Belgium’s individual 400m champion Alexander Doom produced a stunning anchor leg to scupper US sprinter Noah Lyles’ bid for gold in the world indoor 4x400m relay on Sunday.
Doom, who outsprinted Norway’s Karsten Warholm for the 400m crown on Saturday, produced a stunning finish as Belgium clocked 3min 02.54sec to edge the Americans by six-hundredths.
Lyles, who was beaten into silver by teammate Christian Coleman in the 60m on Friday, was a late inclusion in the relay team, holding his own as he ran a clean third leg.
Chris Bailey was on anchor for the US team, which had led from the gun right through until Doom stole their thunder in the closing metres that had a packed Emirates Arena on their feet.
Jonathan Sacoor, Dylan Borlee and Christian Iguacel embraced Doom as he crossed the line, screaming in delight, as the US quartet also featuring Jacory Patterson and Matthew Boling were left ruing their luck.
The result confirmed Doom as a contender going into the June 7-12 European Championships ahead of the Paris Olympics.
He admitted after beating hurdles king Warholm with another fast finish that he normally just focused on the relay.
“I loved running individually,” he said after clinching individual gold.
“To beat Karsten Warholm is really amazing. He’s an Olympic champion and has won almost everything there is. Not many people have beaten him.”
