Eugene >> Within 39 minutes a World Championships that has seen just about everything was shocked three times Saturday night in turns heartbreaking, surprising and, upon a review of recent history, not surprising at all.
Sprinting’s two global superpowers, the Jamaican women and the American men, restored this week to worldwide pre-eminence were both upended in the 4x100-meter relays, undone by their own suspect passing and a pair of anchors determined to erase nine days of disappointment at Oregon ‘22.
But the biggest jolt nearly went unnoticed as the Hayward Field crowd focused on the two 4x100 relay finals just minutes away. In what should have been a routine 400 heat in the men’s decathlon, Canada’s Damian Warner, the reigning Olympic champion, pulled up and collapsed to the track 130 meters into the race, fallen by a left hamstring injury.
Warner, who led after each of the first four events, slammed the track in frustration. His Worlds were over.
Warner had barely limped off the track when the eight lead-off runners settled into their blocks for a women’s 4x100 final that was expected to be the crowning moment for a Jamaican sprint corps that had once again dominated another Worlds or Olympic Games, sweeping the 100 and going 1-2 in the 200. The only real question mark hanging over the final was would a