legendary Ed Temple at Tennessee State University. From 1950 to 1994, Temple coached 40 black female Olympians who won 23 medals, including 13 gold. Temple&rsquo;s proteges included the great Wilma Rudolph, who won three sprint golds at the 1960 Rome Olympics.</p>
<p>Even when Tyus was preparing to defend her 100m title in Mexico City, few paid much notice to the possibility of her becoming the first person to win track&rsquo;s marquee event twice in a row.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Nobody except me and Mr Temple thought I would be the first person ever to go and do that,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;The press was only asking, &lsquo;Do you think you can get back to the Olympics?&rsquo; I thought, &lsquo;Yeah, I can get back there. That&rsquo;s not my goal. My goal is to win it.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Tyus&rsquo;s role in athlete protests at the Mexico City Games also went largely unnoticed at the time. Well before US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos carried out their raised-fist salute on the medal podium, Tyus made her own personal statement by wearing black shorts &ndash; rather than the official white team shorts &ndash; during her races.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was wearing the shorts long before Tommie and Carlos did their victory stand protest,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But women were not heard or spoken to and black women definitely were not. People said, &lsquo;What&rsquo;s she doing?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_76h0OCM558" width="500" height="280" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<h3>Growing up in Georgia</h3>
<p>Tyus was raised on a tenant dairy farm in Griffin, Georgia, the only girl in a family with three older brothers. Tyus&rsquo;s father, Willie, was a sharecropper who worked the farm, which was owned by a white family. As the only black family in the area, the Tyus children played with the white boys from the neighbourhood, but the white girls were not allowed to play with black kids.</p>
<p>Tyus loved sports and competing against her brothers.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I always wanted to beat them,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;I always wanted to be the one that could ride my bike the fastest or climb the highest in the tree. That was just part of me. I just had the desire to be the best.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Tyus&rsquo;s childhood was shattered by two events: The family&rsquo;s house burned down when she was 14 and her father died a year later from an illness.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was really traumatic for me,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I went into a shell.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In what proved to be a life-changing moment, Temple spotted Tyus at a state track meet and invited her to attend his summer camp at Tennessee State. Temple met with Tyus&rsquo;s mother, Marie, and convinced her to let the 15-year-old go. Her school raised the money for the train fare to Nashville.</p>
<p>Tyus took the train by herself, the start of a journey that shaped the rest of her life. Temple became not only a coach but a father figure to the quiet teenager, who went on to attend Tennessee State on a scholarship and &ndash; like all of Temple&rsquo;s Tigerbelle athletes &ndash; graduate with a college degree.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Mr Temple had the same values and goals that my Mom and Dad had for me,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;He was giving black women an opportunity to get an education, which was unheard of at the time.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Triumph in Tokyo</h3>
<p>Tyus was 18 when she qualified for the 1964 Olympic team, finishing third in the 100m at the US Trials. Temple, who was coach of the US women&rsquo;s track team, told her that Tokyo would be a good learning experience. Her real opportunity, he said, would come at the 1968 Mexico City Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He made me believe that &rsquo;68 would be my year,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;He said, &lsquo;Tyus, we&rsquo;re looking four years down the line&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
<p>All the pressure was on her Tigerbelle teammate and best friend, Edith McGuire, who was expected to emulate Rudolph&rsquo;s triple gold medal performance (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay) from the previous Games.</p>
<p>Once the track competition started, Tyus grew more confident in her own chances.</p>
<p>She won all of her 100m heats, setting an Olympic record and equalling Rudolph&rsquo;s world record of 11.2 in the second round, and running 11.3 in the semifinals. Yet Tyus was not the favourite going into the final on 16 October 1964. McGuire was still the one to beat.</p>
<p>Tyus was loosening up in the warmup area before the final when Temple approached her.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Tyus, I need to talk to you,&rdquo; she recalled him saying. &ldquo;I just wanted to say you look really good in your races. I just don&rsquo;t want you to get a big head. Just go out there and do your best. You might be able to win a medal.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/e3231dc9-6a44-4ad2-93c1-52eda842a99a.jpg?cachebuster=fb67661e-cc0e-4bb2-ac55-45619852fdd7" alt="Wyomia Tyus" width="600" height="400" /><em><span style="font-size: 12px;"> Wyomia Tyus wins the 100m at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo (&copy; Getty Images)</span></em></p>
<hr style="border-bottom-color: #BBB; border-color: #BBB; margin-bottom: 20px;" />
<p>Ewa Klobukowska of Poland got off to a fast start in lane one, but Tyus made up ground and was surprised to find herself in the lead, ahead of McGuire.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I kept thinking, &lsquo;Gosh, I&rsquo;m out front here&rsquo;,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;It was like, &lsquo;Where is Edith?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Tyus had never beaten McGuire before. She knew not to turn her head to look for her.</p>
<p>&ldquo;At about 80 metres, I knew that is where she usually would catch and pass me,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;Where could she be? All of a sudden, I could hear her footsteps. At 90 metres she was right there on me. All I kept thinking was, &lsquo;Keep lifting. Lift, lift, lift. Lean at the tape.&rsquo; And then it was over.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Tyus broke the tape but wasn&rsquo;t sure of the result. McGuire hurried over to embrace her. Tyus said: &ldquo;I thought she had won. She said, &lsquo;Tyus, you won it. You won it.&rdquo;&rsquo;</p>
<p>Tyus had won in 11.4. McGuire took silver in 11.6 and Klobukowska the bronze in the same time.</p>
<p>McGuire went on to win gold in the 200m, an event Tyus didn&rsquo;t enter. They were both members of the US team that won silver in the 4x100m relay behind Poland.</p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/bf811566-2a00-4e05-99fa-1ed91b0e4235.jpg?cachebuster=9a62bf2d-6d27-4490-80dc-e6180bf1c2e9" alt="Wyomia Tyus" width="600" height="600" /><em><span style="font-size: 12px;"> Wyomia Tyus on the podium at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)</span></em></p>
<hr style="border-bottom-color: #BBB; border-color: #BBB; margin-bottom: 20px;" />
<h3>Mexico City medals</h3>
<p>By the time Mexico City came around, Tyus was 23. The media were saying she was too old.</p>
<p>Tyus again won all of her heats, but there would be stiff competition from Barbara Ferrrell and Irena Szewinska, who had both tied the world record of 11.1 seconds in their heats.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I convinced myself that everyone else in the race should be afraid of me,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;I just believed there was no one there that could beat me. I felt the medal was mine.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Before the final on 15 October 1968, Tyus was loosening up behind the starting blocks. She casually broke into a little dance ironically called the &lsquo;Tighten Up&rsquo;, named after the hit song by Archie Bell &amp; the Drells. Fans in the first few rows of stands played bongos as she danced.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was a psych thing I guess,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but I was mainly doing it to relax myself and think, &lsquo;Hey, I am so ready for this. Ready for this to be over and get my medal and be proud.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>Tyus got off to a strong start in lane three and dominated the race, crossing the line in 11 seconds flat, a world record. Ferrell and Szewinska took second and third, respectively, in 11.1.</p>
<p style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/1c604f48-8628-4062-98d7-29ecd6bd7faf.jpg?cachebuster=2743916d-6ed9-4d7d-9d96-8193317abaaf" alt="Wyomia Tyus" width="600" height="600" /><em><span style="font-size: 12px;"> Wyomia Tyus wins the 100m at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)</span></em></p>
<hr style="border-bottom-color: #BBB; border-color: #BBB; margin-bottom: 20px;" />
<p>&ldquo;It was just easy for me,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;It was easy running. That was my day.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Standing atop the podium, with rain pouring down, Tyus felt relief.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Ah, it&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; she recalled thinking. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have to do this again. I&rsquo;m done. I&rsquo;ve accomplished my goal.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Well, not quite done: on 20 October 1968 &ndash; 52 years ago to the day &ndash; she anchored the US 4x100m relay team to victory in a world record of 42.88 for her third career Olympic gold and fourth medal overall.</p>
<h3>Post Olympics</h3>
<p>Tyus moved to California and competed for several years on a professional track circuit. She worked as a teacher and coach and was a founding member of the Women&rsquo;s Sports Foundation. Her memoir &ndash; &lsquo;Tigerbelle: The Wyomia Tyus Story&rsquo;, co-authored with Elizabeth Terzakis &ndash; was published in 2018.</p>
<p>In 1999, Tyus returned to Griffin, Georgia, for the opening of the Wyomia Tyus Olympic Park &ndash; 164 acres featuring sports fields, a lake for fishing, picnic areas and nature trails.</p>
<p>More than 30 years after she had made Olympic history, her hometown was finally recognising her.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It means a lot more from my hometown to know that, as a black person from Griffin, Georgia, they would do something like that,&rdquo; Tyus said. &ldquo;I never felt that they would. I never looked for anything like that.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was so happy that my Mom and my coach were still alive and got to see that,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;To me, for my hometown to even say, &lsquo;Look we didn&rsquo;t do much for you when you won those medals in &rsquo;64 and &rsquo;68, but this is something&rsquo;. I was shocked and proud of that.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Stephen Wilson for World Athletics</strong></p>

Quick: Name the first athlete to win the 100m at consecutive Olympic Games.

