The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship delivered electrifying performances as Audrey Werro and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden led a host of global stars to victory on the second day of competition.
Key Points
- Audrey Werro triumphs over Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson in the women's 800m at the Ultimate Championship.
- Melissa Jefferson-Wooden records the world's fastest time this season to win the women's 100m title.
- Kenny Bednarek secures the men's 100m title, while Collen Kebinatshipi and Marileidy Paulino win the 400m events.
- Haruka Kitaguchi claims the women's javelin, and Miltiadis Tentoglou wins the men's long jump.
- The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship showcases top global talent across various track and field disciplines.
Audrey Werro outpaced Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to win the women's 800 metres, one of the most anticipated showdowns of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Saturday, while Melissa Jefferson-Wooden blazed to the world's fastest time this season to win the women's 100m.
Switzerland's Werro led from the gun to pick up the $150,000 winner's pay cheque, clocking 1:55.88s, 0.38 ahead of Briton Hodgkinson, while double World 400m hurdles champion Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands was third.
"I am just so happy with everything I've had and with the race I ran tonight," Werro said. "We have won every race I have done this year during the outdoor season. It is really crazy but, at the same time, it is something I have worked for and now I am getting the result."
Werro pocketed $150,000 for the victory, part of the event's $10-million prize pot that is the richest in the sport.
"I do not know what I will do with the prize-money, maybe I will use it to improve my career and also enjoy a little bit of it and do something I have wanted to do," she said.
Sprint And Middle-Distance Dominance
Jefferson-Wooden of the US pulled away from the field to earn the Ultimate women's 100m title in 10.62s, 0.12 ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred of St Lucia.
American Kenny Bednarek pulled away from Jamaica's Oblique Seville to capture the men's 100m title in 9.85s, to Seville's 9.90.
Reigning World champion Collen Kebinatshipi from Botswana won the men's 400m in 43.39 seconds, while double world champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won the women's 400m in 49.07 seconds.
Field Event Triumphs And Personal Bests
Japan's Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi captured the women's javelin title with a throw of 68.92m, while 18-year-old Yan Ziyi of China was second with 68.05 -- the first time in 14 years two women have thrown over 68m in the same event.
Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland outsprinted Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell over the final 100m to win the women's 1,500m in 3:57.55. "Two years ago I was still working in tech sales so it has been a long process to get here," said Hunter Bell, who finished 0.17 shy of victory. "It just shows that I can do anything."
Double Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece flew 8.35m to win the men's long jump, while American Sandi Morris cleared 4.90m to win the women's pole vault.
The three-day Ultimate Championship concludes on Sunday.
