Lyles wins 200m as Gemili misses out on medal – highlights & report

Noah Lyles capped off a marvellous season with victory in the world 200m final in 19.83 seconds but Briton Adam Gemili narrowly missed out on a medal.

Gemili led coming off the bend but was picked off by the American, Canada’s Andre de Grasse, who took silver, and Alex Quinonez.

The 25-year-old finished in 20.03 – only five hundredths of a second behind the Ecuadorian.

“I am gutted, I am so sorry,” a distraught Gemili told BBC Sport.

“All my form went out of the window and I ran like such an amateur.”

The former European champion twice set season’s bests in the build-up to the final and matched his semi-final time in the final but it proved not to be enough.

It was reminiscent of the Rio 2016 Olympics final when he missed out on bronze by three thousandths of a second.

As for Lyles, he was the clear pre-event favourite, having run the fourth fastest time in history earlier in the season.

With the withdrawal of compatriot and fiercest rival Christian Coleman it would require an outstanding display from someone else to take the title from the Florida-based runner, but that never materialised.

Lyles did not get close to the time of 19.50 he managed in Lausanne, but the 22-year-old did not need to push himself to the limit as he collected his first global title.

“So many times I thought in my brain I’m going to be world champion this year,” the American told BBC Sport.

“I have it on my phone, I’ve been saying it since the season started, every day I’ve been hitting my car window on the way back from practice saying, ‘I’m going to be world champion this year,’ as the music blasted out.

“This is my first one and I don’t know a lot of people who can say they came to their first world championships and grabbed the gold.”

Medal slipped out of my hands – Gemili

Gemili was left slumping his head over an advertising hoarding in disappointment at the end.

“This was such an opportunity. I can’t believe that I let it go when I had it,” said the Briton, who in recent seasons has been hampered by hamstring problems,

“I feel like I have let so many people down. The last two years I have been plagued with injuries and got back to where I should be. To not break 20 seconds is so disappointing and heartbreaking. I had the medal and it slipped out of my hands.”

Gemili had his funding cut from that of an individual athlete to a relay athlete last year and has said previously that it has given him extra fire. This performance in Doha has now added to that with next year’s Tokyo Olympics on the horizon.

“I have to take the positives I guess,” he said. “It’s re-lit something inside of me now. Go to Tokyo next year, it’s winnable.”

No British male has won a medal in this event since John Regis took silver in 1993.

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