By Lori Ewing
BUDAPEST, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Americans Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek struck sprint gold and a $300,000 jackpot on Sunday, winning the 200m titles at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship a day after they were crowned 100m champions.
Jefferson-Wooden, who cemented her status as the sport’s new sprint queen, blazed to a scorching 21.47 seconds that made her the third fastest woman in history, 24 hours after her victory in the blue-riband 100m.
Olympic champion Gabby Thomas was a distant second in 21.77.
Minutes earlier, Bednarek — known as “Kung Fu Kenny” for his ever-present bandana — had stamped his authority on the men’s 200m, powering off the bend and away from Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win in 19.52.
As he crossed the line, the stadium screen cut to a smiling Usain Bolt applauding the performance.
For the Americans, who have spent the past three years grinding through training sessions together in Central Florida, the sweep felt like the payoff for years of work.
For the 25-year-old Jefferson-Wooden, the race was another chance to underline her status among the world’s elite sprinters three years after she attended the world championships in Budapest only as part of the U.S. relay pool.
“I did not see 20.47 coming tonight!” Jefferson-Wooden said. “I was thinking I could run this fast in maybe two years but not tonight. I really have no words, I am just happy and I am inspired to do something on my own. This result is a good inspiration for the upcoming years.”
Bednarek, meanwhile, has spent much of the past decade establishing himself as one of the world’s finest half-lappers as a two-time Olympic silver medallist over 200m and has regularly challenged for major titles. Saturday’s 100m victory was his first individual global title.
“Oh my God, it has been a crazy few days,” Bednarek said. “I am just happy to be here and performance-wise I give myself an A-plus because of the couple of things I have been working on, and I put them together (here). This was the year where I focused on making progress. Coming home from Budapest with two wins in Budapest is amazing.”
The inaugural three-day event, compact and designed for television, drew sellout crowds of just over 20,000 fans each evening, and by the final night the atmosphere felt less like a traditional athletics meeting and more like a party, with music pumping during events, and athletes feeding off the energy.
Italian Gianmarco Tamberi had the crowd enthralled as he cleared 2.37 metres to win the men’s high jump title.
Never one to miss a chance to work the crowd, Tamberi competed while “Rock This Party” and then “Put Your Hands Up in the Air” boomed from the stadium speakers.
Pole vault world record-holder Mondo Duplantis closed the event by performing his song “Gold,” which was also the event’s anthem, while fireworks blasted above the Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said that while the event will be held every two years, this inaugural meet was part trial and error, and elements that worked well could potentially be included in future Olympics and World Championships.
(Reporting by Lori EwingEditing by Toby Davis)
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