Sifan Hassan wins women’s 10,000m, Suzuki makes history in 50km race walking

Doha, Qatar: Sifan Hassan lived up to her reputation to secure her first global outdoor title at the World Championships in Doha on Saturday as the Dutch runner won the women's 10,000 metres in the fastest time this year of 30min 17.62sec.

The 26-year-old Ethiopian-born athlete – who came to the Netherlands aged 15 as a refugee – stormed home clear of former compatriot Letesenbet Gidey who clocked 30:21.23.

Agnes Tirop of Kenya took bronze in 30:25.20.

"I am very happy because I have been a middle-distance runner and this was a test for me. It was ok at the beginning but when they were kicking at the front I tried hard to keep in touch, said Hassan.

"But I knew I am more of a 1500 and 5k runner so if I could get close I would have enough to win."

Meanwhile, Jamaica's Tajay Gayle tore up the form book to win long jump gold, producing the leap of his life to defeat favourite Juan Miguel Echevarria.

The 23-year-old Gayle soared into gold medal contention with his fourth jump, launching himself 8.69 metres and into the lead.

It was a new personal best for Gayle, whose previous longest leap was 8.32m set in July this year, and put him tenth on the all-time list.

Jeff Henderson of the United States took the silver medal with a best jump of 8.39m, while world leader Echevarria of Cuba could only muster 8.34m.

Defending champion Luvo Manyonga of South Africa had to settle for fourth with a best jump of 8.28m.

DeAnna Price of the United States won the gold medal in the women's hammer to complete a superb victory after a career ravaged by injury.

The 26-year-old from Missouri took gold with her third throw of the night, launching a 77.54-metre effort.

Poland's Joanna Fiodorow took silver with a throw of 76.35m while China's Wang Zheng claimed bronze with a best throw of 74.76m.

Price looked close to tears after sealing what is comfortably the biggest win of her career.

The American, who has only one kidney, has fought back from a catalogue of injuries over her career including a dislocated shoulder, fractured shoulder blade, torn stomach muscle and torn knee ligaments.

"I didn't even think I was going to compete this year," Price said after her win. "I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't even throw over 70 metres."

She attributes her success this year to a decision taken at the end of the 2017 season to shed 45 pounds to help her movement.

"I'm actually stronger than I was when I was 265 pounds," she said in a recent interview. "It was realising that there was a problem and that my body needed to be at a certain weight for what I do."

Price is also a passionate advocate for body positivity, hoping to inspire young female athletes of all shapes and sizes.

"Who I am doing it for is to impact female athletes and let them know that you can be any shape and size and still be strong and beautiful," she said. 

"Society has a way of making you feel that there's still something wrong with what you have versus embracing it. But you can definitely see that mould being broken by just loving who you are."

In men's 50m race walk, Yusuke Suzuki (4:04.20) made history by becoming the first Japanese man to win a world race walking title.

Joao Vieira of Portugal finished second in 4:04.59 to become the oldest man to win a World Championships medal in any event while Evan Dunfee (4:05.02) took Canada's first medal in the 50km at the World Championships.

In the women's category, Liang Rui (4:23.26) led China to a 1-2 with Li Maocuo (4:26.40) finishing second. Eleonora Giorgi (4:29.13) took bronze.