Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers is the women’s high jump world champion, claiming gold in the final on the last night of competition at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
Olyslagers entered the final as favourite courtesy of her world No.1 ranking and winning Diamond League gold last month, and she lived up to the billing with a first clearance of exactly two metres clinching her first world title.
The two-time Olympic silver medallist did not clear 2.02m, but it did not matter as none of her rivals were able to better her initial jump.
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It was Australia’s first gold medal of the World Championships adding to three bronze medals via Jess Hull in the women’s 1500m, Mackenzie Little in the women’s javelin and Kurtis Marschall in the men’s pole vault.
Australian, and former world champion, Eleanor Patterson finished fifth in the high jump final, that took roughly two hours and 45 minutes as rain wreaked havoc in the Japanese capital.
Olympic medallist Matt Denny’s men’s discus final was heavily delayed by the wet weather and eventually completed almost two hours after the track events concluded.
In his fourth World Championships final, Denny finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium place as the slippery conditions proved to be a major obstacle.
Earlier in the night, Jess Hull fell short of a remarkable 800m-1500m medal double, with a speedy race at the shorter distance proving too much for the long-race specialist to overcome, finishing eighth with a time of 1:57.30 in the 800m final.
It followed her new Oceania record of 1:57.15 in the semi-finals after being tripped in her heat and needing a protest to advance.
Meanwhile, Ky Robinson produced a brilliant and gutsy fourth in the men’s 5000m final.
He was too far back entering the final 200m to contend for the podium having been caught in the pack, but the 23-year-old did Australia proud in his first global outdoor final as he ran the nation’s fastest ever 5000m at a World Championships.
Connor Bond, Jacob Despard, Calab Law and Rohan Browning suffered the disappointment of being unable to finish in the men’s 4x100m relay final after being the fastest non-automatic qualifiers with the seventh fastest semi final time.
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Jess Hull makes 800 metres history | 00:46
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