The World Athletics Rising Stars finalists

I was planning to publish my Rising Star list somewhat later in the month, closer to the nomination of the athletes of the year. But World Athletics surprised me once more publishing a finalist list for the Rising Star award and thus I felt I had to publish mine. And once that was online I had to comment on the WA choices.

First, let me state clearly that WA and myself do not have the same criteria. Perusing their finalists list it is clear that they limit their Rising Star selection to athletes who are under 20 years old. I find this too restrictive. For me athletes who 20 and 21 are still eligible and in fact my selection for this year, B. Kebinatsipi and F. Cherotich are both 21 years old. World Athletics have been unfair in their choice by ignoring both these athletes in their selection of the year's best and then eliminating them from the Rising Star final on age-related arguments.

At least F. Cherotich won the 2025 Jesse Owens Rising Star Award which honours the best U23 athlete at the Diamond League Final. And, in case you wonder, the Jesse Owens award for the best male went to L. Tebogo.

But let us see who did make the World Athletics list.

Phanuel Koech
Biniam Mehary
Edmund Serem

and 

Birke Haylom
Yan Ziyi
Zhang Jiale

I haven't at all considered Koech, despite his victory in the London Diamond League over 1500 m. Mehary was in my last year's list, but I found his performance in Tokyo underwhelming. He was qualified for the 10000, an event where he had won a Diamond League event this year, and opted to neglect the longer race in favour of the 5000 m. And he went on to finish a disappointing sixth in the shorter race. Serem is part of my Rising Star List, where I wrote that, for me, he is the rebirth of the kenyan steeplechase. I hope he wins the WA title. 

Haylom was out in the heats of the 5000 m in Tokyo, so I did not for a moment considered her for my list. J. Zhang, who won bronze in Tokyo, earned a mention on my list not only for her individual success but also because her medal accounted for 25% of China’s total haul.

The absence of Z. Yan from my lists is not easily explainable, all the more so since I am complaining about the low level of present-day female javelin throwers. Yan with a 65.89 m U20 WR should have been in my list. But, she was not present in Tokyo and somehow she slipped out of my mind. While working on this article, I decided to find out why she was absent from Tokyo. Well, that's due to the crazy WA rule that stipulates that, in order to participate, the athletes must be at least 18 years old. And Yan was still 17 in September. I now hope that she will go on to win the award.

The rising stars of 2025

I don't have a very precise rule concerning the age limit for the athletes I consider for nomination to my Rising Stars list. I definitely include 20-year old athletes but on occasion I may include somewhat older ones. I feel that it is not just the age that counts but also when the athlete starts "blooming". With that said let's move top this years list.

The top male rising star is none other than the world champion of the 400 m, B. Kebinatshipi. He not only won the individual race but he managed to bring the gold relay medal to Botswana in a fabulous finish where he passed R. Benjamin just before the line.

M. Furlani deserves the second place. His world title, although obtained in a year where Tentoglou was far from optimal shape, amply deserves this distinction. He gave proof of a great constancy, jumping beyond 8 m in 14 of his 16 competitions this year.

E. Serem is, for me, the rebirth of the kenyan steeplechase. He has been competing at high level for just two years and he is already world bronze medallist. It goes without saying that I will keep a close eye at him.

There are several young athletes that should be mentioned here. H. Troscianka was the revelation of the World U20 championships. He is a very complete decathlete and by progressing technically he will be among tomorrow's protagonists. J. Tharp was only 6th in the 110 m hurdles final in Tokyo but he had won the US Trials in August barely missing a sub-13 performance. E. Nathaniel finished 4th of the 400 m hurdles final of the World's and his time of 47.11 s could have been better were it not for the hurdle toppled by Benjamin into his lane. G. Gout barely missed the 200 m final in Tokyo. At 18 years of age he is considered by many as the new Bolt. I will definitely follow him over the next years. 

