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Jamaica's peerless Shericka Jackson has delivered a commanding performance to retain her world 200 metres championship in 21.41 seconds, the second-fastest time ever run in the women's event.
- Jackson's time is second only to Florence Griffith-Joyner's world record set in 1988
- Lyles won the men's 200m gold for the third straight time
- He took out the 100m earlier in the championships
Only minutes after Jackson's victory in Budapest, Noah Lyles of the United States defended his 200m world championship, becoming the first male athlete to complete the sprint double since Jamaican great Usain Bolt in 2015.
Jackson, who was second in the women's 100m final, ran a brilliant bend to be two metres clear coming into the home straight and tore to the finish to complete a convincing victory.
Her time beat her previous best of 21.45, the championship record she set winning in Eugene last year.
It also edged her closer to the late Florence Griffith-Joyner's 21.34 world record from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Gabby Thomas, who came to Budapest as the fastest in the world this year with the 21.60 that won the US trials, ran an excellent race to take silver in 21.81.
Fellow American Sha'Carri Richardson claimed bronze with a personal best 21.92, running in the same lane nine from where she won gold in the 100m earlier in the championships.
Five days after capturing his first world title in the 100m, 26-year-old Lyles came off the bend and pulled away down the straight to win the 200m final in 19.52, just shy of his world-leading time of 19.47.
It is Lyles's third straight win in the event at the world titles.
US teammate Erriyon Knighton claimed silver in 19.75, while Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, second in the 100m, took bronze in 19.81.
Meanwhile, Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela soared to her fourth consecutive world triple jump title, securing victory on her sixth and last jump to narrowly avoid disaster.
The world record holder and Olympic champion — unbeaten in more than two years — only sneaked into the final round of eight jumpers in last place before summoning a magical 15.08m on her final attempt to overtake Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk of Ukraine.
Bekh-Romanchuk, silver medallist in the long jump at the 2019 world titles, had to settle for another silver with 15.00m.
Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba won the bronze with 14.96m.
Rojas, whose world record is a massive 15.74m, was eighth with just 14.33m and three fouls through five jumps, throwing her hand up in frustration with each failed attempt.
After her final-round effort, she squeezed her eyes shut hopefully before the winning distance was posted.
Reuters
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