BUDAPEST — Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson anchored the U.S. to its first sweep of the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay world titles since 2007, confirming the Americans once again own the 100m.
Lyles, who previously won the 100m and 200m, became the first person to win three golds at a single worlds since Usain Bolt in 2015.
Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes and Lyles combined to clock 37.38 seconds, topping silver medalist Italy by 24 hundredths.
Fifteen minutes later, Tamari Davis, TeeTee Terry and Gabby Thomas combined to hand Richardson a lead in the women’s 4x100m.
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Richardson, the individual 100m gold medalist, had no problem holding onto it, crossing the line 18 hundredths ahead of world 200m champion Shericka Jackson of Jamaica. The U.S. ran 41.03, a championship record. Richardson became the first U.S. woman to win three medals at one worlds since Allyson Felix in 2017.
It marked the first time in world championships history that the U.S. swept the golds in the men’s and women’s 100m and 4x100m relays. The last time it was done at the Olympics was the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Also Saturday, Chase Ealey repeated as world champion in the shot put, one year after becoming the first American woman to win the event. She threw 20.43 meters after a “rough season” as she changed her throwing technique with eyes on making her first Olympic team next year.
“I risked this gold,” by changing technique, Ealey said, “because I’m looking forward to Paris.”
Faith Kipyegon, already with three world records this season, made more distance running history.
Kipyegon, a 29-year-old Kenyan mom, won the 5000m, four days after becoming the first woman to earn a third 1500m gold. She became the first woman to win both events at a single worlds.
In Saturday’s 5000m final, she outkicked Dutch rival Sifan Hassan, the Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion, and clocked 14:53.88, 23 hundredths ahead of Hassan.
“She’s the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen,” Hassan said of Kipyegon.
Earlier this season, Kipyegon broke world records in the 1500m, mile and 5000m. It was her first time racing the 5000m since 2015. She bids to break one more world record this year in the road mile at the first world road running championships in Latvia on Oct. 1.
Next year, Kipyegon can become the first woman to win the 1500m and 5000m at one Olympics.
Swede Mondo Duplantis repeated as world champion in the pole vault, adding to his Olympic gold medal and six world records. Duplantis cleared 6.10 meters, while silver medalist E.J. Obiena of the Philippines missed attempts at 6.05 and 6.10. Duplantis then took three failed attempts at upping his world record by one centimeter to 6.23.
Marco Arop took the 800m to become the second Canadian man to claim an individual world title on the track after Donovan Bailey (100m, 1995).
Canada, which previously won the men’s and women’s hammer throws, also captured the decathlon on Saturday. It wasn’t Olympic gold medalist Damian Warner, but instead Pierce LePage. LePage, a 6-foot-8 Ontarian, formerly was a maintenance worker at the track where he trains and also used to do video game competitions.
Canada earned four golds at a single worlds for the first time.
The U.S. women’s 4x400m relay was disqualified in the heats because third leg Quanera Hayes handed off to anchor Alexis Holmes beyond the exchange zone. Unless reinstated, the U.S. will not win gold for the first time since 2015 and not win a medal for the first time since 2005.
Worlds finish Sunday, featuring Athing Mu in the 800m final and the 4x400m relay finals, with live coverage on NBC, CNBC, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and Peacock.
