HALIMAH NAKAAYI OF Uganda won the women’s 800m at the world championships in Doha tonight, producing a sprint finish to claim the throne left vacant by the absent South African Caster Semenya.
Nakaayi, 24, timed her race to perfection moving onto the shoulder of leader Ajee Wilson of the United States on the bend before kicking for home down the stretch.
Nakaayi took gold in 1min 58.04sec, with the fast-finishing Raevyn Rogers of the United States taking silver in 1:58.18.
Wilson had to settle for bronze in 1:58.84.
The 800m at this year’s championships took place with the glaring absence of South Africa’s two-time Olympic champion Semenya.
Semenya is not competing in Doha following a controversial Swiss court ruling which found in favour of new regulations effectively barring female athletes with naturally high testosterone levels from competing in the 800m.
Elsewhere at the Championships, Karsten Warholm retained his 400m hurdles world title in impressive fashion.
The 23-year-old Norwegian – who is on an unbeaten streak of 14 races – came home clear of main rival Rai Benjamin timing 47.42 seconds with the American finishing in 47.66.
“This was a very tough race,” Warholm told the BBC.
“I actually felt my heart was going to stop. I thought ‘I’m going to die but it’s going to be worth it’.
“This is only the beginning and I am very lucky to win”.
The charismatic Warholm – whose motto ‘greed is good’ is borrowed from Gordon Gekko, the fictional, immoral financier in the Wall Street films – came out for the race pumped up.
He let out a mighty roar and pumped his fists on his name being announced and burst from the blocks as he had Benjamin who was outside him in his sights.
Coming round the bend into the finishing straight Warholm had a clear lead over his American rival with British Virgin Islands Kyron McMaster in third.
Warholm did not tie up whilst Benjamin – who had said prior to the championships if the Norwegian was Gekko he was the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) – tried to claw back the deficit with his languid elegant stride.
However, the Norwegian powered over the final hurdles with Benjamin — who along with Warholm had both gone under the magical 47sec barrier in a thrilling duel in Zurich last month — holding on for second.
Mariya Lasitskene completed a superb hat-trick of high jump titles at the World Championships here Monday.
The 26-year-old, who is one of only 30 Russian athletes allowed to compete in Doha under the authorised neutral athlete banner, took gold ahead of Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.
Lasitskene, the 2015 and 2017 champion, claimed victory after clearing a height of 2.04m to win on countback ahead of Mahuchikh.
Vashti Cunningham of the United States took bronze.
The win marked another career milestone for Lasitskene, who has dominated international high-jumping in recent years.
Lasitskene was barred from the 2016 Olympics after Russia was banned from the games over the country’s doping scandal.
But Lasitskene has since been allowed to compete as a neutral athlete, a status handed to athletes who are deemed to be above suspicion by the International Association of Athletics Federations.
