Christian Coleman © Gallo Images
Noah Lyles' quest for four world titles this year was not hampered as Christian Coleman overtook him to take gold in the 60m dash at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Friday.
Coleman led from gun to tape and won in 6.41 seconds, the fastest time of the season.
This was the world record holder's second world indoor sprint title after 2018.
The 60m final will never disappoint 😮💨
Mr. 🇺🇸 @__Coleman I will regain the title with a world-class time of 6.41 seconds 👑#World Indoor Champion pic.twitter.com/XFqywA4awt
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 1, 2024
“You have to put in 10,000 hours and practice and analyze over and over again and keep improving on the things you're weak at,” Coleman said of the secret to his success.
“I'm even more excited that I'm in my prime and the opportunity is right in front of me,” he said of the prospect of competing in the Paris Olympics, after missing out on the Tokyo Olympics due to a doping ban.
Lyles, who was aiming for this race as a springboard for a gold medal triple at this summer's Paris Olympics, won silver in 6.44 seconds, with Jamaica's Akeem Blake taking bronze (6.46 seconds).
“I wasn't happy with it, but it's my second fastest time ever, 6.44 seconds, so I'm happy with it. I'm never going to be dissatisfied,” Lyles said.
“The 60 cars will not have any chance outdoors! I’m really looking forward to all the races that are coming up next.”
Lyles said the indoor season helped him improve his starts, the worst part of racing, by “drastic numbers, so I'm really happy to go home and apply that to the 100 meters and 200 meters.”
“This shows you're not going to run away from me early in the race.”
Closer wins gold
It was a good night for the US team. Two-time Olympic champion and two-time world outdoor gold medalist Ryan Crowther improved on his world indoor silver medal with victory in the shot put two years ago in Belgrade.
The American world record holder clocked 22.77m on his fifth attempt, with New Zealand's Tom Walsh taking silver with 22.07m and Italy's Leonardo Fabbri taking bronze with 21.96m.
Championship record of 22.77 meters 👏@rcrowerthrows Another gold medal added to his long list of shot put honors 💪#World Indoor Champion pic.twitter.com/AE3GpAZIpT
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 1, 2024
“This is a great stepping stone toward the Olympics,” Crowther said. “I'm looking forward to the outdoors.”
In the women's high jump, Nicola Orislegers of Australia cleared 1.99 meters to win the gold medal, her first world title after winning silver at the Olympics and bronze at the outdoor world championships.
Defending indoor and outdoor world champion Yaroslava Makhuchik of Ukraine won silver with a personal best of 1.97m, while Lia Apostlovskiy of Slovenia had to be content with bronze (1.95m).
Finland's Saga Vanninen entered the final event of the five-sport women's pentathlon, the 800m, with a nine-point lead over Belgium's Noor Wits.
But in the exhausting four-lap finale, Vits finished seven seconds ahead of his Finnish rival and defended his title with a total of 4.773 points.
Witts ran the 60 meter hurdles in 8.27 seconds, set personal bests in the high jump of 1.79 meters, shot put of 14.26 meters and long jump of 6.50 meters.
Vaninen won the silver medal with 4 677 points, while Sophie Dokter of the Netherlands won the bronze medal (4 571 points).
Two of Glasgow's biggest 400m hurdle stars, Femke Boll and Karsten Warholm, will advance to their respective 400m finals scheduled for Saturday at 21:00 and 21:10 GMT. He easily earned the right to participate in the event.
Warholm, a world record holder, three-time outdoor champion and Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, won in the semifinals with a time of 45.86 seconds.
Bol, a two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles, had just broken his own indoor 400m world record of 49.24 seconds last month, clocking 50.66 seconds to qualify for the top-six showdown.
“It felt really easy and I felt really relaxed. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's race, especially riding with Lieke,” said teammate Claver.
“Right now I'm going to take time to recover because I have a lot of races to do. I'm very focused. I don't think it's dangerous to run indoors. I'm really enjoying it.”