Richardson, who seeks to become the fourth woman to achieve the double and the first since Jamaican Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce in 2013, recorded the fastest time in the 200m heats with a time of 22.16 seconds.
As for Lyles, the holder of the title twice in the 200m, he achieved the required record, by recording 20.05 seconds.
The American aims to become the first runner to achieve the 100- and 200-meter double since Jamaican Usain Bolt in 2015.
Lyles, 26, not only sets his sights on the double, but also the world record set by Bolt of 19.19s at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin.
“I try to make all my races look as easy as possible, even if it isn’t,” Lyles said. “I still had some speed left, I just didn’t need it here. The goal tomorrow is for my body and my legs to be ready to hit the power button again.”
And the strongest competition for the Ells will be, perhaps, from Botswana’s Letsell Tebogo, who won the silver medal in the 100-meter race, and his young compatriot, Irion Knighton.
Tibogo (20 years old) won the qualifiers with a time of 20.22 seconds. “I think I will need to run faster than 19.50s to get the title,” he said afterwards.
He added, “Lyles will swoop in on the world record, and maybe if you push him hard, he can set it.”
But Lyles said after winning the 100m gold that “when people look back at this year, they will say that this is the year that Noah won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, and this is the start of a streak.”
fierce competition
Richardson will have a lot of work to do to match the two Germans, Silke Gladysz (Muller), who won the double world championships in the 100 and 200 meters in 1987, and Katrin Krabbe (1991) and Fraser-Pryce (2013).
The competition will not be easy for Richardson in front of fierce runners, such as her compatriot Gabby Thomas, who beat her in the American trials, and the Jamaican defending champion, Sherika Jackson, who is seeking revenge after she was forced to settle for the silver medal behind the brilliant Richardson in the 100m race.
Thomas, who achieved the fastest world time this season with a time of 21.60s, was the second fastest with a time of 22.26s.
“Being the number one in the world adds a bit of pressure, but that’s the name of the game,” she said after the qualifiers.
“I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in, so I’m ready to go,” she added.
Rojas competes with time… and herself
Venezuelan runner Yulimar Rojas, who has dominated the triple jump category at the world championships since 2017, is setting her sights on improving her world record, in light of her quest for her fourth consecutive world title.
The 27-year-old not only won world gold medals in London in 2017, in Doha two years later and in Eugene last year, but she also became an Olympic champion in the Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed until 2021 due to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, achieving a world record of 15.67 metres.
Rojas improved that figure to 15.74m when she won her third world indoor title in Belgrade in 2022.
“The level is high this year, the level of the triple jump has improved… But I am very focused and I think my main competitor is me, my competitor is Yulimar Rojas,” Rojas said before the qualifiers.
“My competition is my fears, my mistakes, the way I get up and how I feel on the track.”
And the Venezuelan added, “I am myself and I always try to defeat myself and improve my numbers day after day and improve my jumps. This is the main thing.”
2023-08-24 06:42:15
#World #Cup #Powers #Lyles #Richardson #double #Rojas #gold
