The Rest of the Meet: Marquis Dendy and Omar McLeod Win Their First World Titles and The US Dominates Both 4 x 400s
by LetsRun.com
March 20, 2016
PORTLAND, Ore. — The 2016 World Indoor Track and Field Championships came to a close today with a slew of gold medals for the United States as they picked up five of the nine gold medals on Sunday to win half of the 26 gold medals awarded at these World Championships.
Medals were handed out in the women’s high jump, 800, 3000 and 4 x 400 and the men’s long jump, 60-meter hurdles, 1500, 3000 and 4 x 400 on the final day of competition with the highlights being hometown star Matt Centrowitz winning gold in the 1500m andhigh school star Vashti Cunningham winning the high jump.
We recap many of the non-distance finals from today below and have a special article on Vashti Cunningham here.
Many other finals got their own recap:
W800 Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba Sprints to Gold in Women’s 800 as Ajee Wilson Has to Settle for Silver
M1500: Centrowitz Caps Perfect Season with Gold in Men’s 1500
M3000: USA’s Ryan Hill Gets Silver as 18-Year Old Yomif Kejelcha Wins and Arrives As Mo Farah’s Potential #1 Rival Hill was 4th coming off the final turn but he ended up getting the silver!
Marcus Dendy (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images for IAAF)”
Men’s Long Jump: Marquis Dendy Delivers
2016 world leader Marquis Dendy earned his first world title by the slimmest of margins – 1 centimeter (1/2 inch)- as he won with a fourth-round leap of 27′ 1¼” (8.26 m) as Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre, the 2010 world indoor champ, got the silver with a new Australian indoor record of 27′ 0¾” (8.25m) and 21-year old Changzhou Huang of China got the bronze with a new pb of 26′ 11¼” (8.21m)
Quick Thought #1: Dendy Vanquishes His Previous Bad Memories From Worlds
The 23-year old Dendy has plenty of big meet experience as he won 7 NCAA titles for Florida. That being said, his previous competitions at Worlds hadn’t gone well. Last summer, he failed to make the final in both the long and triple jumps in Beijing and in 2013, he failed to make the final in the long jump.
Quick Thought #2: Lapierre Nabs Silver With A PR at Age 32
Lapierre, who won an NCAA title for Texas A&M in 2005, came with an inche of gold but we imagine he’s not too upset. To PR at age 32 is impressive.
| POS | BIB | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | DETAIL | ATTEMPT 1 | ATTEMPT 2 | ATTEMPT 3 | ATTEMPT 4 | ATTEMPT 5 | ATTEMPT 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 378 | Marquis DENDY |  USA |
8.26 | 8.05 | 8.26 | X | 8.06 | X | X | |
| 2 | 108 | Fabrice LAPIERRE |  AUS |
8.25 | AIR | 7.29 | 7.78 | 8.25 | X | 7.79 | X |
| 3 | 151 | Changzhou HUANG |  CHN |
8.21 | PB | 7.76 | 7.82 | 8.19 | 7.91 | 7.95 | 8.21 |
| 4 | 381 | Jeff HENDERSON | USA |
8.19 | SB | 7.99 | 8.19 | 7.98 | 8.14 | 8.17 | 8.00 |
| 5 | 325 | Rushwal SAMAAI |  RSA |
8.18 | NIR | 8.14 | 8.18 | 8.03 | X | X | |
| 6 | 210 | Daniel BRAMBLE |  GBR |
8.14 | SB | X | 7.84 | 8.12 | 7.93 | 8.14 | |
| 7 | 363 | Emiliano LASA |  URU |
7.94 | NIR | 7.94 | X | 7.70 | X | 7.86 | |
| 8 | 154 | Jianan WANG | CHN |
7.93 | 7.82 | 7.85 | 7.88 | 7.88 | 7.93 | ||
| 9 | 205 | Kafétien GOMIS |  FRA |
7.88 | 7.73 | 7.73 | 7.88 | ||||
| 10 | 169 | Radek JUŠKA |  CZE |
7.88 | 7.88 | X | X | ||||
| 11 | 347 | Ifeanyi OTUONYE |  TKS |
7.40 | X | 7.38 | 7.40 | ||||
| 12 | 260 | Yohei SUGAI |  JPN |
7.35 | SB | 7.25 | 6.95 | 7.35 | |||
| 13 | 105 | Quincy BREELL |  ARU |
7.25 | NIR | 7.21 | 7.25 | 7.20 | |||
| 348 | Ted HOOPER |  TPE |
NM | X | X | X |
Omar McLeod Wins (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for IAAF)”
Men’s 60H: Omar McLeod Sets National Record and Wins
Jamaica’s Omar McLeod, who is just 21 and won the NCAA indoor 60 crown in 2014 and 2015 for Arkansas, successfully moved up to the pro ranks today as he got the win in a world-leading 7.41 seconds- a time which broke his own Jamaican national record of 7.45. France grabbed the final two medals as 24-year old Pascal Martinot-Lagarde got the silver in 7.46 with Dimitri Bascouin, who came in as the word leader at 7.41, third in 7.48.
