Three of Gout Gout’s main 200m rivals have suffered staggering setbacks in the 100m at the athletics world championships. Oblique Seville won Jamaica’s first men’s world 100m title in 10 years on Sunday night in Tokyo, upstaging Kishane Thompson and Noah Lyles to take the gold.
Seville clocked a personal best time of 9.77 seconds to win, with compatriot Thompson taking silver in 9.82 and defending champion Lyles of the US getting bronze (9.89). It marked the first world sprint title for Jamaica in the men’s field since the legendary Usain Bolt – watching on from the stands – won the 100m and 200m double at the 2015 world championships in Beijing.
Oblique Seville (R) won the 100m crown at the athletics world championships after Letsile Tebogo (L) was disqualified. Image: SBS/Getty
There was drama in the final when Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo was disqualified for a false start. Tebogo, who will be one of Gout’s main rivals in the 200m, took off early and was given a red card, ruling him out of the 100m final. The Botswana runner is more accomplished in the 200m, but did win 100m silver behind Lyles at the world championships two years ago.
And Gout’s two other main rivals in the 200 also suffered disappointing setbacks in the 100m final. Lyles lost his world 100m title after only managing third, while fellow American Kenny Bednarek had a shocking start and never recovered after entering the final as the equal-fastest qualifier.
Tebogo, Lyles and Bednarek will all be among the contenders in the 200m later this week. Whether their setbacks in the 100m opens the door for Gout in the 200 remains to be seen, but it could also mean they’re hell-bent on bouncing back.
Gout has opted to focus on the 200m in Tokyo despite going under 10 seconds (albeit wind-assisted) in the 100 recently. The 17-year-old will race the biggest event of his life at the world championships, and is an outside chance to shock the likes of Tebogo, Lyles and Bednarek.
Tebogo said after his disqualification that he didn’t want to protest the decision because he didn’t want to delay the race for his competitors. “I just wanted them to run their races, congratulate them and then go into the next one (200m),” he told reporters track-side.
Bolt was among a number of onlookers shocked when Tebogo false-started. The TV commentator said: “I cannot believe it. The tension was too much. Tebogo knew he needed a quick start.”
Letsile Tebogo false-started and was disqualified. Image: Getty
Oblique Seville becomes Jamaica’s new sprint king
Having missed out on Olympic gold in Paris last year to Lyles by an agonising five-thousandths of a second, Thompson had been desperate to turn the tables in Tokyo. But it was Seville who shocked the world on Sunday night to become the new sprint king.
Seville had finished fourth in the 100m final at the previous two world championships in 2022 and 2023. “The last time Jamaica have won the men’s 100m (Olympic or world) gold medal was in 2016 when Usain Bolt got it,” Seville said after the race.
“I feel really amazing and excited that the gold is coming home to Jamaica. I have proved that I am a true competitor, that I have the determination of a champion.”
Noah Lyles, Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson after the 100m final at the athletics world championships. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won a star-studded women’s 100m final, taking gold in a championship record of 10.61. Rising Jamaican star Tina Clayton (10.76) took silver, while Olympic champion Julien Alfred from St Lucia was third in 10.88.
Jamaica’s multiple world and Olympic champions Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce were fourth and sixth respectively, while defending world champ Sha’Carri Richardson from the US was fifth. One day after breaking her own 100m national record in the heats with a time of 11.08 seconds, Australia’s Torrie Lewis finished fifth in her semi-final in 11.14 and missed the final.
with agencies