Wyomia Tyus: Still fighting for recognition as the first back-to-back Olympic 100m champion

<p><br />It may have been a far-from-normal season, but the <strong>Wanda Diamond League</strong> will end on a high in Doha on Friday (25) with what is quite possibly the deepest line-up seen in any discipline this year.</p>
<p>A loaded 3000m field will bring down the curtain in the Qatari capital, featuring a clash between world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri and world steeplechase champion Beatrice Chepkoech. In fact, five medallists from four different disciplines at last year&rsquo;s World Championships will be back in action in Doha &ndash; and even then, that only scratches the surface of the quality of the field.</p>
<p>Obiri opened her outdoor campaign in Monaco last month, winning the 5000m in a world-leading 14:22.12, just four seconds shy of her Kenyan record. She has fond memories of Doha, too, as it is where she set a Kenyan 3000m record of 8:20.68 in 2014, following it with victories over 3000m at Doha&rsquo;s Diamond League meeting last year and over 5000m at the World Championships at the same venue.</p>
<p>Chepkoech also opened her outdoor season in Monaco, clocking 14:55.01 for 5000m, and she followed it with a 9:10.07 run for second place in the steeplechase at the Continental Tour meeting in Berlin earlier this month. The steeplechase world record-holder is one of four women in the field with a PB inside 8:30.</p>
<p>Other athletes in the field who stood on the podium in Doha last year include 5000m silver medallist Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, 10,000m bronze medallist and 2015 world cross-country champion Agnes Tirop, and 1500m bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay.</p>
<p>In fact, all 16 women in the field own a medal from a global or continental championship, or hold a world or continental record. The quality is such that they all deserve a mention: 2015 world steeplechase champion Hyvin Kiyeng, world U18 champion Lemlem Hailu, world U20 champion Beatrice Chebet, African Games 10,000m champion Tsehay Gemechu, African 1500m champion Winny Chebet, African Games 1500m champion Quailyne Jebiwott Kiprop, European 5000m silver medallist Eilish McColgan, European 1500m bronze medallist Laura Weightman, European indoor bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant, and Oceania record-holders Genevieve Gregson and Jessica Hull.</p>
<p>Mondo Duplantis will also aim to end his year on a high &ndash; quite literally &ndash; when he lines up for his final pole vault competition of the year.<br /><br /></p>
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Mondo Duplantis in action at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The 20-year-old from Sweden has enjoyed a dream season, setting world records of 6.17m and 6.18m indoors and maintaining a winning streak throughout the whole of 2020. His latest victory was a 6.15m clearance &ndash; the highest outdoor vault in history &ndash; at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome last week.</p>
<p>If he&rsquo;s feeling good, he may well decide to take an attempt at a would-be world record height of 6.19m, though Duplantis himself would be quick to point out that records are by no means a certainty every time he sets foot on the runway.</p>
<p>His main goal will be to keep his winning streak intact, which in itself will be no easy task as he takes on two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie.</p>
<h3>Mouth-watering middle-distance clashes</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s not just the women&rsquo;s 3000m that will bring together some of the world&rsquo;s best across a range of disciplines; the men&rsquo;s 1500m has attracted world and Olympic medallists from the steeplechase and 5000m.</p>
<p>World and Olympic steeplechase champion Conseslus Kipruto will make his season debut in what will be his first 1500m race in five years. The 25-year-old Kenyan will be joined by his two fellow medallists from last year&rsquo;s World Championships, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Lamecha Girma and Morocco&rsquo;s Soufiane El Bakkali, who have set PBs this year of 3:35.67 and 3:34.51 respectively. Kipruto may have proven time and again that he is the best over the barriers, but this is a test to see who has the greatest foot speed.<br /><br /></p>
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Conseslus Kipruto winning the 3000m steeplechase at the Diamond League meeting in Doha</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ethiopia&rsquo;s Selemon Barega, the world 5000m silver medallist, will also step down in distance in a bid to improve on his recent PB of 3:36.07. Australia&rsquo;s Stewart McSweyn, fresh from setting an Oceanian 3000m record in Rome, has the fastest season&rsquo;s best of the field (3:31.48) and will be a formidable opponent.</p>
<p>The 1500m will be without world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, because he too is stepping down in distance. The Kenyan will contest the 800m, where he&rsquo;ll line up against world bronze medallist Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich, World Championships fourth-place finisher Bryce Hoppel, 2016 European bronze medallist Elliot Giles, Pan American silver medallist Wesley Vazquez and Australian duo Peter Bol and Joseph Deng.</p>
<p>Cheruiyot has been undefeated since May 2019, but this will be his first 800m race for more than a year, whereas almost everyone else in the field has sharpened up over two laps and arrive in Doha with sub-1:45 season&rsquo;s bests.<br /><br /></p>
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<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/9eb99aa1-dd6d-43e1-b99e-9acc6068aaa1.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Timothy Cheruiyot wins the 1500m at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon is another athlete who heads to Doha off the back of an unbeaten run, and she too will move down in distance. The 26-year-old Kenyan has notched up two victories over 1000m this year, producing two of the five fastest times in history with her 2:29.15 run in Monaco and 2:29.92 win in Brussels. She followed it with a dominant 3:59.05 run over 1500m, her specialist distance, at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava.</p>
<p>Friday&rsquo;s race will be her first 800m outing in five years, but her two-lap splits from Monaco (1:59.7) and Brussels (1:59.2) suggest she&rsquo;s ready to run fast and could even challenge her PB of 1:58.02.</p>
<p>Uganda&rsquo;s Winnie Nanyondo, the fourth-place finisher at last year&rsquo;s World Championships, and 2013 world champion Eunice Sum will also line up for the 800m.</p>
<h3>Thompson-Herah looks to level the score with Ta Lou</h3>
<p>Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and multiple world medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou will renew their rivalry in what will be their fourth clash in Doha.</p>
<p>Thompson-Herah won their first Doha duel back in 2017, winning the 200m in 22.19, but Ivorian Ta Lou gained revenge over 100m one year later, winning in 10.85. Their third clash in the Qatari capital came at last year&rsquo;s World Championships, where Ta Lou finished third in the 100m, one place ahead of the Jamaican.<br /><br /></p>
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Dafne Schippers, Elaine Thompson and Marie-Josee Ta Lou in action at the Diamond League meeting in Doha</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Following her world-leading 10.85 in Rome &ndash; where Ta Lou placed third in 11.14 &ndash; Thompson-Herah will start as the 100m favourite in Doha on Friday. US duo Aleia Hobbs and Kayla White should also feature at the top end of the race.</p>
<p>Long jumpers Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk and Ese Brume will also square off again in what will be their first outdoor clash since last year&rsquo;s World Championships, where one centimetre separated their podium places.</p>
<p>Ukraine&rsquo;s Bekh-Romanchuk, the world silver medallist, has been extremely consistent this year, finishing first or second in all of her competitions, indoors and out. Brume, meanwhile, will be making her 2020 outdoor debut; her last competition was in Lievin in February, where she set an indoor PB of 6.82m.</p>
<p>Sweden&rsquo;s Khaddi Sagnia, who recently set an outdoor PB of 6.92m in Zagreb, will also be a tough opponent.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, in-form French hurdler Wilhem Belocian will take on USA&rsquo;s Freddie Crittenden and Aaron Mallet in the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles. Britain&rsquo;s Cindy Ofili and USA&rsquo;s Payton Chadwick appear closely matched in the women&rsquo;s sprint hurdles with just 0.01 separating their season&rsquo;s bests.</p>
<p>Fresh from some strong performances over 100m (10.04) and 150m (15.15), Ivory Coast&rsquo;s Arthur Cisse will step up to the 200m, where he will face Olympic bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre. Kuwait&rsquo;s Asian champion Yousef Karam will start as the fastest man this year in the 400m, but USA&rsquo;s Kahmari Montgomery is also running into good form.</p>
<p><strong>Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics</strong></p>

It may have been a far-from-normal season, but the Wanda Diamond League will end on a high in Doha on Friday (25) with what is quite possibly the deepest line-up seen in any discipline this year.

Loaded 3000m line-up for Doha as 2020 Wanda Diamond League set to go out on a high