Results
| POS | BIB | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | REACTION TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 255 | Omar MCLEOD |  JAM |
7.41 | WL | 0.131 |
| 2 | 208 | Pascal MARTINOT-LAGARDE | FRA |
7.46 | SB | 0.162 |
| 3 | 201 | Dimitri BASCOU | FRA |
7.48 | 0.144 | |
| 4 | 380 | Jarret EATON | USA |
7.50 | SB | 0.132 |
| 5 | 364 | Spencer ADAMS | USA |
7.64 | 0.154 | |
| 6 | 238 | Balázs BAJI |  HUN |
7.65 | 0.127 | |
| 7 | 243 | Eddie LOVETT |  ISV |
7.75 | 0.200 | |
| 8 | 120 | Shane BRATHWAITE |  BAR |
7.88 | 0.173 |
(L-R) Quanera Hayes, Ashley Spencer, Natasha Hastings and Courtney Okolo (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images for IAAF)”
Women’s 4 x 400: The US Cruises
The US, as is usually the case, was the heavy favorite for gold in this one and after Jamaica’s Patricia Hall crumpled to the track in the first leg, this race turned into a coronation for the US who won in 3:26.38. 3:26.38 is the 7th best 4 x 400 in history and the 2nd best time in US history (the US record was set two years ago at Worlds – 3:24.83, Russia has the world record at 3:23.37).
The splits according to USATF were as follows: “Natasha Hastings (Brooklyn, New York) put the U.S. up by 10 meters with her opening leg of 51.89. She was followed by 400m bronze medalist Quanera Hayes (Hope Mills, North Carolina) splitting 51.02; world leader Courtney Okolo (Carrollton, Texas) split 50.71 and 400m World silver medalist Ashley Spencer (Indianapolis, Indiana) anchoring in 52.76.”
Poland won a three-way battle between themselves, Romania and Nigeria for 2nd as Romani got third.
Results
| POS | BIB | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | REACTION TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | UNITED STATES | USA |
3:26.38 | WL | 0.183 |
| 2 | POL | POLAND |  POL |
3:31.15 | SB | 0.178 |
| 3 | ROU | ROMANIA |  ROU |
3:31.51 | SB | 0.220 |
| 4 | NGR | NIGERIA |  NGR |
3:34.03 | SB | 0.270 |
| 5 | UKR | UKRAINE |  UKR |
3:40.42 | SB | 0.268 |
| JAM | JAMAICA | JAM |
DNF | 0.165 |
Christopher Giesting receives the baton from Calvin Smith (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for IAAF)”
Men’s 4 x 400: The US Runs The Third Fastest Time Ever
The United State won the men’s 4 x 400 with the third best time in history tonight (3:02.45). The only times the US has run faster was two years ago at Worlds in Sopot (3:02.13) and in 2006 when the US set the world record of 3:01.96 in Arkansas with the following splits.
Kerron Clement (46.10)
Wallace Spearmon (45.94)
Darold Williamson (45.18)
Jeremy Wariner (44.74)
USATF has the US’s splits as follows:
“Kyle Clemons (Jonesboro, Arkansas) opened with 46.47 to narrowly hold the lead over the Bahamas. On the second leg, Calvin Smith (Lutz, Florida) held on to first, splitting 45.66. Third leg Chris Giesting (Batesville, Indiana) was finally able to open up daylight, his 45.34 split giving the U.S. a four-meter lead over the Bahamians. USATF Indoor champion Vernon Norwood (Morgan City Louisiana) didn’t need to run the fastest split of the day to bring home victory, but he did anyway, running 44.98 to give Team USA the third-fastest time in history, 3:02.45. The Bahamas finished second in a national-record time of 3:04.75, with Trinidad and Tobago third in 3:05.51, also a national record.”
Results
| POS | BIB | ATHLETE | COUNTRY | MARK | REACTION TIME | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | UNITED STATES | USA |
3:02.45 | WL | 0.221 |
| 2 | BAH | BAHAMAS |  BAH |
3:04.75 | NIR | 0.181 |
| 3 | TTO | TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO |  TTO |
3:05.51 | NIR | 0.175 |
| 4 | JAM | JAMAICA | JAM |
3:06.02 | SB | 0.182 |
| 5 | NGR | NIGERIA | NGR |
3:08.55 | 0.175 | |
| 6 | BEL | BELGIUM |  BEL |
3:09.71 | 0.156 |
To read about Vashti Cunningham’s gold in the high jump click here.