Christine Ohuruogu’s late surge seals glorious gold

Christine Ohuruogu ran 49.41s, a new British record. Picture: Getty

Six years on from triumphing in Osaka, the 29-year-old team captain crossed the line in 49.41 seconds – shaving two hundredths of a second off the time set by Cook in 1984.

It was far from easy for Ohuruogu, though, and it had looked like gold was Amantle Montsho’s until an incredible late surge and dip for the line secured victory by four thousandths of a second.

A year on from winning a surprise silver medal at London 2012, she was considered one of the leading medal hopes of an injury-depleted Great Britain team in Russia. However, it looked as if Ohuruogu would struggle to match Mo Farah’s opening day 10,000m gold after a slow start at the Luzhniki.

The 2008 Olympic champion would not be denied, though. Trailing Montsho by a substantial distance with only 50m remaining, she drove forward to cross the line with the Botswanan. It took a photo finish to separate the pair, with Ohuruogu incredibly pipping Montsho in race that home favourite Antonina Krivoshapka took bronze.

“I thank god, I am so grateful” she said, having broken her previous personal best of 49.61s set in the 2007 world final. “I can’t believe I’ve done that, it feels like a dream. It is what I have been working towards all season, it was so tight on the line and I was so desperate to win it. I just wanted my name to come up. The last couple of days have been really tough and I just wanted to thank everyone who helped me. It feels really surreal and strange, it doesn’t feel like I’m really here. I was thinking do what you can, just get over the line. The icing on the cake is the national record, that’s all I wanted.

“Whatever you want just go for it, I am really happy I kept believing and trusting in what I could do.”

Last night’s victory was made all the sweeter by her experience two years ago. Capping what was a third straight injury-plagued season, Ohuruogu was disqualified from the heats for a false start in Daegu – something almost unheard of in the 400m.

She recovered well to take silver at London 2012 and headed to Moscow in the form of her life. It continued in Russia and, after ominously impressive performances en route to the final, she added another world title to the one she secured in 2007, just a matter of weeks after returning from a one-year ban for missing three out-of-competition drug tests. William Sharman had hoped to add another medal to the British haul in last night’s 110m hurdles final. Having finished the previous two world finals in fourth and joint fifth place respectively, a 13.30s run saw him finish fifth again.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce produced a masterful display of sprinting to complete a Jamaican 100 metres double with victory in the women’s final.

The 26-year-old set a world leading time of 10.71 seconds for a commanding win which followed hot on the heels of compatriot Usain Bolt who took the men’s title on Sunday. Murielle Ahoure was second in 10.93 to give Ivory Coast its first world championship medal and she became the first African woman to finish on the podium in a sprint. Defending world champion Carmelita Jeter of the US was third in 10.94.