Coleman beats Lyles in world indoor 60m head-to-head

American one-two in the much-anticipated men’s sprint final on a night that saw thrills and spills on the track

Six years ago Christian Coleman arrived in a snowy Birmingham when the ‘beast from the East’ was battering Britain with icy blasts. Taking to his blocks in the world indoor 60m final, he stormed to victory in a championship record of 6.37.

This time, on Saturday (March 1) in Glasgow, the weather was a little milder outside the Emirates Arena. The result was the same, though, as he scorched to the title in a world leading mark of 6.41.

The race was billed as a big head-to-head with Noah Lyles, his US team-mate and the world 100m and 200m champion. Yet Coleman enjoyed a bullet start and was never threatened as Lyles finished three hundredths of a second behind with Ackeem Blake of Jamaica third in 6.46.

Lyles had beaten Coleman in the recent US Championships in Albuquerque but Coleman turned the tables here. “I had a lot of confidence in myself coming in,” he said. “I set my mind on letting my body do what I have been doing in practice and I came out with a win.”

Lyles was magnanimous in defeat, saying: “It feels like one of my best performances – 6.44, I’m never going to be dissatisfied with that. Last year I was running 6.51 and this year I’ve put down multiple 6.4s. And these are not small 6.4s either, I’m deep into 6.4 territory.

“The 60m is not my favourite race but now you can’t say I’m not one of the greats in it. I’m very excited for Paris because it has all my favourite events.”

There was plenty of drama elsewhere on the track on Saturday evening. After British middle-distance runners Georgia Bell and Revee Walcott-Nolan qualified comfortably from their women’s 1500m heats, it wasn’t so straightforward for Adam Fogg and Callum Elson in the men’s 1500m.

Fogg was tripped early in his heat and got up to chase down his rivals. But the effort took its toll in the later stages and he faded to finish sixth in a heat won by Cole Hocker of the United States.

However, mid-interview with AW he heard he had been reinstated for the final.

There was no such luck for his team-mate Callum Elson, though, who pulled up with what appeared to be a sudden calf problem and he was wheeled out of the arena.

Femke Bol led the qualifiers for the women’s 400m final with 50.66 in her semi-final as Laviai Nielsen from Britain also made the final with 51.44 in the same heat.

Just ahead of Nielsen, though, was an impressive run by American Alexis Holmes who managed to clock 50.99 behind Bol despite being drawn in the tight second lane.

In the men’s 400m semi-finals, Karsten Warholm qualified for the final with a 45.86 win but the quickest qualifier was Alexander Doom of Belgium who ran 45.69.

“It’s good fun,” said Warholm. “I gave it my all and it’s going to be tough to go faster in the final. Sometimes I go out too hard and it goes south, and sometimes I find the sweet spot, so let’s see if I learned anything today.”

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Coleman beats Lyles in world indoor 60m head-to-head appeared first on AW.