After successive nights of disappointment for Jamaica, Omar McLeod restored some pride as the Olympic champion claimed the 110 metres hurdles gold medal at the World Championships with a commanding performance from start to finish.
Jamaica’s dominance over sprint events has taken a knock in London after defeats for Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson in the 100m, but McLeod looked as solid as ever, dominating from the front.
After the seventh hurdle, Sergey Shubenkov, the defending champion from Russia, running as a neutral, threatened to close the Jamaican down but McLeod went away again, striding clear to win in 13.04 seconds.
“It’s been daunting and I really wanted to bring that spark back,” McLeod said. “It was up to me to come out here and take the show, to keep our flag flying high and I really hope I did that.
“I wanted to keep Jamaica on a high. Usain Bolt is still No 1 —he’s a legend.”
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Shubenkov claimed the silver medal, the first for the group named “authorised neutral athlete”, in 13.14 with Balazs Baji, of Hungary, clinching the bronze medal in 13.28. Sophie Hitchon’s evening started well but finished in tears as she finished seventh in the hammer final. Hitchon, who won a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics, had briefly held the lead during the first round as some throwers struggled with slippery conditions after a brief shower. But she tumbled down the leaderboard as others landed big throws while she failed to achieve a distance as long as she had made in qualifying.
Her best throw of the six was 72.32m, while Anita Wlodarczyk, the strong favourite from Poland, won with a best of 77.90m. Zheng Wang, of China, was second with 75.98m and Malwina Kopron, a 22-year-old Pole, secured the bronze with 74.76m.
“I think there was more there,” Hitchon said. “I think I showed in qualification that I was in better shape than that. I just couldn’t quite find the rhythm from the beginning. I feel pressure but I think it’s the pressure I put on myself to produce my best and I didn’t do that.”
Eilidh Doyle and Meghan Beesley made it through safely to the semi- finals of the 400m hurdles. Doyle, the Great Britain captain, insisted that the atmosphere was still good in the team despite a series of medal disappointments.
“It’s very positive,” she said. “Mo [Farah] set it up on the first night but although we’ve not got medals, you’ve had Callum [Hawkins] finishing fourth, just missing out, Reece Prescod, in his first championship, making it to the 100m final. That was just incredible. You’ve got Kyle Langford who smashed it to make the men’s 800m final.
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“So, although we’re not quite making that step on to the podium, that’s the future out there, you’re going to see these guys for years to come.”