I will wind up my list with two talented athletes who in a sense did not live up to expectations. Still, they are definitely rising stars. C. Lutkenhaus, born in 2008, created the surprise when he qualified for the US team in the 800 m with 1:42.27. (He did not confirm in Tokyo but this is most probably an effect of the US Trials I have written about on several occasions). Q. Wilson is also born in 2008. Last year he did qualify for the US team and participated in the 4x400 m relay in Paris (although his race was, to tell the truth, disastrous). This year he improved the world best performance with 44.10 s but in the US Trials he ran in 45.39 s missing a place in the final. Let's see what these two will do next year.

F. Cherotich is for me the number one female rising star. In Tokyo she added the world title to her bronze olympic and world (2023) medals she already possesses. Her personal best of 8:48.71 is the fourth best performance of all times. She won the Diamond League final, just like she had done last year (and had 4 more victories in the Diamond League meetings). To my eyes she is the heir of the great B. Chepkoech (just like W. Yavi, who is also kenyan but running for Bahrain).

Can you tell who is Tina and who is Tia?

Tina Clayton qualified for the world championships and went on to win silver in the 100 m behind M. Jefferson-Wooden. Her twin sister, Tia, had not qualified for the individual event in the jamaican trials. She tried to obtain a wild card by winning the Diamond League final but was beaten in by J. Alfred and had to contend herself with a place in the 4x100 m relay. I have trouble separating the two sisters: they are both rising stars.

A. Topic has already figured in my rising stars list. This time she won her place thanks to her bronze medal obtained in Tokyo after a nail-bitting event. Now, I expect a 2 m jump from her, why not already next year.

S. Moraa and A. Werro finished 4th and 6th of the 800 m. They are worth a mention here, all the more so since Werro is the winner of the Diamond League final while S. Moraa had not run outside Kenya this summer. S. Almayew is probably the Ethiopia's response to Kenya in women's 3000 m steeple. She won the bronze medal in Tokyo dipping under 9 minutes. J. Zhang also won bronze in Tokyo with a 77+ throw in the women's hammer throw. She was one of only four Chinese athletes to win a medal, an impressively low number.

And I will finish the women's list again with two twins, Hana and Amanda Moll who tied for 6th place in the pole vault competition in Tokyo. I have been following them since the US Trials. Hana has a 4.81 m personal best while Amanda's is an impressive 4.91 m. As I wrote above, it will be interesting to see what they will do next year.

All in all it was a great year for Athletics. Usually the year after the Olympics is so-so but 2025 proved to opposite. There are many new talents, many more than the ones who figured in my list, and the coming years will be exciting. (Although I cannot make any prediction about the Ultimate Championship that Lord Sebastian has planned for next year. Will it be a success? I guess we'll have to wait till next year to see what happens). 

The bewildering choices of World Athletics

World Athletics published the list of finalists for the athlete of the year and I must say that I am shocked. I am not surprised to see Noah Lyles in the track athlete selection. For unfathomable reasons, Sir Sebastian considers him the best track athlete, and perhaps the best overall. So, I will not be astonished if, at the end of the month, Lyles is crowned athlete of the year surpassing M. Duplantis.

But while Lyles' selection was, more or less, expected, there are other choices that I find shocking. F. Bol accompanies S. McLaughlin in the track short list. Yes, you read correctly. Not Chebet, not Kipyegon, not Jefferson-Wooden. What is the logic of this? Bol won the world title because McLaughlin opted for the flat race. Pushing Chebet out of the short list is unforgivable. 

In men's field events it's M. Furlani who accompanies Duplantis. What is the rationale behind his selection? He just won the world title. He lost the Diamond League final, and he lost the European indoors. And the European team championships. And he does not have the world leading performance. I guess I have to add him to the list of Lord Sebastian's protégé's (Lyles, Machuchikh, Rojas, and now, probably, Bol and Furlani).

For women's field events my critique is not about persons. N. Olyslagers and T. Davis-Woodhall are 100% worth their selection. My gripe is that none of the two throwers present in the initial list, V. Allman and C. Rogers, was selected (to say nothing of the heptathlete A. Hall). And given the selection for men's track, no thrower at all figures in the finalist's list. (One must go back to 2000 for men and 2014 for women in order to find a thrower nominated athlete of the year. And I have manifested time and again my discontent for the blatant neglect of the great A. Wlodarczyk, who has never received an official distinction from World Athletics). 

