Barshim in action during the men’s high jump final at the World Athletics Championships.
EUGENE: Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim won an unprecedented third successive world high jump gold in style on Monday as he cleared a world-leading 2.37 metres with ease as all his rivals struggled to get close Barshim, who famously shared Olympic gold with Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi last year, jumped beautifully all night to go well beyond his own season’s best of 2.30m.
The title was just about secure after he had cleared 2.35m but he then eased over 2.37m looking almost in slow motion.
With the gold medal then in the bag he had one attempt at a championship record 2.42m but failed.
“The target for me for today was gold medal, if even the world record is the only thing I still miss,” said Barshim, whose best of 2.43m is second only to Javier Sotomayor’s 2.45m set in 1993.
“Three worlds golds in a row is something that has never have been done before. I feel like I have a name in our sport, but I have been never felt like the greatest one in the field,” added the modest Qatari, who also has two Olympic silvers and a world silver to his name.
Barshim also said that during the last eight months, there has been a great deal of work and effort that has been crowned with success, adding that the competition was tough and strong, but his focus was high and felt no pressure.
It is Qatar's fifth gold in the World Championships, in addition to two silver and three bronze medals.
Mutaz Essa Barshim reacts after clearing the winning height.
World indoor champion Woo Sang-hyeok of South Korea needed three attempts to get over 2.33m but then also cleared 2.35m at the second attempt to take silver. Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko collected bronze on the back of his 2.33m clearance.
Tamberi had a nervous path into the final, twice failing at 2.25m and then twice again at 2.28m in Friday’s heats. In the final he failed twice at 2.30m but then cleared 2.33m at the second attempt before bowing out at 2.35m to finish fourth.
Also on Monday, Kenyan runner Faith Kipyegon and Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas were among other Olympic champions standing on top of the podium in Eugene, Oregon.
Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali backed up his Tokyo 3,000 metres steeplechase win by ending Kenya's dominance at Worlds.
Kipyegon, winner of the last two Olympic 1,500m titles, finished with a remarkable time of three minutes, 52.96 seconds to regain her world crown.
Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay took silver while Laura Muir, runner-up at the Tokyo Olympics, won bronze to collect Britain's first medal of the championship.
"I have to say I am thankful for my second gold medal," said Kipyegon, who won the 2017 title and picked up silver in 2019, a year after having a baby.
Qatar Olympic Committee President H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani celebrates with high jump world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim and Qatar Athletics Federation President Muhammad Issa Al Fadala and other officials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, US
Rojas dominated the triple jump from start to finish and cruised to gold after jumping 15.47m to claim her third straight world title.
Jamaican Shanieka Ricketts collected her second consecutive world silver while American Tori Franklin delighted the home crowd by clinching bronze.
In the steeplechase, El Bakkali produced a tactical masterclass to win his first world title and keep a Kenyan off top spot for the first time since 2005.
Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, silver medallist in Tokyo, finished runner-up while 2019 world champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya won bronze.
Double Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium pulled out a last-gasp victory over Dutch rival Anouk Vetter to reclaim her world heptathlon title.
Vetter, who finished behind Thiam in Tokyo, had to settle for silver again while American Anna Hall won bronze.
In the morning session, Gotytom Gebreslase won the women's marathon in a world championship-record time of two hours, 18.11 minutes and claim a second marathon title for Ethiopia in Eugene after Tamirat Tola triumphed in the men's event on Sunday.
Three Japanese athletes and one coach tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, taking the total number of cases in the delegation up to 15.
