By Victor Kanayo
Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso has become the first African to win a Gold medal in triple jump at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
Zango’s fifth round jump of 17.64m ensured victory in the men’s triple jump, landing him his first world title after a silver in 2022 and a bronze in 2019.
Coached by Teddy Tamgho, Zango matches his trainer’s world title from Moscow 2013.
Amusan Set For Title Defence
Meanwhile, Tobi Amusan will start her tittle defense on Tuesday evening at the ongoing competition where she’ll line up in heat 5 of the women’s 100m hurdles.
She’ll go up against Jamaica Champion, Megan Tapper and Australia’s Michelle Jenneke for a spot in the semis.
Richardson Cruise Control
Earlier, American Sha’Carri Richardson won the women’s 100-meter world title, after outsprinting a star-studded field to take a gold medal two years after a positive marijuana test derailed her Olympic dreams.
Running on the far outside in Lane 9, Richardson finished in 10.65 seconds to match the year’s best time and set the world-championship record.
She beat Jamaicans Shericka Jackson by .07 seconds and five-time champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by .12.
This was Richardson’s first major competition on the world stage and she was listed as a 5-1 underdog even though she came in as the American champion and had bested Jackson, who also has run 10.65 this year, the previous two times they met in 2023.
The race featured four of the eight fastest runners of all time, including Marie-Josée Ta Lou, who finished fourth.
Though it was clear Richardson had finished ahead of all those runners to her left in the gold-medal race, the 23-year-old looked stunned when she crossed the line.
She blew a kiss toward the sky, cast her eyes on that beautiful scoreboard and walked toward the stands in a daze to accept the American flag and congratulations from Fraser-Pryce, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and others.
What a comeback story it was — and just in time for the buildup to the Paris Olympics, which start less than 12 months from now.
Richardson appeared ready to become America’s next sprint star when she cruised to a win at Olympic trials two years ago. But that victory quickly came off the books after she tested positive for marijuana — a doping violation she readily admitted, saying she was in a bad place after the recent death of her mom.
