Ajee' Wilson Wins Long-Awaited Global Gold; Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas Break Their Own World Records; Grant Holloway Matches His WR In Semis; American Relays Fail To Medal

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Ajee' Wilson, a 12-time U.S. champion over her nine-year professional career, finally became a world champion Sunday at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. 

The 27-year old won the women's 800-meter final in 1:59.09 and won by more than a second and a half. 

Wilson had finished as the silver medalist at the previous two world indoor meets, in Birmingham, England in 2018 and Portland, Ore. in 2016 -- both times beaten by Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi.

Niyonsaba is no longer permitted to compete in the 800 due to new testosterone regulations adopted in 2019. 

RESULTS

Two world records fell on Sunday and another was tied. 

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis of Lafayette, La., who represents Sweden, upped his pole vault record by another centimeter and scaled and incredible 6.20m, or 20 feet, 4 inches. It's his fourth indoor world record and fifth overall.

Brazil's Thiago Braz jumped a South American record 19-6.25 (5.95m) for the silver medal and American champion Chris Nilsen took bronze with 19-4.25 (5.90m).

Grant Holloway matched his world record in the men's 60-meter hurdles in the semifinals, running 7.29, and the won the final in 7.39 for the lone gold medal for the U.S. men.

Yulimar Rojas of Colombia continued her domination of the women's triple jump by reaching a mark beyond her outdoor world record. Rojas jumped 51-7.75 (15.74m) to win the competition by a full meter in the greatest performance at the meet. 

Rojas broke the world outdoor record in Tokyo last summer, going 51-5 (15.67m) at the Olympics. 

Indoors, it was a 31-centimeter improvement over the world record, which is a full foot. 

Ethopia's Samuel Tefera beat Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in the men's 1,500-meter final. Tefera ran a meet record 3:32.77 and Ingebrigtsen was second in 3:33.02. 

Kenya's Abel Kipsang took bronze with 3:33.36. 

Ethiopia proved to be the dominant distance power at the meet. Selemon Barega (7:41.38) and Lamecha Girma (7:41.63) went 1-2 in the men's 3,000 meters. Marc Scott of Great Britain, who runs for the Nike Bowerman TC, secured the bronze in 7:42.02.

South Korean high jumper Sanghyeok Woo, fourth at last summer's Olympics, won the men's high jump title with a clearance at 7-8 (2.34m). 

Serbian Ivana Vuleta (formerly Spanovic) won a gold medal in her home country and delighted the crowd with her victory. She jumped a world-leading mark of 23-2 (7.06m). 

Americans Tiffany Flynn and Quanesha Burks finished fourth and fifth, at 22-3 (6.78m) and 22-2.50 (6.77m), respectively. 

For the first time since 2004, the United States failed to medal in either the men's or women's 4x400 relays. 

The men's squad was eliminated in the morning's heats after running 3:09.11 -- a time that would have placed 12th at the NCAA Division 1 Championships. 

The women's team posted the top qualifying time but then finished fourth in the final -- behind Jamaica (3:28.40), The Netherlands (3:28.57) and Poland (3:28.59). 

Ethiopia claimed the most gold medals with four. The U.S., next with three, will bring home 19 total medals.