World Athletics Championships: Noah Lyles, Donovan Brazier and Sam Kendricks give USA golden night in Doha

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The USA enjoyed another memorable night at the World Athletics Championships in Doha as Noah Lyles, Donovan Brazier and Sam Kendricks all won thrilling golds.

Lyles crowned his first world championships with a hard-fought gold in the men’s 200m, but there was heartbreak for Adam Gemili as he finished an agonising fourth, missing out on a medal by four hundreths of a second.

Kendricks successfully defended his men’s pole vault title after an epic battle with 19-year-old Armand Duplantis, while Donovan Brazier broke the American and championship 800m records to win his maiden world title.

Lyles came into these championships as red-hot favourite in the 200m, having decided to focus on that event rather than double with the 100m. The 22-year-old ran the fourth-fastest time in history when winning the Paris Diamond League in 19.50 earlier this season, but was below that form as Gemili headed the field off the bend.

However, the American pulled clear in the final 60 metres to t win in 19.83, with Canada’s Andre De Grasse adding silver to his bronze from the 100m, and Ecuador’s Alex Quinonez taking bronze in 19.98.

Gemili equalled his season’s best of 20.03 but it was not enough, as he matched his finish in the Olympic final in Rio three years ago.

Gemili headed Lyles off the bend but could not hold on to a place in the top three
Getty Images

The men’s pole vault final had been billed as a three-way shootout between Armand Duplantis, Piotr Lisek and defending champion Sam Kendricks, and it lived up to the billing as no other competitor managed to clear 5.80m, while the big three all got to that point with a clean card.

The American, Kendricks, needed three attempts to go clear at 5.87m, but then immediately responded with a first-time clearance at 5.92m to move into the gold medal position. Swedish teenager Duplantis then showed his bottle by clearing the higher mark at the third time of asking to move into silver, as Lisek opted to pass and move on to 5.97m.

The Pole failed at that height, and had to settle for bronze, but Duplantis produced a brilliant vault, only for Kendricks to once again keep himself alive with his third effort to force the bar up to 6.02m.

Brazier made a mockery of the suggestion that the men’s 800m final, which featured none of the finalists from two years ago, was wide open with a dominant display to become America’s first ever world champion in the event.

Brazier was the only man to go with the front-running pace of Wesley Vazquez, and then tore past the Puerto Rican with 300m to go to take gold in 1:42.34, more than a second clear of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Amel Tuka in second, with Kenya’s Ferguson Rotich winning bronze.

There was a surprise in the women’s javelin as Australia’s Kelsey-Lee Barber, out of the medals going into the final round, produced a throw of 66.56m to take gold, with the Chinese duo of Shiying Liu and Huihui Lyu taking silver and bronze respectively.

Dina Asher-Smith eased to victory in her 200m semi to qualify fastest for tomorrow’s final, and will go in as big favourite after Olympic champion Elaine Thompson became the latest high-profile name to drop out, but Beth Dobbin and Jodie Williams both failed to qualify.

AFP/Getty Images

Shaunae Miller-Uibo was once again in cruise-control as she qualified fastest for Thursday’s 400m final, but Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser was also impressive, producing a sub-50-second clocking in her fourth race of these championships.

Zak Seddon became the first British man to reach a world 3000m steeplechase final in 26 years as his gutsy run was rewarded with a fastest loser spot, while Commonwealth champion Nick Miller qualified safely for the men’s hammer final.

Meghan Beesley and Jessica Turner both reached the semi-finals of the women’s 400m hurdles, as US rivals Sydney McLaughin and Dalilah Muhammad made smooth progress ahead of a highly-anticipated final showdown.

The men’s 400m has also been billed as a head-to-head between to Americans, Fred Kerley and Michael Norman, but it was former world and Olympic champion Kirani James, hardly seen on the circuit this year because of struggles with his health, who qualified fastest for tomorrow’s semi-finals.

They will be joined by Britain’s Rabah Yousif, but Matthew Hudson-Smith’s championships ended prematurely as he pulled up injured early in his heat.

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