Simbu and Sawe were logical choices for the men's out of stadium finalists. (If only J. Kiplimo had succeeded in his bid for a world record in Chicago. He passed in 1:00:16 at mid-point and was ahead of Kiptum's pace at 30 km. But he could not maintain that pace and Sawe will most probably be chosen as year's best). In the women's case the finalists were P. Jepchrichir and M. Perez. Now I must confess that, while I dislike race-walking, I do admire M. Perez. In fact if I had to choose two finalists out of the five World Athletics nominees I would have chosen Perez to accompany Jepchirchir (the latter being clearly my first choice).

When I published my article on the WA nominees, I wrote that I would either update the post or, if it was justified, write a short article with my comments on their choices. Given the level of my irritation when I saw the finalists' list I consider this post amply justified.

The World Athletics Athlete of the Year nominees

Since 2023 World Athletics has changed their year's best athlete classification introducing separate lists for track, field and road (what they call "out of stadium"). And last year they went back and introduced also an overall year's best. This year they kept the three specialties classification, but the nominees' list was globally parred down from 6+6 ro 5+5. This lead to a lopsided list in the case of men's field list with four jumpers and just one thrower. (But more on this later).

Here is the official list of nominees for 2025:

Track

Femke Bol
Beatrice Chebet
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
Faith Kipyegon
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone

Rai Benjamin
Jimmy Gressier
Noah Lyles
Cordell Tinch,
Emmanuel Wanyonyi

All female champions figure in my list. In the case of men I haven't included Benjamin (but his name would have been the next I would have included) and Lyles (of whom I don't appreciate the attitude).

Field 

Valarie Allman
Tara Davis-Woodhall
Anna Hall
Nicola Olyslagers
Camryn Rogers

Mondo Duplantis
Mattia Furlani
Ethan Katzberg
Hamish Kerr
Pedro Pichardo

Again all women were part of my list. In the case of men I did not include Furlani (although he is a great athlete I don't think he was dominating). For Kerr and Pichardo, see my remark on Lyles.

There is a blatant absence for this list, that of R. Crouser. He is the athlete who dominates the men's shot put for the last five years (at least). His come-back from injury to win the world title was a unique feat. Leaving him out of the nominees is, to say the least, unfair. He should have been included in the nominees list (to the detriment of one of the jumpers).

Out of Stadium

Tigst Assefa
Sifan Hassan
Peres Jepchirchir
Agnes Ngetich
Maria Perez

Caio Bonfim
Evan Dunfee
Yomif Kejelcha
Sabastian Sawe
Alphonce Simbu

Here I must admit that I have a weakness. I don't follow the "out of stadium" events closely enough so as to have a clear view of what is happening. Only P. Jepchirchir is mentioned in my year's best list (and S. Sawe gets a mention just to fill a gap).

Once World Athletics publishes the shortlist of selected athletes I will either update this list or, if it is justified, write a short article with my comments on their choices.

The year's best athletes

Once more it's the time where we must make the balance sheet of the year, and decide which athletes have been outstanding in their performances. It goes without saying that the list I will present is 100% subjective. It corresponds to my preferences for certain athletes and the fact that there some others that I cannot stand. (But, then, I don't think that any "best of" list can ever be 100% objective) 

The year 2025 has been particularly rich due to the presence of the World Championships that focused the efforts of all the athletes who could hope to obtain a qualification for Tokyo, and for the best of them, to shine there.

Let us start with the queens of Athletics. Just as in 2024 I could not decide between the two best female athlete. And, what is more, one of them was my choice for best athlete for 2021, 2022, and 2024 already. But I cannot help it. I am convinced that S. McLaughlin(-Levrone) is the best athlete out there. 

But, just like last year, I could not really claim that this year she was better that B. Chebet. Both are great and for me, they share the top position on my year's best podium. S. McLaughlin ran the second best ever 400 m with 47.78 s. B. Chebet was the first woman to break the 14 minute barrier in the 5000 m. Both won two gold medals in the World Championships.

Faith Kipyegon was co-number one last year. She broke the 1500 m world record with 3:48.68 this year and won the same event in Tokyo. However she was beaten by Chebet in the 5000 m final and thus, in my list, she has to content herself with second place. 