<p><br />Life has never come easily to Trayvon Bromell.</p>
<p>He grew up on the south side of the city of St Petersburg, Florida, where poverty and gang violence were common. His best friend ended up in jail and Bromell admits he still to this day carries the scars of PTSD from some of the things he has seen in his life.</p>
<p>He found salvation in athletics. As a first-year university student, he won the NCAA 100m title. At the age of 20 he snared a world 100m bronze medal in Beijing. The following year, he struck 60m gold at the World Indoor Championships.</p>
<p>But since picking up a heel injury in 2016, he has undergone two surgeries and a painstaking rehabilitation which virtually wiped out three full seasons out of his career.</p>
<p>Yet this year Bromell is back. Despite a Covid-19 disrupted period of preparation, the 25-year-old US sprinter blitzed to a 9.90 100m clocking in July &ndash; a performance which currently sits second on the world lists and his fastest time for four years.</p>
<p>Now coached by Rana Reider alongside training partners Omar McLeod, Nia Ali and Andre de Grasse, Bromell is like a man re-born.</p>
<p>His underprivileged background has instilled the 1.75m tall sprinter with the motivation and will to succeed, and the mental resilience he has needed over the past three years.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I grew up around a lot of gang violence and gang influence,&rdquo; explains Bromell. &ldquo;It was a humbling place, a hard place &ndash; where we come from we call it the trenches. But living in these places can make you a man and make you withstand any storm that comes your way.&rdquo;</p>
<p>It is fair to say Bromell has overcome his fair share of storms.</p>
<p>His mother worked 7pm-7am every day and directed him down the right path, &ldquo;making sure I wasn&rsquo;t in those bad situations,&rdquo; explains Bromell. He took up sprinting at the age of four and joined the Lightning Bolt Track Club, where, for the next 14 years, his track career was guided by the inspirational Garlynn Boyd. Bromell describes Boyd as his &ldquo;second mom&rdquo; and she instilled in him a desire to improve.<br /><br /></p>
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CEc2nwnAbti/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Trayvon Bromell (@iamtrayvonbromell)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2020-08-28T23:07:49+00:00">Aug 28, 2020 at 4:07pm PDT</time></p>
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<p>Bromell&rsquo;s sporting journey, however, did not come without its challenges. Between his eighth and tenth grade, he broke his left knee doing a backflip, broke his right knee and forearm playing basketball, and fractured a hip during a race.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It (the injuries and my background) put me in a mind-set where I knew I had to work twice as hard to achieve what I have,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;None of the success you see has come without hard work. I&rsquo;ve had broken bones and health issues, I&rsquo;ve never had time to slack off.&rdquo;</p>
<p>And perhaps as a direct result of not being defeated by these set-backs, Bromell says he now fears no one on the track.</p>
<p>Bromell worked with Boyd to shrug off the injuries, and in his final year at high school he secured the national U20 100m title and earned 100m bronze at the 2013 Pan American Junior Championships in Colombia.</p>
<p>But after graduating from high school, he faced a crossroads in his life.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;What took me out of my environment was my decision to go to Baylor (University in Texas),&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;That gave me a better life. I even asked coach (Mike) Ford to try to get me to the school because &lsquo;if I don&rsquo;t leave St Pete, I don&rsquo;t know how my life is going to end&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013 he was recruited by Baylor, which quickly took his life on a positive trajectory. As a freshman he powered to a world U20 record of 9.97 on his way to the NCAA 100m title. In 2015 he shared world 100m bronze &ndash; coincidentally with his current training partner Andre de Grasse.</p>
<p>He turned pro, banked the 2016 world indoor 60m title and was preparing well for the Rio Olympics, only to pick up a heel injury&ndash; later diagnosed as a bone spur&nbsp;&ndash; the day before the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham in early June. He nonetheless battled on to the US Olympic Trials, where, despite a badly compromised build up, he equalled his PB to claim second in 9.84 and book his spot on the US team for Rio.<br /><br /></p>
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Trayvon Bromell at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the injury meant he was unable to produce his best in Brazil. Showing huge mental resilience and fortitude, he scrapped his way to the final but wound up eighth in 10.06.</p>
<p>Ever upbeat, Bromell tried to suck the positives out of his maiden Olympic experience. &ldquo;Of course, it was not on the circumstances I would have wanted, but I can&rsquo;t be mad,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The opportunity to race in an Olympic final is one many people would wish to have.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On his return home, he underwent surgery in Dallas to remove the bone spur. However, the doctor mistakenly advised Bromell to carry out no strengthening exercises on the heel. This was to prove costly.</p>
<p>The lack of rehab exercises caused a build-up of scar tissue, so Bromell had to undergo a second surgery to fix the problem. In between he had made it to the start line for the 100m heats of the 2017 US Championships but in his only appearance of the year he finished fifth in 10.22.</p>
<p>In 2018 he focused on strengthening his foot and achilles. Endless calf raises were part of the daily training diet while running sometimes up to 1000m in distance &ldquo;whatever the coach asked of me&rdquo; on the track, grass field on underwater treadmill were carried out.</p>
<p>It was, at times, a gruelling road back to full fitness</p>
<p>&ldquo;The hardest part was not being able to do what I love,&rdquo; says Bromell. &ldquo;Track is such a big part of me and my life. What kept me going were the people around me, my faith and mentality. They had to remind me where I&rsquo;d come from. Only the strong survive, and I had to find that fight again. I had to find that fire.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
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US sprinter Trayvon Bromell in action over 60m</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Twenty-four months on from his last competitive appearance, he returned to competition June 2019, finishing eighth in 10.57 in Kingston, Jamaica. In his next race in Montverde, Florida, he shaved 0.03 from that time but tweaked an adductor.</p>
<p>He knew change was necessary and the following month left his long-term coach, Mike Ford, in Texas to join Reider&rsquo;s world-class training group in Florida. Bromell fully acknowledges the huge role Ford played in his career development; he simply required a different set of resources.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I needed to be in a different environment and to try something new,&rdquo; explains Bromell of the switch. &ldquo;Rana has strong credentials, the drive and a fierce work ethic.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bromell says training under Reider is &lsquo;a grind&rsquo; and completely different to previous training regimes. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not for the weak,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You have to be ready to hurt.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He doesn&rsquo;t go into specifics, but insists he is not being deliberately evasive. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not lying to you, sometimes the workouts are so hard, it is difficult to remember them!&rdquo;</p>
<p>The training may be tough but the bond forged with his fellow athletes in the Tumbleweed Track Club is strong. He values the whole-hearted support of the likes of De Grasse, Ali, McLeod and others.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I say this with the utmost respect and love, that besides God, I would not be back running if it wasn&rsquo;t for this group of great individuals,&rdquo; he adds.</p>
<p>&ldquo;In the training sessions, I hear the guys shout out &lsquo;you can do it&rsquo; and &lsquo;you can make this comeback&rsquo;. We really push each other. If coronavirus had not have happened, the world would have seen some amazing performances from the Tumbleweed Track Club. The numbers we were putting up in practice were crazy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Covid-19 did then hit and Bromell was forced to improvise. Without a track or weight-room facility to access, training with resistance bands and carrying out body circuits at home became the norm. The group trained on grass fields and Reider was forced to yell his instructions from afar to ensure adequate physical distancing.<br /><br /></p>
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US sprinter Trayvon Bromell</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In July, just a week and a half before his outdoor seasonal debut, Bromell learned of the tragic death of his first coach and &lsquo;second mom&rsquo;, Boyd. She was aged just 54 but had struggled with diabetes &ndash; both of her legs were amputated &ndash; and she had contracted coronavirus.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was hard,&rdquo; says Bromell. &ldquo;She was like family and always there for me, it was like having another parent. She pushed me and gave me that inner drive. She coached every child as if they were her own. To see someone die who had nurtured so many kids was hard.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Inspired by Boyd, he ran 10.04 &ndash; his quickest 100m time for four years &ndash; in Montverde. Three weeks later he scorched to a 9.90 clocking &ndash; the joint-fourth fastest 100m time of his career &ndash; to defeat world 200m champion Noah Lyles in Clermont. Two more sub-10-second times &ndash; a 9.99 and a windy 9.87 &ndash; followed in August in Montverde before Bromell decided to shut down his brief but confidence-boosting 2020 campaign.</p>
<p>&ldquo;For this season, I did what we wanted to which was to come and run fast,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;When I ran 10.04 for my first outing, it was a big shock. Then to come out and run 9.90 against Noah showed great fitness under difficult circumstances (training in a global pandemic).&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bromell is currently taking a period of rest before returning to training in October when he&rsquo;ll turn his attention to preparing for the rescheduled Olympic Games. Given his past injury situation, Bromell admits the switching of the Tokyo Games could be beneficial for him.</p>
<p>Yet beyond medals and PBs, the Floridian, who went back to college to complete a masters&rsquo; degree in business, has some more general goals to achieve in the future.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say I&rsquo;m going to run nine-point-something, I just want to keep inspiring people,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If I do that, it will be more than I&rsquo;ve ever dreamed of.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for World Athletics</strong></p>

Life has never come easily to Trayvon Bromell.

