World Athletics Championships 2022: Canada, USA create upset in 4x100M relay; Peters thwarts Neeraj challenge

US womens 4x100M relay team — US women's 4x100M relay team shocked favourites Jamaica.

Bengaluru, July 24: The Canada and US men's and women's teams respectively created upset in the 4x100M relay finals on the penultimate day of World Athletics Championships Oregon22 where Grenada's Anderson Peters had three throws over 90M en route to defending his javelin throw gold, pipping Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.

The tight-knit Canadian quartet, who have grown up together in the sport, clocked a world-leading 37.48, with Andre De Grasse running a final leg of 8.79 to keep Marvin Bracy-Williams-Williams of the US in his rear-view mirror.

The US ran 37.55, with Great Britain taking the bronze in 37.83.

In the women's final, Twanisha Terry held off a hard-charging Shericka Jackson on the home stretch, the crowd at Hayward Field produced the loudest roar in nine days of competition.

On paper, Jamaica's women's 4x100M relay team looked unbeatable. The US squad shredded those predictions, using better teamwork to win the gold medal.

"It wasn't expected of us and I'm glad we pulled it through," said Melissa Jefferson, who ran the first leg for USA.

The US team ran a world-leading 41.14, the second-fastest ever at a World Championships, with Jamaica clocking 41.18. They reversed positions from the Tokyo Olympics, where Jamaica claimed the gold and the US won the silver.

Canada cruises

In the men's final, Aaron Brown led off for Canada, followed by Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and De Grasse. The US had a formidable team of Christian Coleman, the 2019 world 100M champion, two-time world 200M champion Noah Lyles, Elijah Hall and Bracy-Williams, who was second in the 100M.

"When Andre got the baton with the lead there was no way they're going to catch him," said Brown. After failing to make the final at the Tokyo Olympics, the US appreciated a medal of any kind.

Tsegay wins 5,000M

Meanwhile, Gudaf Tsegay won her first major outdoor world title with a thrilling victory in the women's 5,000M, just five days after capturing the silver in the 1,500M.

The Ethiopian's time was 14:46.29, including a 59.95 final lap, with Beatrice Chebet of Kenya taking the silver and Dawit Seyaum of Ethiopia, the world indoor silver medallist, claiming bronze in 14:47.36.

Korir emulates Rudisha

In the men's 800M, Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir won the first world title for Kenya in the vent since David Rudisha in 2015.

Korir powered past Canada's Marco Arop on the final stretch to win with a season's best of 1:43.71, while Djamel Sedjati of Algeria moved from fifth to second, clocking 1:44.14. Arop took bronze in 1:44.28, an improvement over his seventh-place finish in 2019.

Peters soars high

In the men's javelin final, Peters unleashed a huge first attempt, but he saved the best for last. Although Peters' throw of 90.21M in the first round was more than 2M better than anyone else in the field, he outdid himself by hurling the javelin 90.54M on his final attempt.

Neeraj took the silver with a throw of 88.13M on his fourth attempt to move ahead of Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic, whose best was 88.09M.