I reserved the third place for the new combined events star, A. Hall. She broke the 7000 points barrier in June, tying, with 7032 points, the performance of K. Kluft, which, as I have explained, should have been the world record. And, on top of this, she improved the looong-standing heptathlon 800 m record with 2:01.23. (And to cap it all, she is an accomplished low-hurdler with a 54.42 s personal best).

P. Jepchrichir has an almost unique place among female marathoners having won both the olympic (2021) and world (2025) titles. She joins the great R. Mota in this select list, but unlike Mota, who won her titles in two consecutive years, 1987 and 88 (just like the male champions , G. Abera, 2000 and 01, and S. Kiprotich, 2012 and 13), Jepchrichir won the second title 4 years after the first, a proof of athletic longevity.

M. Jefferson-Wooden went home from Tokyo with 3 gold medals. With 10.61 s she is 4th in the all-time best list for 100 m. With 21.68 s in the 200 m she is 7th in front of A. Felix and just behind the great M. Ottey. And when you count her relay titles from 2022 and 2023, MJW has, at 24, five world titles already. 

The world discus title was what was V. Allman was missing. Despite having won the olympic title twice, in 2021 and 2024, she had to wait till 2025 in order to become world champion. Add to this the fact that, with her 73.52 m throw from April, she sits in the 6th position of the all-time list, accompanying throwers from the pre-doping-control era, and you can see why she is topping my list of field champions.

C. Rogers is the other great thrower who is making my top list. Her last defeat in major competition (world or olympic) goes back to 2022. Since then she amassed one olympic and two world titles. Her winning throw of 80.51 m in Tokyo, places her second to the great A. Wlodarczyk in the all-time hammer lists.

T. Davis-Woodhall is, step by step, becoming the number one female long jumper. She was second behind I. Spanovic in Budapest but since then she has garnered two world (indoor in 2024 and outdoor this year) and an olympic (last year) titles. Moreover she is regularly jumping over 7 m since 2021.

The other jumper I would like to include in my list is N. Olyslagers. A 2 m high-jumper since 2021 she has been contenting herself with places on the podium (twice silver in the Olympics, bronze in 2023 World's) but 2025 was to be her year. She won the Diamond League final with 2.04 m and went on to win the world title in Tokyo, adding the outdoor title to the two indoor ones she had won in 2024 and earlier this year.

I cannot move on to the men's list without mentioning two more great athletes who have been somewhat eclipsed by the achievements of the preceding stars. M. Paulino lost the 400 m title to S. McLaughlin. However her 47.98 s performance puts her third in the all-time list and ahead of J. Kratoshvilova who, with 47.99 s held the championships record from 1983. The second is F. Bol who won her second world title in the 400 m hurdles. Her time in 51.54 s is better than the time with which D. Muhammad won silver in the Tokyo Olympics, and Bol has a 50.95 s personal best placing her behind only McLaughlin. But still Bol has never beaten McLaughlin in a direct head-to-head race. To tell the truth, the decision to include her in my list was a last-minute one, spurred by Bol's intrepid decision to move to the 800 m from next year. I do like athletes who do not hesitate to take on a challenge. 

The men's crown goes, once more to A. Duplantis. He has been number-one in my list of year's best in 2020 and 2022-23-24 and is topping the list once more this year. He took the world record at 6.16 m and over the years he lifted it to 6.30 m. Fortunately, thanks to the presence of E. Karalis, he is not the only pole vaulter to jump regularly over 6 m. But the truth is, he is a class of his own. Somehow I am tempted to put him above the list and to attribute him not simply gold but, let's say, diamond so that I have place for one of more "first".  

And for the year's best I chose two throwers who excelled in Tokyo. R. Crouser is the best shot putter ever. He has three world and three olympic titles. He holds the world record with 23.56 m. And this year, nursing an injury, he managed to win once more the world title. 

E. Katzberg is 10 years younger than Crouser, at 23, an infant by hammer throw standards. And, still, he has already two World and one Olympic titles. His 84.70 m throw in Tokyo places him 5th in the all time list, but if we count only post-doping-control athletes he is second only to K. Murofushi.