Back to full health, Bromell's biggest goal is to continue to inspire

<p><br />In the country where &lsquo;Mondo&rsquo; means &lsquo;world&rsquo;, Swedish wunderkind Armand &lsquo;Mondo&rsquo; Duplantis confirmed his status as the world&rsquo;s greatest pole vaulter, jumping higher than anyone ever has in an outdoor stadium, 6.15m, at the <strong>Wanda Diamond League</strong> meeting in Rome on Thursday (17).</p>
<p>In February this year, Duplantis set world records of 6.17m and 6.18m on the World Indoor Tour. The latter remains the official world record* across both indoor and outdoor venues.</p>
<p>But no one had ever jumped higher than 6.14m in an outdoor stadium. Sergey Bubka&rsquo;s 6.14m monument from 1994 had stood inviolate for 26 years, but it has been under siege from Duplantis this season.</p>
<p>Such has been his form this year that he has made vaulting over six metres look like rolling out of bed. And he&rsquo;s only 20.</p>
<p>Before last night, he had taken 13 attempts at 6.15m after cutting a swathe through the world&rsquo;s best pole vaulters in this short, sharp competition season.</p>
<p>As has become his habit, he despatched the competition early, confirming victory with a second-attempt clearance of 5.85m.</p>
<p>He glided over 6.00m, then raised the bar to the ultimate target of 6.15m.</p>
<p>He appeared to have mastered the historic height at the first try, but just grazed the bar with his chest on the way down.</p>
<p>However, he adjusted his technique fractionally on his next attempt and the 15th was the charm. He sailed over the bar, celebrating already as he fell back to earth. It was enough to make you believe that a man can fly.<br /><br /></p>
<p><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NGFlqGK26oM" width="500" height="280" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><br />&ldquo;I hit the mat but I haven&rsquo;t really fallen back to earth,&rdquo; a delighted Duplantis said later.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m still up in the clouds right now. It&rsquo;s just one of those feelings where you are kind of dreaming a little bit&hellip; It&rsquo;s surreal, it&rsquo;s surreal, it&rsquo;s a super-crazy feeling when everything lines up like that and you do a really good performance.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Duplantis said he wanted to prove that he was the best vaulter in history both indoors and out.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I just wanted to be on top of the leaderboard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The 6.15m was really important to me, so I&rsquo;m happy to get over that.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;There was kind of this confusion between the indoor and outdoor record &ndash; it&rsquo;s kind of merged. I already had the world record but I wanted to clear everything up and be the best outdoor.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He revealed that he took advice from former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie on the history-making jump.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I asked Renaud if I should move in a little bit because I hit it on the way down (on the first attempt) so the typical thing to do would be to move in a little bit, but he thought I just didn&rsquo;t take off as well as I could so he said just to hit it with a little more force at the start of the jump.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Renaud was kind of the replacement coach today and it worked out. After that first attempt I knew what I had to do to do it, I just had to go out there and get it done.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Lavillenie was eliminated earlier after failing at 5.80m, leaving three men to fight out the podium places. Belgium&rsquo;s Ben Broeders posted a national record of 5.80m to take second on a countback from Ernest Obiena of the Philippines.</p>
<h3>Kiplimo wins 3000m thriller</h3>
<p>In the teen showdown of the night, Jacob (Kiplimo) triumphed from Jakob (Ingebrigtsen) in the 3000m as the first three men set national records, carving chunks off their personal best times over what is a less frequently contested distance these days.</p>
<p>A confident Ingebrigtsen took the lead just before the bell from Stewart McSweyn but fellow 19-year-old Kiplimo waited until the finishing straight to make his move. As it was over 5000m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava last week, Kiplimo&rsquo;s final kick proved irresistible over the final 50m.<br /><br /></p>
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Jacob Kiplimo on his way to winning the 3000m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>He crossed the finish line in 7:26.64, the fastest time in the world since 2007, and a Diamond League record. Ingebrigtsen set a Norwegian record of 7:27.05 in second and McSweyn held on gamely for an Australian and Oceania record of 7:28.02.</p>
<p>Kiplimo is now the fastest teenager in history at this distance. Both he and Ingebrigtsen bettered marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge's benchmark of 7:27.72.</p>
<p>It was another youngster who triumphed in the women&rsquo;s 800m as Scotswoman Jemma Reekie kept her perfect record for the season in 1:59.77.</p>
<p>Norwegian world 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm extended his spectacular season with another commanding victory in the third fastest time of his career, 47.08.</p>
<p>That is his fourth entry into the all-time top 13 times in a month, and he now holds six of those times, but for now the 28-year-old world record of 46.78 remains elusive.</p>
<p>His consolation is that it was the fastest time ever on Italian soil, and he also now holds the Golden Gala&rsquo;s meet record (previously Abderrahman Samba&rsquo;s 47.48) and the Stadio Olimpico record (formerly Edwin Moses&rsquo; 47.37).</p>
<p>He said he was very satisfied with his accomplishments this year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I ran really low 47s on a regular basis this year &ndash; I am very happy,&rdquo; Warholm said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This season has been a good experience for me. It is good fun for me coming here to Rome with the warm weather and no winds &ndash; unlike back home in Norway where it is cold now and rainy. The world record? I am quite used to talking about it and I love it because it shows that I am in the right pace, that I am close.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Rising star Femke Bol of the Netherlands also extended her undefeated season over the 400m hurdles in 53.90, just a touch outside her world lead of 53.79, while her training partner Lieke Klaver became just the third woman to dip under 51 seconds for 400m this year, winning in a personal best of 50.98.</p>
<p>Adding to the Dutch delight, this season&rsquo;s pacesetter Nadine Visser claimed the 100m hurdles in 12.72. Italy-based Briton Andrew Pozzi took the men&rsquo;s 110m event in 13.15.</p>
<h3>Thompson-Herah speeds to world lead</h3>
<p>Jamaica&rsquo;s Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah returned to international competition in sizzling form, setting the fastest time of the year in the short sprint, with 10.85. That took her just above her compatriot, rival and fellow Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who has a best of 10.86 this year</p>
<p>Thompson-Herah is delighted to have found her best form again after three years dogged by injury. She finished almost three metres clear of runner-up Aleia Hobbs (11.12) and Marie-Josee Ta Lou (11.14).<br /><br /></p>
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Elaine Thompson wins the 100m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>South Africa&rsquo;s Akani Simbine was similarly dominant in the men&rsquo;s 100m in 9.96.</p>
<p>In the field, 2017 world silver medallist Yuliya Levchenko took the Ukrainian bragging rights from her teenaged compatriot Yaroslava Mahuchikh in the high jump, courtesy of a clean sheet to 1.98m, but could go no higher.</p>
<p>Mahuchikh, who shares this year&rsquo;s world leading mark of 2.00m with Levchenko, struggled to find her rhythm and was eliminated after clearing 1.95m on her first attempt. She took second place from Australia&rsquo;s Nicola McDermott (1.95m) on a countback.</p>
<p>The Ukrainian dominance continued in the men&rsquo;s event as Andriy Protsenko triumphed with a best leap of 2.30m, denying hometown favourite Gianmarco Tamberi (2.24m).</p>
<p>In the only throwing event on the programme, USA&rsquo;s Nick Ponzio took the win in the shot put with a best of 21.09m.</p>
<p><strong>Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics</strong></p>
<p><em>*Note: In 1998, the IAAF decided to accept indoor world records as the official world records if they were better than the best outdoor mark.</em></p>

In the country where ‘Mondo’ means ‘world’, Swedish wunderkind Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis confirmed his status as the world’s greatest pole vaulter, jumping higher than anyone ever has in an outdoor stadium, 6.15m, at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome on Thursday (17).

Duplantis scales 6.15m in Rome, world's highest ever outdoor vault

<p><br />Double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, two-time world 200m champion Dafne Schippers and multiple world medallist Marie-Jos&eacute;e Ta Lou, will go head to head over 100m at the <strong>Wanda Diamond League</strong> meeting in Doha on Friday 25 September 2020.</p>
<p>The three women have met at this meeting on two previous occasions. Thompson-Herah triumphed over 200m in 2017, clocking 22.19 into a -2.3m/s headwind with Schippers finishing second and Ta Lou placing third.</p>
<p>They clashed again one year later, this time over 100m, and Ta Lou came out on top, running 10.85. Thompson-Herah was third on that occasion and Schippers was sixth.</p>
<p>But the last time they were in the Khalifa Stadium was for last year&rsquo;s World Championships, where Ta Lou took 100m bronze, just 0.03 ahead of Thompson-Herah. Schippers, meanwhile, was forced to withdraw from the final through injury.</p>
<p>Thompson-Herah&rsquo;s season&rsquo;s best of 10.88 set in Kingston on 8 August is the second fastest of the year to date.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to be able to race at home over the summer, but nothing beats the thrill of lining up in an overseas, international meet,&rdquo; said the Jamaican. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t wait to get back on the circuit, especially as part of a quality field in Doha where I&rsquo;ve really enjoyed competing in the past.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Ta Lou will be looking to build on her Wanda Diamond League performances in Monaco and Stockholm where she finished fourth (11.39) and third (11.32) respectively, while Schippers will make her season&rsquo;s debut over 100m in Doha.</p>
<p>Doha&rsquo;s Qatar Sports Club will host the revised 12-event programme &ndash; the final competitive meeting of the truncated 2020 Wanda Diamond League season &ndash; which includes sprint hurdles and 800m for both men and women; 100m, 3000m and long jump for women; and 200m, 400m, 1500m and pole vault for men.</p>
<p><strong>Organisers for World Athletics</strong></p>

Double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, two-time world 200m champion Dafne Schippers and multiple world medallist Marie-Josée Ta Lou, will go head to head over 100m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday 25 September 2020.

Thompson-Herah, Schippers and Ta Lou set to clash in Doha

<p><br />Organisers of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea have announced that pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis and double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah will compete at the <strong>Wanda Diamond League</strong> meeting in Rome on 17 September.</p>
<p>European 1500m champion Laura Muir, 2016 world indoor high jump champion Gianmarco Tamberi and Italian shot putter Leonardo Fabbri will also be in action in the Italian capital.</p>
<p>Duplantis stunned athletics fans during the indoor season, setting world records of 6.17m and 6.18m in Torun and Glasgow respectively. He has maintained his winning streak throughout the outdoor season, including victories in Oslo, Monaco, Stockholm and Lausanne &ndash; the latter with a world-leading height of 6.07m.</p>
<p>After his winning clearance in Lausanne &ndash; the highest outdoor vault since 1994 &ndash; Duplantis went on to attempt 6.15m, what would have been the best ever outdoor clearance in history, but the lack of light made vaulting too difficult, so he wound up his competition after just one attempt at that bar.</p>
<p>Given the ease with which Duplantis cleared the big heights in Lausanne, Rodion Gataullin&rsquo;s stadium record of 6.00m and Sergey Bubka&rsquo;s meeting record of 5.94m both appear to be living on borrowed time.</p>
<p>Thompson-Herah will be seeking a third 100m victory in Rome, following her triumphs in 2016 (10.87) and 2019 (10.89). So far this year the Jamaican sprinter has competed exclusively in Kingston, boasting season&rsquo;s bests of 10.88 and 22.19.</p>
<p>Like Thompson-Herah, Muir has competed in Rome twice before, both times over 1500m, but the British middle-distance runner will be making her first appearance over 800m in the Olympic Stadium. She currently leads the 1500m world list with 3:57.86, while her best 800m run of the year is 1:59.54.</p>
<p>A handful of leading Italian athletes have also been confirmed for the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea. 2016 world indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi will compete in the high jump, national indoor record-holder Leonardo Fabbri will contest the shot put, while sprinters Filippo Tortu and Lamont Marcell Jacobs will clash over 100m.</p>
<p>This year&rsquo;s Golden Gala Pietro Mennea will be held in Rome&rsquo;s Olympic Stadium, as originally planned. A few months ago, organisers announced that the neighbouring Stadio dei Marmi &ndash; usually used as the warm-up track for the meeting &ndash; would host the Golden Gala, but the event has since been able to move back to its usual home.</p>

Organisers of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea have announced that pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis and double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah will compete at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome on 17 September.

