Baku, July 19, AZERTAC

There were no shared gold medals in this high jump final at the 2022 Track & Field World Championships, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a fairytale ending for joint Olympic champion Mutaz Barshim, according to Olympics.com.

The Qatari athlete soared highest to win an impressive gold, setting a world lead in the process as the only man to jump 2.37m, with silver going to Republic of Korea's Woo Sanghyeok who cleared 2.35 and bronze to Ukraine's Andriy Protsenko (2.33).

While Tokyo 2020 produced an unforgettable memory, with Barshim and his friend and rival Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy sharing an unforgettable gold, there was no such joy for the Italian in Oregon, as he ended the evening just off the podium in fourth.

However, for Barshim - who in 2014 registered the second-highest jump of all time with 2.43m, this competition represents the third Worlds in a row in which he has won gold.

He is, without question, a legend of the sport.

After the competition, Barshim spoke about achieving his goal of a historic three-peat at the World Championships.

“Winning for the third time, you know in the high jump it’s never been done before. So for me, it’s a great stat to be honest.

“I always tell myself, ‘how do you want to be remembered?’

“I want to do great things, I want to be the high jumper that does stuff that’s gonna [remain] for history and I’ve done that today, so I’m really happy about it."

And when asked how he felt about making history in Oregon, the athlete had this to say:

“Great! That was the target all along, it was so much hard work, so much dedication. You see me today but you haven’t the past eight months.

“I know I didn’t compete but I was putting in a lot of hard, hard work. So today is only the reflection of what we’ve been doing.”