E. Wanyonyi was my rising star last year when he won the 800 m in the Olympics. He could have kept that position this year but I preferred to move him to the podium of the "grown-ups". His race in Tokyo showed that he is not only a great runner but a fine tactician as well. If anybody can go for the 1:40 barrier, that's Wanyonyi.

I reserved the final place on the podium to L. Neugebauer. Everybody expected him to win the olympic title last year but he had to settle for silver. His decathlon victory this year came after a hard fight with A. Owens-Delerme, where the latter had a serious chance at winning. But Neugebauer resisted and kept a small margin sufficient for gold. If he manages to streamline a decathlon in a more relaxed competition he is capable to go for Mayer's world record.

Having mentioned a french champion I do not hesitate to reserve the next position in my list to the french revelation in Tokyo, J. Gressier. He ran two very clever races, winning one and obtaining bronze in the other. And he was the winner of the Diamond League final over 3000 m. 

A jamaican spinter, O. Seville, occupies the next place. I would have added also K. Thompson, since the two won the first two places in the 100 m depriving N. Lyles of gold. But the elimination of the jamaican 4x100 m was, to my eyes, due to a mistake of K. Thompson, who started too early, making it impossible to R. Forde to catch him, so it's only Seville who enters the top list.

C. Tinch dominated the 110 m hurdles. He is the world leader with 12.87 s. He did not make the final two years ago in Budapest and was not qualified last year for Paris. But 2025 was his year. He won all five Diamond League meetings in which he took part as well as the final, running five times under 13 seconds. (And he is a 8 m+ long jumper).

The final place in my list goes to a veteran of the javelin K. Walcott. We discovered him in 2012 when, after having won the World U20 championships, went to London and won the Olympic title. That was a major surprise and was waved away by many as a "lucky win". But four years later he was again on the podium, winning bronze in Rio. With 90.16 m personal best he is part of the exclusive club of 90-plusers. In Tokyo he prevailed in a final where 6 participants had better personal bests that him. He really deserves his place in the top list.

World Athletics introduced last year a new classification for the year's best athletes distinguishing track, field and, what they call, "out of stadium" best. In the case of women, given my list, the three winners would have been McLaughlin/Chebet, Hall and Jepchrichir. For men that would be Wanyonyi, Duplantis while for road events I hesitate between S. Sawe, who won in London and Berlin, and J. Kiplimo who won in Chicago, with a slight preference for the first. (Had Kiplimo managed to break the world record as he planned he would have been indisputably the number-one out of stadium runner). 

Track events at the Tokyo World's

Once the Championships were over I asked myself what was the most impressive achievement we witnessed. My immediate answer was the women's 400 m race. It's true, it was a fabulous race (and I will talk about it later). But, after some thoughtful consideration, I had to admit that the most extraordinary accomplishment was the Kenyan women winning all middle- and long-distance events, from the 800 m to the Marathon, including the 3000 m steeple. Some are big stars like Kipyegon, Chebet and Jepchirchir. Others are up-and-coming like Cherotich. And some, like Odira, were mainly unknown before Tokyo. But, let's start at the beginning. 

M. Jefferson-Wooden dominated women's sprint, garnering three gold medals (including that of the relay). Her 10.61 s in the 100 m is a championships record and the 4th best performance of all time. Only Tina Clayton could follow her, part of the way, finishing second with 10.76. Those who were expecting a duel between Jefferson and Alfred were disappointed as the latter could do no better than third (and then was out of the 200 m due to a recurring injury).  S. Jackson was fourth, S. Richardson fifth and S. Fraser-Price, on her last appearance, did make the final, finishing 6th, just ahead of TaLou, who, once more missed a major rendezvous. Just before the 200 m final, as I was watching the athletes taking their place, I had a premonition that A. Hunt would make it to the medals. She had been pushed out of the 100 m final by her team-mate D. Asher-Smith but she had easily won her place in the 200 m. In the end, she claimed silver behind Jefferson-Wooden, who won in a world-leading 21.68 s, but ahead of S. Jackson. Hunt ran a 22.08 s personal best in the semis. It's a pleasure to see her come back after so many years: she had ran a world U-18 record in 2019 but injuries (and focusing on her studies in Cambridge) had set her back. But after Tokyo she can be  "... an academic bad**s and a track goddess" (in her own words).