Duplantis and Thompson-Herah among first big names confirmed for Rome

<p><br />In a sport where tales of triumph over adversity are not uncommon, Wilma Rudolph&rsquo;s journey to sporting stardom stands out as one of the most astonishing.</p>
<p>In fact, her life story is reflected in her racing style: a sluggish start before finding her stride and then running into the record books.</p>
<p>The pinnacle of her athletics career &ndash; her golden triple at the Olympic Games in Rome &ndash; began with her 100m triumph on 2 September 1960, exactly 60 years ago today. But the odds had been stacked against Rudolph for almost all of her 20 years leading up to that moment.</p>
<p>Born prematurely as the 20th of 22 siblings, Rudolph suffered from pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio as a child, the latter of which left her physically disabled. Under the laws of segregation in the US at that time, Rudolph was unable to get treatment for her weakened leg at her local hospital, so each week Rudolph and her mother would make the 100-mile round trip by bus to Nashville where she was able to get treatment. That, along with home massages four times a day from family members and the use of orthotics, helped Rudolph to overcome the debilitating effects of polio, and at the age of nine she was finally able to walk without a leg brace.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My doctor told me I would never walk again,&rdquo; she once said. &ldquo;My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Feeling as though she had some making up to do, Rudolph immersed herself in sports and took up basketball and athletics at high school. She excelled at both, and at the age of 16 she qualified to represent the USA in the 200m and 4x100m at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. Rudolph missed making the 200m semifinals by one place, but two days later her Olympic experience ended on a high when she anchored the US team to a bronze medal in the 4x100m.</p>
<p>Rudolph became pregnant during her final year of high school, but she also continued to pursue her academic and sporting goals. She enrolled at Tennessee State University just a few weeks after her daughter, Yolanda, was born in 1958. Rudolph returned to action on the track one year later, winning the US 100m title along with Pan-American gold (4x100m) and silver (100m).</p>
<p>But it was at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome where Rudolph hit the big time.</p>
<p>Her performances at that year&rsquo;s US Olympic Trials, where she won the sprint double, and her 200m world record of 22.9 at the AAU Championships &ndash; becoming the first woman in history to break 23 seconds for the distance &ndash; had hinted that something special would be on the cards in the Italian capital.<br /><br /></p>
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US sprinter Wilma Rudolph</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rudolph arrived in Rome in the form of her life, but fate nearly tripped her up again when she stepped in a hole near the practice track and twisted her ankle, just one day before her competition began. Despite that, she breezed through the heats and quarterfinals, clocking the fastest times in both rounds. Defending champion Betty Cuthbert, meanwhile, was hampered by a leg injury and didn&rsquo;t make it beyond the quarterfinals.</p>
<p>The next day, 2 September, Rudolph lined up for her semifinal at 3:00pm and booked her spot in the Olympic final by charging to a world-record-equalling 11.3 (11.41 electric). The final was scheduled to take place just 80 minutes later, but Rudolph was so relaxed that she fell asleep on a massage table less than half an hour before the final.</p>
<p>She soon got back into race mode, though, and headed back out on to the track. As was her style, the long-limbed Rudolph wasn&rsquo;t the fastest out of the blocks, but once she got into her stride there was simply no catching her.</p>
<p>Rudolph won by the considerable margin of 0.25, stopping the clock at 11.0 (11.18 electric) &ndash; a time that would have smashed the world record had it not been for the 2.8m/s following wind. She also became the first US woman in 24 years to win the Olympic 100m title, but she was only a third of a way to achieving her goal for the Games.</p>
<p>She was back in action the next day for the heats of the 200m and sped to an Olympic record of 23.30. Strong headwinds prevented her from going faster in the semifinal and final, but she went on to take the gold medal with an even bigger margin than in the shorter event.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The farther I ran, the faster I became,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br /></p>
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Wilma Rudolph in the 4x100m at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>She capped her Rome campaign by taking a third gold medal in the 4x100m, having clocked a world record of 44.4 in the heats. Not only did she cement her status as the fastest woman in the world, she also became the first US woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After the playing of &lsquo;The Star-Spangled Banner&rsquo;, I came away from the victory stand and I was mobbed,&rdquo; she wrote in her autobiography. &ldquo;People were jumping all over me, putting microphones into my face, pounding my back, and I couldn't believe it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>With Rome being the first Olympics broadcast live to an international audience, Rudolph emerged from the Games as a global sporting star and one of the most highly visible black women in America, instantly becoming a role model for the next generation.</p>
<p>Still aged just 20 at the time, she used her newfound platform to great effect and, in her soft-spoken gracious manner, became a pioneer for civil rights and women&rsquo;s rights.</p>
<p>When she returned from Rome, the governor of Tennessee had organised a segregated home-coming celebration, but Rudolph refused to attend. The plans for the celebration were then changed and Rudolph&rsquo;s parade became the first integrated event in her hometown.</p>
<p>She continued competing internationally for two more years, and even set world records at 100m, 4x100m and 200 yards indoors, but she retired at the end of 1962. &ldquo;If I won two gold medals (at the next Olympics), there would be something lacking,&rdquo; she said at the time. &ldquo;I'll stick with the glory I've already won, like Jesse Owens did in 1936.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
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US sprinter Wilma Rudolph</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Her proudest achievement, though, came in 1981 when she set up the Wilma Rudolph Foundation. The non-profit organisation, based in Indiana, trains youth athletes and sends tutors to schools with books on American heroes.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I tell them that the most important aspect is to be yourself and have confidence in yourself,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I remind them the triumph can't be had without the struggle.&rdquo;</p>
<p>And Rudolph, who overcame numerous obstacles to become the fastest woman in the world, knows that all too well.</p>
<p>&ldquo;&rsquo;I can&rsquo;t&rsquo; are two words that have never been in my vocabulary,&rdquo; said Rudolph, who died from brain cancer in 1994 at the age of 54. &ldquo;I believe in me more than anything in this world.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics</strong></p>

In a sport where tales of triumph over adversity are not uncommon, Wilma Rudolph’s journey to sporting stardom stands out as one of the most astonishing.

