Debutant Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took her outstanding outdoor form indoors by blasting to victory in the women’s 60m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships on Sunday.
Fancied Ethiopians Genzebe Dibaba and Mohammed Aman also stormed to impressive second golds, but there was heartbreak for America’s “Peter Pan” of middle-distance running, Bernard Lagat, who had to make do with 3000m silver.
Fraser-Pryce, who emulated Usain Bolt by winning treble gold at last summer’s Moscow outdoor worlds, timed 6.98 seconds, the seventh fastest time ever clocked over the distance.
The 27-year-old’s Jamaican teammate Veronica Campbell-Brown, back on the track after a 10-month lay-off because of a botched doping case, could only finish fifth (7.13sec).
Twice an Olympic champion over 100m, Fraser-Pryce was fast out of her blocks and propelled her diminutive frame to the head of the field and remained through the finish line on the bright blue track at the packed-out Ergo Arena.
But she warned, however, that her appearance in these world indoors could realistically be her last.
“The next world indoors are in the Olympic year (in Portland in 2016 before the Summer Games in Rio), so I am not sure if I will do any more,” Fraser-Pryce said.
“Winning this gold medal feels like I have never won it before, like it was my first gold. That is why I always try to do my best. I’m very excited for the gold because it is very tough at 60m.”
Earlier on the track Dibaba and Aman lived up to their top billing with respective victories in the women’s 3000m and men’s 800m.
The 23-year-old Dibaba, who has broken three world indoor records this season, completely dominated her race, clocking 8min 55.04sec to add the 3000m crown to the indoor 1500m title she won two years ago in Istanbul.
Defending champion Hellen Onsando Obiri of Kenya claimed silver in 8:57.72, with Ethiopian-born Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal taking bronze (8:59.16).
“I moved up with about eight laps to go, but I couldn’t shake them off so I had to increase the pace with 800m to go,” said Dibaba, the younger sister of multi-medal-winning Tirunesh.
“This year I’ve added the 3000m world indoor championships gold to three world records — it’s been a great year. My sister Tirunesh also wanted me to focus on the gold and not the time.”
– Lagat out of luck –
Aman defended his 800m title, timing 1:46.40 in a tightly-fought race that saw the capacity crowd erupt when Poland’s Adam Kszczot claimed silver.
“It was a very tactical race, which is to be expected in a final,” said Aman. “I still have to go for the Olympic gold and world records. This is just the beginning, not the end.”
But there was no such luck for Kenyan-born US veteran Lagat, who was bidding to defend his 3000m title and take his place in the record books with a fourth world indoor victory in the discipline.
The 39-year-old was undone by the crushing last-lap pace of Kenyan upstart Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku, 18 years his junior.
“It’s a big challenge running against these guys who are maybe 20 years younger than me, but age does not matter,” said Lagat, who claimed the first of his three world indoor titles in 2004 when he raced for his native Kenya.
“I’m happy with my performance in my fifth appearance at the championships.”
Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim won a high-quality men’s high jump with a best of 2.38m, the 22-year-old winning on countback from Russian Ivan Ukhov.
The US quartet of Kyle Clemons, David Verburg, Kind Butler and Calvin Smith rounded off the three-day competition in Sopot with a world indoor record of 3min 02.13sec in the 4x400m relay.
It left the USA atop the medals table with a tally of 12 from eight golds (including six individual), two silvers and two bronzes. Russia were in second with five (3-2-0) and Ethiopia in third, also with five (2-2-1).