Mr. Lyles will not go home with three gold medals. The jamaican sprinters, O. Seville and K. Thompson took care of that, in the 100 m final, won by the former in 9.77, the second clocking 9.82 s. Lyles has the consolation of winning the 200 m, and beating the one who dared challenge him, K. Bednarek, 19.52 to 19.58 s. And L. Tebogo? Well he was disqualified for false-start in the 100 m and could do no better than 4th in the 200 m. (Fortunately, as we will see, he did not go home medal-less). The 200 m was an occasion to see the new talent, G. Gout, competing in a major event. I will keep an eye open for him.

The men's 400 m was a beauty. The presence of three botswanan runners in the final showed their cards concerning the 4x400 m relay. World leaders Z. Nene and J. Patterson finished at 5th and 7th place respectively. Finally there were two botswanan athletes on the podium, a revelation in the person of B. Kebinatsipi, who ran a world lead of 43.53 s and B. Ndori who was third with 44.20 s. They were separated by an amazing J. Richards (I always thought of him as a 200 m specialist) who battled with Kebinatsipi to the finish line, improving his personal best to 43.72 s.

If the men's race was a beauty, what can one say for the women's one? Never before have we seen a 400 m of such quality. Going to Tokyo we had three athletes with performances under 49 seconds and two of them, Naser and Paulino, were on the all-time-best list, third and fourth respectively. S. McLaughlin did not have a comparable personal best, but given her huge talent (and the fact that she had already anchored a US relay in under 48 seconds) put her on par with the other two. The semi-final saw the elimination of S. Williams, L. Klaver and M. Weil (who has enormously progressed this year and was left out of the final despite her excellent 49.88 s). McLaughlin announced her intentions by running a US record (and world lead) of 48.29 s. When the final started there were eyes only for the leading trio. In the end McLaughlin won ahead of Paulino, 47.78 and 47.98 s which are the 2nd and 3rd best times in history. M. Koch's record trembled but did not fall this time. One thing is though clear, McLaughlin can do better than 47.60 s and if(when) she does it, it will be the first time in Athletics history (for men or women) that somebody holds the world record in both the hurdles and the flat 400 m.

Women's 800 m started with world indoor champion P. Seckgodiso dropping out of the heats due to injury while the silver medalist N. Getachew finished last in her heat. World U20 S. Moraa was jostled and finished outside the qualifying places but was reinstated. J. Hull (we don't see her often in a 800 m) was pushed and fell but was allowed a place in the semifinal. Both justified their inclusion in the semis, with Hull registering an area record with 1:57.15 and Moraa challenging K. Hodgkinson. The latter was the favourite, since her races in August showed that she had recovered from her injury. However coming into the final stretch she could not resist the attack of L. Odira and in the end she could not fight the come-back to G. Hunter-Bell either. Odira won in 1:54.62, the two british runners finishing in 1:54.90 and 1:54.91 respectively. S. Moraa was fourth and A. Werro, who had recently won the Diamond League final, could do no better than 6th. 

In the men's final the favourites were present (but D. Brazier did not make it beyond the semis, certainly another US Trials effect). The race was held on the last day of the championships and E. Wanyonyi had seen the disaster of the other races that were run in slow paces. So, he took command from the outset, ran a very fast race and won in 1:41.85, ahead of Dj. Sedjati 1:41.90 and M. Arop 1:41.95. Seventeen years old C. Lutkenhaus, who had surprised everybody with his 1:42.27 at the Trials and made the US team, ran in 1:47.68 and was eliminated in the heats.

