Noah Lyles of United States (C) wins the men's 100m final of the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Photo: AFP
Noah Lyles has been talking up his 100 metres chances in the World Athletics Championships all week and the American 200 metres specialist backed up the chat where and when it mattered as he took gold in a personal best 9.83 seconds.
It was a blanket finish behind him as Letsile Tebogo of Botswana took silver by one thousandth of a second from Briton Zharnel Hughes. Fourth-placed Oblique Seville of Jamaica was three thousandths of a second off the podium as all three men clocked 9.88.
Former champion Christian Coleman was also in the mix after a great start but was just overhauled to finish fifth in 9.92.
Tebogo, 20, is the first African to win a world 100m medal, while Hughes, the fastest in the world coming into the championships with 9.83, is the first Briton on the men's 100m podium since Darren Campbell took bronze 20 years ago.
It is the United States though who are firmly top of the sprinting tree again as Lyles' victory makes if four world titles in a row, following four in a row for Jamaica before that.
Defending 100m world champion Fred Kerley of the U.S. failed to qualify for the final after running 10.02 in the semis.
Of the New Zealand athletes in action Sam Tanner was eliminated from the men's 1500m after placing eighth (3:36.58) in his semifinal.
With the first six finishes securing a final spot, the 22-year-old finished with a vicious kick down the home straight but gave himself too much to do and missed out on his bid to join Sir John Walker and Nick Willis as the other Kiwis to have made men's 1500m finals at a World Athletics Championships.
Tanner said: "I'm pretty disappointed because I know my fitness should reflect something different. But I can't complain, when you are competing against such a high-quality field, and the boys in the final deserve to be there. Bittersweet - but I'm still happy to be here."
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Zoe Hobbs at the 2023 athletics world championships. Photo: AFP
Zoe Hobbs advanced to the semifinals of the women's 100m but Commonwealth champion Hamish Kerr made a disappointing exit in the men's high jump qualification.
Chasing one of the three automatic qualification spots, Hobbs finished third behind double Olympic 100m gold medallist and five-time World 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland.
Hobbs said: "I was happy with how I executed that race. It was really hot out there, getting up to 33 degrees, so a fair bit of heat management. Today was about conserving my energy as much as I could for tomorrow. Stoked to have the job done and now my focus is on tomorrow and executing the semi where I would love to make the final."
Kerr, the Commonwealth champion, disappointingly exited the men's high jump qualification as he found 2.25m beyond him on this occasion. A 2.34m high jumper at his best, the
27-year-old Christchurch-based athlete cleared 2.18m and 2.22m with his first attempt in a lengthy qualification but found the 2.25m puzzle too tricky in one of the sport's most technical of events.
Kerr, who missed out on a final spot at a third successive World Championships, said: "I'm not really sure what to say to be honest, I was in good form coming in but for whatever reason I couldn't execute the plan we had in place.
"This one stings more than anything I've ever experienced and honestly I'm not sure what's next."
-Reuters/RNZ