The American sprinter took a mighty tumble. Nobody, however, has fallen harder than Jamaica so far at this year's world championships.
The evening after Usain Bolt's improbable loss to a pair of US runners, the world's best sprint island watched the red, white and blue paraded around the track once again at its expense.
Tori Bowie leaned over the line for her 100-meter victory, then stumbled and crashed down to the track to put the exclamation point on the second straight sprint shock of the meet. Her .01-second victory Sunday over Marie-Josee Ta lou of the Ivory Coast was a photo-finish thriller. The fact that the defending Olympic champion and the most dominant female sprinter of 2017, Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, finished fifth was every bit as stunning.
In snapping a stretch of four straight Jamaican wins at the Olympics and worlds, Bowie became the first US woman to win the world title at 100 meters since Carmelita Jeter in 2011.
This marks the first US sweep of the 100 at the worlds since 2005.
Bowie's time, 10.85 seconds, was nothing spectacular. Her race, though, was something to behold.
She trailed Ta lou by two paces as they headed into the last 20 meters but Bowiejust kept charging. She caught Ta lou at the end, and Bowie's lean at the line was textbook. The photo finish actually shows Ta lou's foot ahead of Bowie's, but Bowiebeats her where it counts — her torso is over the line a fraction of an inch ahead of Ta lou's.
Dafne Schippers, the 2015 world champion in the 200, took bronze in 10.96.