BUDAPEST — Marco Arop foxed his rivals with a radical change of tactics, then poured on the pace to win a brilliant 800 metres World Championship gold for Canada. Pierce LePage was on track for his first world gold medal in the decathlon.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon secured victory in the 5,000 metres, having already captured gold in the 1,500m.
The United States won both 4×100 relays at the World Athletics Championships as their individual superstars Noah Lyles and Sha’Carrie Richardson ran anchor legs to complete triple medal weeks.
Normally a front runner, Arop kept his huge frame out of the picture, right at the back, through the first lap and while the rest of the field were wondering, he swept straight to the front at the bell and surged clear.
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi took silver in 1:44.53 while Ben Pattison continued Britain’s great middle distance form at the championships with bronze in 1:44.83.
LePage, 27-year-old silver medallist at last year’s worlds, has 7,477 points with just the javelin and 1,500 metres remaining.
Leo Neugebauer of Germany is second on 7,282 points and Olympic champion Damian Warner, who is making a bid for a first world title after taking the silver in 2015 and bronze in both 2013 and 2019, is third with 7,260.
LePage began in second place behind Neugebauer before moving into the lead with a personal best time of 13.77 seconds in the 110 metre hurdles. He then built on his lead with second-best results in both the discus (50.98 metres) and pole vault (season’s best 5.20).
The 22-year-old Neugebauer, who in June broke the US collegiate record to win the NCAA championships, struggled in the hurdles but climbed back to second after clearing 5.10m in the pole vault.
Warner’s 4.90m in the pole vault was a personal best and kept him in the medal mix. His world championships last year ended abruptly when he pulled up in the 400m with a hamstring injury.
World record holder Kevin Mayer of France withdrew after the first two events due to an Achilles injury suffered two week ago.
The 29-year-old Kipyegon, who also won double gold at the Tokyo Olympics, roared into the lead with just under two laps remaining to cross in 14 minutes 53.88 seconds.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, bronze medallist in the 1,500, upgraded to silver with 14:54.11.
Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the bronze in 14:54.33.
The double gold caps a remarkable season that has seen Kipyegon break three world records.
Lyles added the relay gold to his sprint double while Richardson had earlier claimed 100m gold and bronze in the 200 metres.
It was a glorious end to the night for the sport’s superpower after the earlier disappointment of seeing their highly-favoured 4×400 women’s team disqualified following a baton failure in the semi-finals.
Despite their rich depth, the US men had not won an Olympic final since 2000 and had just one gold from the last seven World Championships amid a series of fumbles and disqualifications.
But they were almost faultless as Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes and Lyles won in 37.38.
Olympic champions Italy, with Tokyo individual gold medallist Lamont Marcell Jacobs on the second leg, took silver with 37.62. Jamaica finished strongly to edge out Britain for bronze in 37.76.
Richardson and Gabby Thomas were added to the women’s team alongside Tamari Davis and Twanisha Davis and the foursome were superb in running a championship record time of 41.03 seconds.
The much-anticipated last-leg showdown between Richardson and 200m champion Shericka Jackson turned into a non-event as the American collected the baton a metre clear and was never challenged.
Jamaica took silver in 41.21 while Britain claimed bronze with 41.97.
The victory edged the US further ahead in their great women’s sprint relay rivalry with Jamaica, having now won six to Jamaica´s four of the last 10 World Championships.
Baton mishaps are common in the shorter relay, less so in the 4×400, but the US women paid a heavy price for theirs.
They had won seven of the last eight World Championships and the last seven Olympic golds but were trailing an impressive British team after three legs when Alexis Holmes initially failed to collect the baton from Quanera Hayes.
By the time she eventually got hold of it she appeared to have gone beyond the “blue box”, while Hayes had stepped off the track and though Holmes recovered to finish second behind the British in the heat, they were disqualified.
Jamaica and Canada were the fastest into the final.
The similarly dominant US men, who have won eight of the last nine world titles and four of the last five Olympics, also progressed in a heat where India ran an Asian record 2:59.05 – the first time they have cracked three minutes.
Meanwhile, the United States women’s 4×400 metres relay team, who have won seven of the last eight World Championships and the last seven Olympic golds, were disqualified from the semi-finals after a botched baton changeover.
The US were trailing Britain after three legs when Alexis Holmes initially failed to collect the baton from Quanera Hayes and by the time she got hold of it she appeared to have gone beyond the “blue box”.
The US recovered to finish second behind the British in the heat but were marked as disqualified. They are likely to appeal.