The men's 10000 m proceeded at a stately pace (over 3 min per km at the beginning). So it was not astonishing that a full dozen of runners entered the final stretch together and the race favoured the best sprinters. In the end it was J. Gressier who won (in 28:55.77, almost 1 minute more than the time of A. Cova who won in 1983). I am following Gressier since the beginning of his career. Having seen him win the 3000 m Diamond League final, I entertained a secret hope for a medal. And if a world champion title were not enough, Gressier went on to grab bronze in the 5000 m, in a race won by C. Hocker in 12:58.30. Again it was a rather "tame" race with main victim the nineteen years old B. Mehary who, while qualified for the 10000 m, had decided to favour the shorter race where he could do no better than 5th. World and olympic champion J. Ingebrigtsen finished 10th, not having quite recovered from his injuries. The heats of the 5000 m saw the dropout of N. Laros in the heats. It was probably a consequence of his disappointing race in the 1500 m. He was my number one favourite for the title, in particular after his win in the Diamond League final. The heats saw the elimination of world leader A. Habz (one of the rare french hopes for a medal) and of J. Ingebrigtsen. C. Hocker was disqualified in the semis having shouldered his way out of a tightly packed group. When the final sprint was launched, Laros could not follow the Cheruiyots and Wightman, but all of a sudden I. Nader surged forward and piped Wightman on the line, winning in 3:34.10. J. Kerr sustained an injury early in the race and finished hobbling in over 4 minutes. Notice that none of the 9 medallists of the three races  (1500, 5000 and 10000) was among the 10 best performers of the year.

The women's races were the exact opposite of that of men. B. Chebet gave the pace she wished to the 10000 m. When she decided to sprint, the only ones who could follow her was N. Battocletti and G. Tsegay but there was no way any of these two could have won. Her final time of 30:37.61 was not even her best time of the year but it sufficed for victory. F. Kipyegon cruised through her 1500 m final, taking the lead from the outset. She won with 3:52.15 while D. Ewoi passed J. Hull on the final stretch winning silver. This time Hull managed to beat Chepchirchir (who had deprived her of victory in the Diamond League 3000 m). (Concerning N. Hiltz, who finished 5th, I am somewhat frustrated because I cannot manage to find a clear answer whether she is a SRY case. They refer to her as transgender, assigned female at birth, but according to the available information she does not have male gonads and did not experience male puberty). 

Chebet and Kipyegon , thick as thieves

And then came the magnificent 5000 m. Both Chebet and Kipyegon were participating. Here the race was a slow, tactical, one. And it was Kipyegon who launched the final sprint. But Chebet passed her with incredible ease, winning in 14:54.36 (almost a minute more than her under-14 world record). Battocletti was again in the medals but had to settle for bronze given that Chebet and Kipyegon appear untouchable at this time. Tsegay could do no better than 5th and thus the ethiopians took home just one bronze medal in races they erstwhile dominated.

The men's Marathon was judged on the photo-finish, won by  A. Simbu in 2:09.48. I don't remember any other Marathon race where something like this happened. And we are talking here about the world championship. 

P. Jepchirchir added the world title to the olympic one she had won four years ago. She is undoubtedly the best female marathoner today. T. Assefa lost one more marathon on the final sprint. She had lost the olympic title to S. Hassan for 3 seconds and this time she lost to Jepchirchir for just 2: 2:24.43 to 2:24.45. The one thing I do not understand is why the japanese organisers insisted on having the Marathon run in Tokyo where September is always hot and humid. They could very well have organised this in Sapporo, as they did four years ago.

Nobody could have predicted the victory of D. Kambundji in women's 100 m hurdles. Running the perfect race she won with 12.24 s  which elevates her to the second european place of all time. World record holder T. Amusan was second with 12.29 while the pre-race favourite M. Russell was pushed out of the medals by her team-mate, G. Stark. Double world champion D. Williams was once more in the final but finished at 7th place, just ahead of N. Visser for whom I had better hopes. In the men's 110 m hurdles G. Holloway went out in the semis, something predictable given his less than stellar season. The local fans were hoping to see R. Muratake, who is the second world performer this year, win a medal. Unfortunately in a final, won by the logical favourite C. Tinch in 12.99 s, he could do no better than 5th. And the other under-13 performer, J. Kwaou-Mathey (another hope of France for a medal) finished 7th. (He had qualified for the final as 8th beating D. Prince by just 2 milliseconds. Using milliseconds is all the more ridiculous since the two were not running in the same heat). 

