Ultimate Championship: Jefferson-Wooden, Bednarek Seal Sprint Doubles; Tamberi Wins

BUDAPEST: Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Kenny Bednarek bagged memorable sprint doubles, and Alison dos Santos turned on the 400m hurdles afterburners to wrap up the Ultimate Championship in Budapest in sensational style on Sunday.

After both Americans clinched 100m crowns, they delivered the goods for a second time of asking in their respective 200m races in front of a raucous sell-out 20,000 strong crowd.

World champion Jefferson-Wooden scorched to a sensational 21.47 seconds for victory in the 200m to wrap up 11 finals on a heady third and final day of action of the inaugural championship.

The 25-year-old’s time was the fourth-fastest ever run. Only world record holder Florence Griffith Joyner (21.34) and Jamaican Shericka Jackson (21.41 and 21.45) have gone faster.

Kerr, in the absence of Norway’s 5,000m winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, produced a devastating last lap to seal a dominant victory in the 1,500m.

The Scot, fresh from setting a new world record in the mile, hit the front with 300 metres to run and clocked 3min 29.35sec for victory ahead of 20-year-old Australian Cameron Myers.

Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati pulled off a surprise in the men’s 800m, outsprinting Canada’s Olympic champion Marco Arop for the win in 1:41.91, with Kenya’s world gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi in third.

American world silver medallist Jasmine Jones won the women’s 400m hurdles in 52.45sec, while Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia dominated the women’s 5,000m with victory in 14:30.36.

And the US quartet of Chris Bailey, Alexis Holmes, Jacory Patterson and Aaliyah Butler won the 4x400m mixed relay in 3:08.32 ahead of Britain and the Netherlands.

The men’s high jump came down to a duel between American JuVaughn Harrison and Italy’s Tamberi, who won world gold in Budapest in 2023.

Tamberi, 34 and sporting a half-shaved face, jumped a world lead of 2.37m for victory in a gripping competition that fully engaged a sell-out 20,000-strong crowd.

And Senegal’s Saly Sarr held off a Cuban challenge for victory in the women’s triple jump with a best of 15.06m. Agencies

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