London: Maria Lasitskene of Russia retained the women’s high jump title easing past Ukrainian Yuliia Levchenko at the World Athletics Championships (WAC) here Saturday. The 24-year-old, competing as an authorised neutral athlete cleared 2.03 m for the gold medal whereas Yuliia(2.01m) took the silver and Poland’s Kamila Licwinko clinched the bronze medal with a 1.99m mark. However, Lasitskene who missed last year’s Rio Olympics because of Russia’s suspension failed twice in her attempts but came back strongly to clinch the crown. “A gold medal here was my only goal this season but certainly I would like to raise the bar a bit higher,” she said.
Pearson dominates
Australia’s Sally Pearson clinched her second world women’s 100 meters hurdles title in six years beating her long time rival Dawn Harper Nelson of America at the World Athletics Championships here Saturday. The 30-year-old 2012 Olympic gold medallist clocked 12.59s for the gold while Harper Nelson finished just four seconds behind taking the silver. Germany’s Pamela Dutkiewicz got away with the bronze in 12.72s.
indo-asian news service