Noah Lyles has been talking up his 100m chances in the World Athletics Championships all week and the American 200m specialist backed up the chat where and when it mattered on Sunday as he took gold in a personal best 9.83 seconds.

Noah Lyles of the US wins the men’s 100m world championships in a time of 9.83sec. Zharnel Hughes (Great Britain), Christian Coleman (US) and Letsile Tebogo (Botswana) cross the finish line milliseconds behind. (Photo: David Ramos / Getty Images)

It was a blanket finish behind him as Letsile Tebogo of Botswana took silver by one-thousandth of a second from Briton Zharnel Hughes.

Fourth-placed Oblique Seville of Jamaica was three-thousandths of a second off the podium as all three men clocked 9.88.

Former champion Christian Coleman was also in the mix after a great start, but was just overhauled to finish fifth in 9.92.

Tebogo (20) is the first African to win a world 100m medal, while Hughes, the fastest in the world coming into the championships with 9.83, is the first Briton on the men’s 100m podium since Darren Campbell took bronze 20 years ago.

It is the United States though who are firmly top of the sprinting tree again as Lyles’ victory makes it four world titles in a row, with four in a row for Jamaica before that.

It had been billed as a wide-open final and at 50m most of the field was locked together in a line.

Lyles, though, forged his way to the front in the last 30m, and the event’s biggest showman had to delay his celebration until the big screen confirmed his triumph. He had predicted he would run 9.65, but a personal best of 9.83 proved enough.

“I needed to make sure that I was accelerating and when I was at 60 metres I took the lead,” Lyles said.

“I have taken a lot of losses, even in the 100m and going to the US trials with Covid I got the bronze medal, but a lot of people cut me off right there.

“But I knew what I had to do. I came here for three golds, ticked off one; others are coming. The 100m was the hardest one; it is out of the books. I will have fun with the event I love now.”

The two-times world champion in the 200m will now go for the sprint double, last achieved by Usain Bolt in 2015, before hoping to sign off with a win in the sprint relay.

Hughes, who was disqualified for a false start in the Tokyo Olympics final, was delighted with his medal to cap a season where he has captured the British 100m and 200m records that had both stood for 30 years.

“I’m super, super grateful right now,” he said. “I wanted the gold, but I’m happy to leave with a medal.

“When they had a false start in the semi, it made me sit in my blocks a bit. I thought I’s got Lyles. When I saw the results and saw Tebogo’s name, I thought ‘Where did he come from?’.”

Defending 100m world champion Fred Kerley of the US failed to qualify for the final after running 10.02 in the semis.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine false started in his semi-final and was disqualified.

Cheptegei wins again

Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda wins the men’s 10,000m final. (Photo: Sam Mellish / Getty Images)

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei delivered a devastating last lap to win a third successive World Championship 10,000m gold on Sunday despite barely competing over 25 laps in the past three years.

The world record holder over 5,000m and 10,000m has had an injury-hit year and struggled to hit his top form, but on a hot, humid night in Budapest, he broke clear approaching the bell and stamped his authority over the field with a 53-second last lap to come home in 27:51.42.

Daniel Simiu Ebenyo of Kenya took silver with Selemon Barega of Ethiopia the bronze.

From left: Tara Davis-Woodhall of the US, Ivana Vuleta of Serbia and Alina Rotaru-Kottmann of Team Romania celebrate after winning silver, gold and bronze, respectively, in the women’s long jump. (Photo: Michael Steele / Getty Images)

Ivana Vuleta has had a career full of bronze medals, but the 33-year-old Serbian finally won gold in the long jump.

Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta won the women’s long jump with a leap of 7.14m. (Photo: Michael Steele / Getty Images)

Vuleta soared a personal-best 7.14m, top in the world this season, on her fifth of six jumps to secure the victory, saying her experience was an advantage.

“It has been a long, long, long ride,” Vuleta said. “Every medal, every final is really special, but at this age it is really hard to keep everything together.

“I am glad that I have used all the experience I have; it was my greatest ally.”

Vuleta won bronze at both the 2013 and 2015 worlds and at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where her medal was Serbia’s first in athletics at the Games. DM