Sixty years since historic Olympic triple, Rudolph’s legacy lives on

<p><br />It may not have been the competition that Tokyo&rsquo;s Olympic Stadium had originally been set to host in August 2020, but Japan&rsquo;s leading athletes got a taste of the big time at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a <strong>World Athletics Continental Tour Gold</strong> meeting, on Sunday (23).</p>
<p>To help minimise risks, no spectators were present and the fields were entirely made up of domestic athletes. But thousands of fans were still able to tune in via TV coverage and the live stream to watch Japan&rsquo;s leading athletes in action.</p>
<p>They rose to the occasion, too, especially Nozomi Tanaka. The world U20 3000m champion stepped down in distance to the 1500m and front-ran her way to a national record. The 20-year-old had announced her intentions to break the mark ahead of the race, having come within a second of Yuriko Kobayashi&rsquo;s 14-year-old mark (4:07.86) with a 4:08.68 clocking in Shibetsu last month.<br /><br /></p>
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Nozomi Tanaka wins the 1500m at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With no pacemakers, Tanaka started conservatively and led the field through the first lap in 66.42. Japanese 800m and 1500m champion Ran Urabe, compatriot Kaede Hagitani and Kenya&rsquo;s Japan-based Hellen Lobun were the only ones capable of following the early pace.</p>
<p>At 800m, reached in 2:11.91, Urabe moved into second place as Lobun and Hagitani dropped behind. Tanaka continued to wind up the pace, and after hearing the bell ring with 3:02.37 on the clock, she kicked it up another gear and pulled away from Urabe.</p>
<p>Tanaka flew around the final lap in 63 seconds to cross the line in 4:05.27, smashing the national record by two seconds. Urabe finished six seconds in arrears, clocking 4:11.75.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">How about that!?<br /><br />Nozomi Tanaka breaks the Japanese 1500m record, winning at the <a href="https://twitter.com/goldengrandprix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@goldengrandprix</a> in 4:05.27 💫. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ContinentalTourGold?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ContinentalTourGold</a><br /><br />Stream 📺 <a href="https://t.co/1kzk4EAL6c">https://t.co/1kzk4EAL6c</a> <a href="https://t.co/hIr3RgsUPU">pic.twitter.com/hIr3RgsUPU</a></p>
&mdash; Continental Tour Gold (@ContiTourGold) <a href="https://twitter.com/ContiTourGold/status/1297429562243133441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2020</a></blockquote>
<p>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>
</p>
<p>"I thought about all kinds of race plans, but I also knew that if I thought about it too much, I&rsquo;d get anxious," said Tanaka, whose mother, Chihiro, is a two-time Hokkaido Marathon champion. "So today I decided not to be too conscious of the time and to just run. I&rsquo;ve been confident with my finish in training, so I just gave everything I had. I realised in the final 100 metres that I was going to break the national record.</p>
<p>"I&rsquo;m very excited that I finally broke the national record that had been held by Yuriko Kobayashi, who is from my home town," added Tanaka, who is coached by her father, Katsutoshi. "With my performance today I was able to show my appreciation towards to the people who have supported me."</p>
<h3>Dean back to his best</h3>
<p>Since making the Olympic final in 2012 at the age of 20, Japanese javelin thrower Genki Dean has struggled to reproduce his best form. He set a national U20 record of 78.57m in 2010, a few months after earning world U20 silver, and set a lifetime best of 84.28m in 2012.</p>
<p>But in the past eight years, he has thrown beyond 80 metres on just one occasion. Keen to turn things around ahead of a home Olympics, Dean set up a crowd funding page at the end of last year to fund an extended training stint in Finland and South Africa. After reaching his funding target, Dean made a promise.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The number of supporters is 84,&rdquo; <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/GenksRoderick/status/1207429941673037830" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he tweeted in December</a></strong></span>. &ldquo;And the best way to repay you is to throw 84 metres.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Today he made good on that pledge. He opened his series with 79.88m &ndash; his best throw since 2013 &ndash; to take an early lead, but Ryohei Arai applied pressure in the second round with 79.28m. Arai then moved into the lead in the fifth round with 81.02m, but Dean kept his cool and responded in the final round with 84.05m &ndash; the best throw by a Japanese man for four years and just 23 centimetres shy of his PB.<br /><br /></p>
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Genki Dean, winner of the javelin at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>"It feels as though I've finally returned to my workplace," said Dean. "During the winter I went to Finland and South Africa and I was able to train without being hampered by injuries, which was a big factor in my performance today.</p>
<p>"When I threw 84.05m, I was relieved and I realised that I haven't been wrong in what I've been doing," he added. "If I can keep this up, then I can aim for 87 or 88 metres and hit the national record (87.60m). I want to finish the season strong without getting hurt."</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s event, national record-holder Haruka Kitaguchi was slightly frustrated to come up short of the 60-metre barrier, but her 59.38m effort was enough to win from Marina Saito (58.64m).</p>
<h3>Kiryu edges Cambridge &ndash; twice</h3>
<p>There was a feeling of d&eacute;j&agrave; vu in the men&rsquo;s 100m as Yoshihide Kiryu pipped Aska Cambridge by 0.02 &ndash; on two separate occasions.</p>
<p>In the heats earlier in the afternoon, Kiryu sped to a 10.09 victory (0.7m/s) with Cambridge running a season&rsquo;s best of 10.11. The breeze had turned to a slight headwind of -0.2m/s by the time of the final 80 minutes later, but the outcome was essentially the same with Kiryu once again finishing marginally ahead of his 2016 Olympic 4x100m silver medal-winning teammate Cambridge, 10.14 to 10.16.<br /><br /></p>
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Yoshihide Kiryu and Aska Cambridge in the 100m at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>National record-holder Asuka Terada &ndash; who took a break from the sport between 2014 and 2019 to start a family and then play rugby &ndash; enjoyed a promising start to her 2020 outdoor campaign, winning the 100m hurdles in 13.03 (0.3m/s), just 0.06 shy of her lifetime best. Masumi Aoki was second in a PB of 13.09.</p>
<p>Taio Kanai, the national indoor record-holder, won the men&rsquo;s sprint hurdles in a season&rsquo;s best of 13.45, the second-fastest time of his career. 18-year-old Rashiddo Muratake was second in 13.65, the fastest time in the world this year by an U20 athlete.</p>
<p>In his first competition of the year, Asian Games bronze medallist Takatoshi Abe won the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles in 49.31. 2015 world U18 bronze medallist Masaki Toyoda was second in 49.82.</p>
<p>In other sprint events, Rikuya Ito won the men&rsquo;s 400m in 45.83 while Shota Iizuka took the 200m in 20.74.</p>
<h3>Eto wins competitive high jump</h3>
<p>Tomohiro Shinno pushed Asian silver medallist Takashi Eto all the way in the men&rsquo;s high jump in a competition that was eventually decided in a jump-off.</p>
<p>Both men went clear at 2.10m, 2.15m and 2.20m on their first tries. They then needed all three attempts to get over 2.24m and they were joined in doing so by Naoto Tobe. All three men then failed at 2.27m, but Shinno&rsquo;s and Eto&rsquo;s scorecards were still equal. The bar remained at 2.27m for one more attempt to break the tie and Eto succeeded, giving him the victory.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, world U20 champion Yuki Hashioka won the long jump by 20 centimetres with 7.96m, while Seito Yamamoto took the pole vault with 5.60m. Reimi Yoshimura, the national U20 record-holder, comfortably won the women&rsquo;s steeplechase with 9:54.50.</p>
<p><strong>Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics</strong></p>

It may not have been the competition that Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium had originally been set to host in August 2020, but Japan’s leading athletes got a taste of the big time at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, on Sunday (23).

Tanaka takes down Japanese 1500m record at Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo

<p><br />It was quite fitting that the meeting at which Trayvon Bromell ran his fastest 100m for more than four years &ndash; a 9.90 clocking in Clermont on Friday (24) &ndash; was called &lsquo;Back To The Track&rsquo;.</p>
<p>Although every athlete has had to overcome challenges this year, the 2016 world indoor 60m champion&rsquo;s journey back to the track this year has been more difficult than most.</p>
<p>After setting a world U20 record of 9.94 in 2014 and earning world bronze in 2015, Bromell was touted as the next big thing in sprinting. He equalled his PB of 9.84 in 2016 and reached the Olympic final, despite running with an achilles that was aggravated by a bone spur in his heel. But after crossing the line in the 4x100m final a few days later, he had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair.</p>
<p>It was the beginning of a three-year injury spell, during which he raced just three times. He joined Rana Reider&rsquo;s group in Florida last year and finally started to make progress, the first clear sign being his 10.04 season opener in Montverde earlier this month.</p>
<p>With the rust blown off, at yesterday&rsquo;s Back To The Track meet in Clermont Bromell went even faster, winning his heat in 9.90 (1.4m/s), the fourth-fastest time of his career, to finish comfortably ahead of world 200m champion Noah Lyles (10.04). Triple Olympic medallist Andre De Grasse won the second heat in 9.97 (1.9m/s).</p>
<p>Bromell opted against running the final, which Lyles won in a wind-assisted 9.93 (2.3m/s) from De Grasse&rsquo;s 9.97.</p>
<p>Both men returned to the track 24 hours later for the 200m. Lyles chased down Kenny Bednarek, the early leader, and pulled away to win his heat in 19.94 (0.8m/s). Bednarek was second in 20.19, finishing just ahead of Divine Oduduru (20.22) and De Grasse (20.24).</p>
<p>World 400m champion Steven Gardiner was a clear winner of the second heat in 19.96 (1.0m/s). Josephus Lyles, Noah's younger brother, set a PB of 20.24 to finish second.</p>
<p>Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo produced the other highlight of the meeting. The Bahamian sprinter stepped down to the 100m and smashed her PB in the heats with 11.03 before going even quicker in the final, stopping the clock at 10.98 (1.4m/s). She now becomes just the fourth woman in history to run sub-11 for 100m, sub-22 for 200m and sub-49 for 400m.</p>
<p>Seventeen-year-old Tamari Davis was second in 11.15, just 0.02 shy of her PB, while Aleia Hobbs won the other final in 11.16.</p>
<p>Miller-Uibo was back in action in Clermont on Saturday (26) to contest the 200m. The world 400m silver medallist was level with 2018 NCAA 400m champion Lynna Irby and hurdles specialist Jasmine Camacho-Quinn at half way, but, as is her style, pulled away in the final 50 metres to cross the line a comfortable winner in 21.98 (2.0m/s). Camacho-Quinn was second in a PB of 22.45, just 0.02 ahead of Irby.</p>
<p>In other international sprint action, double NCAA sprint champion Sha'Carri Richardson clocked a wind-assisted 10.79 (2.7m/s) in the 100m at the AP Ranch High Performance Invitational in Fort Worth. Meanwhile over in Kingston, Jamaica, double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah ran a wind-aided 10.73 (3.0m/s) over 100m.</p>
<h3>Joseph and Mageen set national records in Bern</h3>
<p>Swiss sprint hurdler Jason Joseph and Irish middle-distance runner Ciara Mageean broke national records at the Citius Champs meeting in Bern on Friday (24).</p>
<p>Joseph, the European U23 champion, clocked 13.34 into a -1.0m/s headwind to win the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, taking 0.05 off the national record he set in 2018 and equalled in 2019.</p>
<p>Mageean, meanwhile, unleashed an impressive kick over the final 200 metres of the women&rsquo;s 800m by more than a second in 1:59.69, becoming the first Irish woman to break two minutes for the distance. Norway&rsquo;s Hedda Hynne was second in 2:00.72 with Renelle Lamote (2:01.50) and Selina Buchel (2:01.79) taking third and fourth.</p>
<p>One week after breaking the Dutch 400m hurdles record, 20-year-old Femke Bol switched to the flat and clocked a PB of 51.13 with 21-year-old compatriot Lieke Klaver finishing second in 51.39, also a PB. They now move to third and fifth respectively on the Dutch all-time list.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Bern, Ajla del Ponte backed up her recent strong form with an 11.15 (1.9m/s) victory over 100m.</p>
<h3>More records for Finnish hammer duo</h3>
<p>After breaking the Finnish senior and U20 hammer records last month, Krista Tervo and Silja Kosonen returned to Somero on Saturday (25) and improved their respective marks.</p>
<p>Tervo once again came out on top, winning with 72.12m to add 19 centimetres to her own Finnish record. 17-year-old Kosonen was close behind with 71.34m, moving to second on the Finnish senior list and third on the world U20 all-time list. The only 17-year-old ever to throw farther is Poland&rsquo;s 2000 Olympic hammer champion Kamila Skolimowska.</p>
<p>Aaron Kangas won the men&rsquo;s competition with 77.82m, the best throw by a Finnish man for 11 years.</p>
<p>In Schoenebeck on Friday, German champion and world finalist Kristin Pudenz threw a PB of 65.58m to win the women&rsquo;s discus from Claudine Vita (62.69m). Julia Harting was third with 61.16m, her farthest throw since returning to action after giving birth to twins last year.</p>
<p><strong>Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics</strong></p>

