The race was won in a matter of 9.83 seconds, but the men’s 100m final in the World Athletics Championships in the National Athletic Centre in Budapest on Sunday evening brought along a veritable trove of lessons. Especially for those prepared to look at the race as not just another 100m final at another global competition.
Noah Lyles (United States of America) showed that he was not making a vain boast when he said he would win the 100m gold in Budapest. Considered a 200m specialist, he overcame a none too quick start to be still accelerating after the others produced their peak power. From fourth at the halfway mark, he strode to a memorable victory.
If the American, who will attempt a hat-trick of 200m gold by winning in Budapest, showed that it is possible to walk the talk – or should we say sprint the talk – the silver medal winning 20-year-old from Botswana, Letsile Tebogo, stood up for a whole continent that had never sent a male sprinter to the podium.
Let us digress from the final for a moment. The 2022 champion Fred Kerley (United States of America) did not get a place in the final after suffering a defeat in the semifinals. There was an air of acceptance he wore when he met the media in the Mixed Zone. “I’m not really devastated. That’s the point of the race, to find the better men. They were better men today,” he said.
Oblique Seville and Letsile Tebogo beat him to the beam in the semifinals. Seville won in 9.90 seconds and Tebogo came home in 9.98 while Kerley’s 10.02 shut him off the final. When asked if he had some issues, Kerley replied that there were some movement in the starting blocks. “I just have to move on. It was a terrible race for me but I’m good, I’m healthy. Life moves on,” he said.
The truth is that life can move on if one has won a World Championship medal. As for the others, they have to learn to return to the grind until either the goal is realised or the body no longer obeys the dictate of the mind and its powers of visualisation and discipline. And this is where Zharnel Hughes (Great Britain) scored.
He got to the podium on his own steam for the first time in five World Athletics Championships since 2015. The bronze came his way after the photo finish camera resolved the deadheat he was in with Letsile Tebogo, who was ahead by a thousandth of a second and Oblique Seville (Jamaica) who was behind by three-thousandth of a second.
“All these years, all these years of lessons, tribulations, of patience, I stuck to it. I had self-belief and trust in speed, my coach, and it has all come together at last in the 100m at a World Championships,” he said, having to overcome the mind games that the Americans had played with him by recalling that he had never won an individual medal in championships.
“The chat and noise are part of the game. You have to have a strong mindset and trust the work you’ve put in leading up to this point. In the end, it worked for me. It inspires me more to go back and see what else I can achieve,” he said, serving an inspirational reminder to some Indians who came up short on the big stage.
Santhosh Kumar continued the string of disappointing performances by Indian athletes. His finished seventh in the nine-man 400m Hurdles heats. With eight sub-50-second times against his name so far, he had the opportunity to add to that list when he was drawn in the same heats as World Record holder Karsten Warholm. But he was sluggish and finished in 50.46 seconds.
It was not all gloom, though High Jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare exited from the qualification after the 2.22m and was not in the frame for a place in the final. Even if he had cleared 2.25m, he would have had to overcome the 2.28m challenge to extend his stay in the competition till Tuesday evening. He may have learnt some valuable lessons in the run-up to and during competition.
“I observed some of them make clearances effortlessly while we seem to put in a lot more effort,” he said. Having won the Asian Championships silver medal with a career best 2.26m clearance a month ago, he intends to make his international journey count in the not too distant future. “I now know I can compete with the best.”
The final will witness 13 jumpers who cleared 2.28m in qualification. Five others had a best of 2.25m and with nine jumpers bowing out after clearing 2.22m, the countback placed him 20th in the 36-man competition.
Sarvesh Anil Kushare said he was focused on his preparation for the event and did not let his team-mates’ lackluster showing on Saturday affect his mindset. “I am disappointed I could not do the best in this competition. I had prepared well and the body felt good,but I could not clear 2.25m. I can’t figure out why I did not get the jump I was looking for,” he said.
No Indians are scheduled to compete on Monday. Krishan Kumar (men’s 800m) and Jyothi Yarraji (women’s 100m Hurdles) will be seen in action on Tuesday. It will be a positive sign if either of them advances to the semifinals. For, that can lift the spirits within the Indian camp, especially ahead of Long Jumpers M Sreeshankar and world leader Jeswin Aldrin taking centrestage.
The results (finals, and Indian performances in qualifying):
Men
100m: 1. Noah Lyles (United States of America) 9.83 seconds; 2. Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) 9.88; 3. Zharnel Hughes (Great Britain) 9.88.
10000m: 1. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) 27:51.42; 2. Daniel Simiu Ebenyo (Kenya) 27:52.60; 3. Selmon Barega (Ethiopia) 27:52.72.
400m Hurdles: 36. T Santhosh Kumar 50.46 seconds
High Jump: 20. Sarvesh Anil Kushare 2.22m.
Hammer Throw: 1. Ethen Katzberg (Canada) 81.25m; 2. Wojchiech Nowicki (Poland) 81.02; 3. Bence Halasz (Hungary) 80.82.
Women
Long Jump: 1. Ivana Vuleta (Serbia) 7.14m; 2. Tara Davis-Woodhall (United States of America) 6.91; 3. Alina Rotaru-Kottmann (Romania) 6.88.
Heptathlon: 1. Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Great Britain) 6740 points (100H: 13.50; HJ: 1.86; SP: 13.64; 200: 23.48; LJ: 6.54; JT: 46.14; 800: 2:05.63; 2. Anna Hall (United States of America) 6720; 3. Anouk Vetter (Netherlands) 6501.
20km Walk: 1. Maria Perez (Spain) 1:26:51; 2. Jemima Montag (Australia) 1:27:16; 3. Antonella Palmisano (Italy) 1: 27:26.
