Watched from the stands by the fastest man of all time, Oblique Seville became the first Jamaican man since Usain Bolt to win a global 100m title as he edged his compatriot Kishane Thompson for the gold at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 on Sunday (14).
An animated Bolt, who had earlier in the night been paraded inside a packed Japan National Stadium in humid conditions, roared on his successor from a VIP box.
Thompson may have been the fastest man this season, his time of 9.75 the quickest by any athlete for 10 years. But when it mattered, Seville peaked at just the right time, clocking a PB of 9.77 (0.3m/s). Olympic silver medallist Thompson was five tenths of a second behind, with defending champion Noah Lyles completing the podium.
“The last time Jamaica won the men’s 100m world gold medal was in 2016, when Usain Bolt got it,” said 24-year-old Seville after winning the first global title of his career. “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. But still, I was panicking. I didn’t know what was going on throughout the semifinal. Finishing strong in the last 30 to 40 metres was something I was struggling with the whole season, I just didn’t recognise it. Now I have perfected it and I was confident that if I could do it in the final, I would win. I knew if I had a strong finish, the others would not catch me.”
Following the heats, Lyles had declared himself in the “best form I have ever been in my life”. The times and results might not have backed that up, but his self-fuelled hype train was enough to push him to a medal by clocking 9.89.
And typically the US athlete still celebrated as though the gold was his and it might yet be, come the 200m later in this World Championships.
There were disappointments for other finalists. For one, Letsile Tebogo – the Olympic 200m champion and world silver medallist for the 100m in Budapest two years ago – was disqualified for a false start.
And then Kenny Bednarek, who with Thompson was the fastest qualifier for the final – both running 9.85 to the same thousandth of a second – had a dire start from which he never recovered.
Thompson has looked every bit the heir apparent to Bolt this season, with repeated wins and even quicker times, and pre-final he was fist pumping volunteers in relaxed fashion, much was his predecessor’s custom.
There was even levity between Thomson and Bednarek in their earlier semifinal. The Jamaican turned his head to his rival on his way to the line and Bednarek returned the light-hearted side glance, the pair all smiles.
Seville also impressed in his semifinal by clocking 9.86, while Lyles recovered from a poor start to win the other semifinal in 9.92.
In that showdown for a place in the final, Lyles – never knowingly understated – crossed his fingers in front of the camera, stuck out his tongue and produced a big hand clap. Come the final, he raised his arms aloft akin to an exaggerated stretch.
On the evidence of the semifinals, the final looked set to be a duel between the Jamaican and US sprinters with, so it proved, the exception of a faltering Bednarek.
In the end, it was Seville – arguably the most understated of the potential gold medallists, and having gone into the championships in the shadows of the showmen like Lyles and Thompson.
As he crossed the line, he ripped open his race jersey and beat his chest, as Bolt looked on and Jamaica celebrated a first global men’s 100m champion since Bolt achieved the feat at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
AloJapan.com