It was quite fitting that the meeting at which Trayvon Bromell ran his fastest 100m for more than four years – a 9.90 clocking in Clermont on Friday (24) – was called ‘Back To The Track’.

Bromell clocks 9.90 and Miller-Uibo runs 10.98 and 21.98 in Clermont

<p><br />On a weekend when many fixtures have been cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus, Pretoria&rsquo;s Pilditch Athletics Stadium was a hive of activity on Friday and Saturday (13-14) as it hosted the Athletics Gauteng North Championships.</p>
<p>Commonwealth and African champion Akani Simbine produced the standout performance of the championships, coming within 0.02 of his own South African record when winning his 100m heat in 9.91 (1.7m/s). His performance is the fastest time ever recorded by an African athlete on African soil.</p>
<p>He followed it with a 10.03 (-1.8m/s) clocking in the semifinals and a 10.01 (1.3m/s) victory in the final.</p>
<p>There were fast times in the younger section too as Phatutshedzo Maswanganye, the African U20 200m champion, sped to a national U20 record of 10.06 (0.8m/s) in the semifinal. His time took 0.05 off the previous South African U20 record and is just 0.01 shy of the African U20 record set back in 1990 by Davidson Ezinwa of Nigeria.</p>
<p>Clarence Munyai impressed in the 200m, winning the final in 20.48 (-0.1m/s) after clocking 20.23 in the semifinals.</p>
<p>Sinesipho Dambile won the U20 contest in 20.47, matching the time he ran in the heats. Eckhardt Potgieter was close behind in 20.53 while Maswanganyi was third in 20.61, having clocked a PB of 20.50 in the heats.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, African U18 champion Prudence Sekgodiso won the U20 women&rsquo;s 800m in a PB of 2:02.16.</p>

On a weekend when many fixtures have been cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus, Pretoria’s Pilditch Athletics Stadium was a hive of activity on Friday and Saturday (13-14) as it hosted the Athletics Gauteng North Championships.

Simbine scorches to 9.91 100m victory in Pretoria

<p><br />Ronnie Baker hasn&rsquo;t had the best of luck in recent years.</p>
<p>Aside from a sterling 2018 campaign &ndash; during which he earned world indoor bronze and set PBs of 6.40 for 60m and 9.87 for 100m &ndash; he has had more than his fair share of misfortune.</p>
<p>Even his collegiate career was something of a rollercoaster ride. He won back-to-back NCAA indoor titles over 60m in 2015 and 2016 during his time at Texas Christian University, but never reached an individual final at the outdoor NCAA Championships.</p>
<p>In 2015 he earned selection for the World University Games in Gwangju and was one of the medal favourites in the 100m, having clocked a PB of 10.05 and a marginally wind-assisted 9.94 in the weeks leading up to the event. But a slow reaction time in the final cost him a medal as he finished fourth, just 0.01 shy of bronze.<br /><br /></p>
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Ronnie Baker in the 60m at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>He had two chances of redemption in the relays there, but they didn&rsquo;t quite materialise either as his teammates failed to get the baton around in their 4x100m heat, and then the US 4x400m team was disqualified from the 4x400m final.</p>
<p>Baker has had a fair few near-misses at national championships, too. He finished seventh at the 2015 US Championships, missed the final by one place at the 2016 Olympic Trials, and was hampered by an untimely injury at the 2017 US Championships, again missing the final after clocking a wind-assisted 9.86 just one month prior.</p>
<p>The stars aligned for Baker in 2018 and he was finally able to fulfil his potential. At the start of the year he became the third-fastest 60m sprinter in history, clocking 6.40, and he went on to take bronze in a high-quality final at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham.</p>
<p>Outdoors, he put together a string of international victories including at the Diamond League meetings in Eugene, Rome, Paris and London. He set four 100m PBs along the way, topped by a 9.87 run &ndash; making him the 10th-fastest US man in history &ndash; and backed up with a wind-assisted 9.78.<br /><br /></p>
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Ronnie Baker on his way to winning the 100m at the Diamond League meeting in Paris</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>But after that outstanding season, Baker then endured his most frustrating year to date.</p>
<p>Persistent injuries delayed the start of his 2019 campaign, so much so that the US Championships in July was his season debut. He won his heat and semi-final, the latter with 10.28 into a -3.7m/s headwind, and then finished fifth in the final, just 0.08 shy of securing a place on USA&rsquo;s team for the World Championships in Doha.</p>
<p>But even if he had placed in the top three, it&rsquo;s unlikely he would have made it to Doha in one piece as he had injuries in his left hamstring and in his left adductor. &ldquo;Two injuries in the span of about two months,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;The second one kept me out for a while. It was a grind just to get myself to the US Championships.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was rough, it was really hard to rehab and get back together, but I took some time off after nationals and felt better,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It's in the past, so now I'm moving forward.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Baker is able to put his injury-hit 2019 season behind him now, but it was a year-long struggle, mentally and physically. Having beaten Christian Coleman twice during 2018 &ndash; the only man in the world to do so &ndash; in 2019 Baker couldn&rsquo;t quite bring himself to follow the international sprinting scene, which culminated in Coleman winning the world title in Doha.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I didn't really watch the sprints,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I watched a little bit of it here and there, but I was just trying to keep my mind away from it. It was a good time to take a break and take a breather. It was good not being able to see it and focusing on getting back healthy.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Back in the game</h3>
<p>When Baker lined up for the 60m at the Millrose Games last month, no one knew what to expect.</p>
<p>More than six months had passed since his last race, and it had been almost two years since his last indoor 60m. Understandably, he was a little sluggish out of the blocks, but he soon got into his stride and caught Demek Kemp, the then world leader, just before the line, winning in 6.54.<br /><br /></p>
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Ronnie Baker wins the 60m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Glasgow</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Naturally, he continued to improve as the season progressed. He won in Glasgow (6.50) and in Lievin (6.44) and completed his undefeated indoor campaign in Madrid with another 6.44.</p>
<p>His victories at the latter three meets meant he ended the season as the winner of the men&rsquo;s 60m on the World Athletics Indoor Tour, although he will now have to wait until next year to use his wild card for the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing after the event was postponed due to the spread of the corona virus.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It's a good time, but it's not the world lead,&rdquo; he said of his 6.44 runs, which equalled his fastest ever 60m clocking at sea level. &ldquo;I'm always trying to be the best. When I'm second, it hurts me. That's just the fight in me.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I felt like I would have done really, really well at the World Indoors. But you just have to roll with the punches.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It feels good (to be back),&rdquo; added Baker, who is coached by Darryl Anderson. &ldquo;I did three meets in the space of seven days, so just getting back into competition mode has been fun. If I can put together 6.44 and 6.44 in a matter of two days, I think that's pretty special, especially as I was pretty tired (in Madrid).&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
<div id="5e68ccb9f0d7710d346074a1" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/26fff860-510b-476f-ace6-a7a10b8ab3d4.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
USA's Ronnie Baker at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Glasgow</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The 26-year-old is now looking ahead with optimism to the rest of the year and is targeting a place on USA&rsquo;s team for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I'm really excited for the outdoor season,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I definitely have a lot to work on leading up to the Olympics this year, but it's just good to be back.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Making the Olympic team, then getting a medal,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;That's the goal.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics</strong></p>

Ronnie Baker hasn’t had the best of luck in recent years.

Tough year behind him, Baker looks ahead with optimism

<p><br />Our end-of-year reviews conclude with renowned statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava taking a look back at 2019&rsquo;s key action in the sprints.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Men&rsquo;s 100m&nbsp;</h3>
<p>It&rsquo;s no doubt that Christian Coleman currently is &lsquo;the World&rsquo;s fastest man. Except for a very narrow loss to Noah Lyles in the Shanghai Diamond League in mid-May when both ran 9.86, Coleman was not just undefeated but never really challenged. His five-meet season included the Oslo (9.85) and Stanford (9.81) Diamond Leagues, the US championships (9.99) and World Championships (9.76 to move to No. 6 on the all-time list) and he usually had about a meter up on his nearest opponent.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0DZbKRRE93o" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Unfortunately he and Lyles never met again at 100m. Lyles, a 200m specialist, had just two more 100m competitions, the Monaco Diamond League where he was beaten 9.91 to 9.92 by veteran Justin Gatlin and the Diamond League final in Zurich which Lyles won clearly in 9.98.</p>
<p>The 37-year old Gatlin did not only beat Lyles once but 15 years after becoming Olympic champion he also prevailed in the tight battle the silver at the World Championships. However, Gatlin had qualified for that final only as a non-automatic qualifier after finishing third in his semi.</p>
<p>Which illustrates how muddled the picture behind Coleman was with &ldquo;everyone beating everyone&rdquo;. Another example: Andr&eacute; De Grasse took bronze in Doha after a season where his two Diamond League starts resulted in inauspicious fifth place finishes while Xie Zhenye, who was second in both Oslo and the Diamond League final, was eliminated in the Doha semis.</p>
<p>The most prolific 100m runner was Mike Rodgers who at age 34 ran 30 races at 21 different meets dipping under 10.10 no less than 14 times. 2019 was his 13th straight year running 10.10 or faster. And despite being eliminated in the semis in the 100, it was also the year when Rodgers &ndash; in the 4x100m &ndash; finally got his first ever global gold medal. Perseverance rewarded.</p>
<h3>Men&rsquo;s 200m</h3>
<p>Noah Lyles had already established himself as the undisputed No 1 in the 200m in 2018 after an undefeated season which included four sub-19.70 marks. Except for Usain Bolt, no one else has had four sub-19.70 races in an entire career.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/06Wpco4o9zs" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Lyles was impressive also in 2019 running six meets and except for a narrow loss to Michael Norman in the season opener in Rome in early June, he was once more in a class of his own. He always ran well below 20 seconds and always won by between one and three metres. His top time was 19.50 in Lausanne, a new PB that moved him up to No 4 of all-time.</p>
<p>In Doha the other World Championship medals went to Andr&eacute; De Grasse (who was the only male sprinter to medal at both 100m and 200m this year) and Alex Quinonez. Defending champion Ramil Guliyev had to settle for fifth this time. During the Diamond League season, however, Guliyev had been the most consistent: He ran all seven races, had four performances at 20.01 or faster, won once (Doha) and finished runner-up four times.</p>
<p>We have been used to a domination of the USA and Jamaica in this event &ndash; the two combined for six of the eight finalists at the 2007 World Championships - but things have changed. Doha winner Lyles was the only US sprinter to advance from the first round and for the second straight World Championships Jamaica failed to get a runner into the final.</p>
<p>Divine Odururu and Kenny Bednarek showed exceptional potential with sub-19.80 times during the US Collegiate season. However, that form didn&rsquo;t survive through October so neither managed to reach the final in Doha. But watch out for them in Tokyo now that both have concluded their collegiate careers to focus on the global scene.</p>
<h3>Men&rsquo;s 400m</h3>
<p>The 400m is something of a national sport in the Bahamas and despite a population of just a third of a million they have collected eight medals in the 4x400m at global outdoor championships since 2000 - including the sensational Olympic title in 2012. Individually there have been two medals, Avard Moncur&rsquo;s gold in 2001 and Steven Gardiner&rsquo;s silver two years ago.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9cRBJV0RcSo" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>As Wayde van Niekerk &ndash; the winner of the last three global titles &ndash; was still out of action in 2019 after a severe knee injury in a celebrity rugby match two years ago. Instead Gardiner came into the meet as joint favourite with Michael Norman and Fred Kerley.</p>
<p>While the US runners had met three times (Stanford Diamond League, the US trials and Diamond League final) &ndash; with Norman winning the first and last encounters &ndash; neither had faced Gardiner before Doha. He, however, was undefeated in five meets and had been super impressive in his final tune-up in Chorz&oacute;w in mid-September where he clocked 44.14 and won by almost two seconds.</p>
<p>In Doha all three qualified easily from the first round but in the semis Norman &ndash; the outright world leader with his smooth 43.45 from April &ndash; suddenly slowed down in the middle of his race, obviously due to injury. But Gardiner and Kerley both looked in full control in their semis winning in 44.13 and 44.25 respectively.</p>
<p>Despite all eight finalists clocking between 44.13 and 44.77 in the semis the final turned into a one-man-show as Gardiner in his majestic style just strode away to win by several metres in 43.48 climbing to No 6 all-time. Behind him, Kerley was upset at the finish line by Colombia&rsquo;s Anthony Jos&eacute; Zambrano who lowered his 44.55 PB from the semis another four tenths to snatch the silver.</p>
<h3>Women&rsquo;s 100m</h3>
<p>The Jamaicans took control of the 100m sprint early in the season. The biggest duel of the early season was seen at the Jamaican Championships where reigning Olympic champion Elaine Thompson dipped at the finish line to win in a fast world leading 10.73, edging Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who was credited with the same time, in a photo finish.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/prbTRF4dPHo" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>After that the 27-year-old Thompson seemed to lose her speed. Despite victories at the Pan American Games in Lima and the Paris Diamond League, Thompson never returned to the same level and was not able to challenge Fraser-Pryce at the World Championships.</p>
<p>One big name of the early season was just 19-year-old Sha&rsquo;Carri Richardson. The American won the NCAA title in 10.75, breaking the 10.88 world U20 record set by East German Marlies Oelsner nearly 42 years earlier. But she too lost her speed since that race and did not make the US team to Doha, finishing eighth at the US Championships final in Des Moines.</p>
<p>In Doha Fraser-Pryce was in her own class. The 32-year-old double Olympic gold medallist (2008/2012) won her fifth individual world title with a world-leading 10.71 after having shown her class in the heats and semifinals. Double European champion Dina Asher-Smith had a good season from the outset and crowned that with a great performance in Doha. She raced in six 100m finals during the season, winning two and finishing second in the rest. In Doha she set a 10.83 national record for silver. Marie Jos&eacute;e Ta Lou won the bronze for Ivory Coast in 10.90 after taking silver two years ago.</p>
<h3>Women&rsquo;s 200m</h3>
<p>The reigning Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo was easily the fastest athlete in the 200m this season. But the 25-year-old Bahamian opted to run only the 400m distance in Doha. She won all four of her 200m meets of the year and clocked a 21.74 world lead and national record in Z&uuml;rich at the Diamond League meeting in late August.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5brt3-GAotE" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Furthermore the reigning world champion from London 2017, Dafne Schippers, was nowhere near her usual form. The Dutchwoman barely made it to the 100m final in Doha, but did not start there and did not compete in the 200m. Elaine Thompson, the 2016 Olympic champion and the year&rsquo;s fastest of the competitors in Doha at 22.00, only competed in the heats and did not start her semifinal. Nigerian Blessing Okagbare, the next fastest with 22.05 in Stanford in June, was disqualified in the heats.</p>
<p>Because of all the missing athletes, there was a lot of space for new names in the Doha final. After already running incredibly well in the 100m, Dina Asher-Smith took command the race and won her stronger sprinting distance in 21.88, another national record and the first major gold medal for the Briton. Competing in her first major championships, in any age group, Brittany Brown of the US won the silver in 22.22, a personal best. Swiss record holder (22.26 in 2019) Mujinga Kambundji took the bronze in 22.51, her first medal in a global championships.</p>
<h3>Women&rsquo;s 400m</h3>
<p>In 2019, the women&rsquo;s 400m came down to a duel between two athletes, Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Salwa Eid Naser. But with the Bahamian racing sparingly over the distance - she ran four 200m competitions in 2019 and just three over 400m prior to Doha - the pair didn&rsquo;t face off prior to the World Championships final. The reigning Olympic champion ran a world-leading 49.05 in Gainesville, Florida, in April, won again in Kingston in June in 49.54 then took the national title in July clocking 49.59.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MMsZtOrE4YI" width="500" height="288" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>Naser on the other hand was more prolific over the distance. The Bahraini was unbeaten in her 10 400m finals, which included five Diamond League races. The 21-year-old had already won silver at 2017 World Championships at 19 and lowered her national record to 49.08 in 2018. But what she produced in the Doha final was still unprecedented.</p>
<p>For a long time it has seemed that Marita Koch&rsquo;s 34-year-old world record of 47.60 was impossible to beat, but Naser showed a different view on that in Doha. She won in 48.14, a massive improvement and the third fastest performance of all-time. Miller-Uibo also smashed her own national record in 48.37, 0.6 seconds faster than her previous best set in Monaco last year. Hers was the second fastest runner-up performance ever, behind Olga Bryzgina 48.27 behind Koch&rsquo;s world record in 1985.</p>
<p>Jamaican Shericka Jackson, who finished third in 2015, won her second 400m bronze with a 49.47 personal best. Haitian-born American Wadeline Jonathas was fourth in 49.60, also a personal best, in her first major championship. Reigning world champion Phyllis Francis was fifth in 49.61, another personal best. It says something about the standard of the competition when the previous champion clocks a career best and loses by 1.47 seconds.</p>
<p><strong>Mirko Jalava (women&rsquo;s events) and A Lennart Julin (men&rsquo;s events) for World Athletics</strong></p>

Our end-of-year reviews conclude with renowned statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava taking a look back at 2019’s key action in the sprints.