The men's 400 m hurdles was an eventful one. K. Warholm started very fast, as always, and led up  to around 250 m. He was then passed by R. Benjamin, and, entering the final stretch, he ran out of steam finishing 5th. A. Dos Santos with a strong finish managed to beat A. Samba for silver, 46.84 to 47.06 s. For Samba it's his best time since 2018 when he became to second hurdler to break the 47 seconds barrier. (And a stupid greek tv commentator was astonished that an "unknown" could get bronze). Benjamin clipped the final hurdle pushing it in E. Nathaniel's lane and was disqualified. But he was reinstated, despite the protests of Nigeria, Brazil and Qatar, and finally was declared winner of the event in 46.52 s. It's a pity that the fifth of what I call the 400 m hurdles musketeers, K. McMaster was not in good shape and exited already in the heats (he was second two years ago, having beaten Benjamin). 

The women's 400 m was the farewell race of that great champion, D. Muhammad. She did make the final but finished in 7th position far from her 52.58 s she had run in July. F. Bol won easily in 51.54 s, and J. Jones confirmed her progress by taking silver in 52.08 s. This is not a good year for A. Cockrell who was beaten for bronze on the finish line by E. Zapletalova. One athlete I am following over the years, since her victory in the 2021 Paris Diamond League, is G. Woodruff and I rejoiced when she ran a 52.66 s personal best in the semis. It would have sufficed for bronze in the final but in the end she could only finish at the 5th place. 

I am a fan of W. Yavi and was disappointed every time in the past when she obtained non-medal places. But then she bloomed and in two years time she became world and olympic champion. Well, 2025 was the year where she lost her title. In Tokyo she led the final up to the last water jump, but at this point it turned out that F. Cherotich was stronger and passed an exhausted Yavi winning in a championships record 8:51.59. Behind them drama unfolded. N. Jeruto who was third fell crossing the water, D. Lemingole who was following also fell, allowing S. Almayew to pass and win bronze. M. Bouzayani also profited from the incident finishing 4th, a tad shy of breaking the 9 minutes barrier. 

The men's race was a pure case of hubris and its punishment. El Bakkali thought that he could beat everybody thanks to his final sprint. So he did not react to the very slow pace of the race, comforted with the knowledge that L. Girma is not a winner and in any case not in its best year. He did not count with the superb effort of G. Beamish who managed to catch him and pass him on the finish line, with 8:33.88, the slowest time ever recorded by the winner of the world championships. (Beamish had a fall during the first round, but still managed to qualify for the final). Last year I wrote that the men's steeplechase is becoming boring due to the absence of kenyans. Well, not anymore. E. Serem is just 18 years old and finished third in Tokyo. I will keep an eye open for him in the following years.

The 4x400 m mixed relay was won by the US team with a championships record of 3:08.80, followed by the Netherlands and Belgium. Nothing astonishing up to that point. It was in the men's 4x400 m semis that all hell broke loose. The second US runner, D. Smith, entered the final stretch at fourth position but the judges had placed the US team in third so the Zambian second relay runner had to cross in front of Smith to pass the relay. It ensued a mix-up between the two US runners and as a consequence B. Deadmon finished a good eighth resulting in a 6th final place for the US team. But US being US, everything is allowed to them and thus Zambia was disqualified, and the US were allowed to rerun (running alone a 4x400 is like a stroll in the woods) and qualified for the final. 

Of course there is some justice in the World, and the US lost the title to an amazing team of Botswana, Kebinatsipi catching Benjamin and beating him on the line with 2:57.76. But what I found even more impressive was W. Van Niekerk's split of 43.26, which together with Nene's 43.93, allowed South Africa to win the bronze medal. (In fact they lost silver to the US for milliseconds but the details are nowhere to be found). 

Impossible to tell who is second just by looking at the photo-finish

The women's US team won easily the 4x400 m relay with 3:16.61. The world record of Soviet Union, from Seoul, does not look completely out of reach. Jamaica was second and the Netherlands third but N. Pryce for Jamaica had a much better anchor than Bol, 48.50 to 49.10 s. (Of course the best anchor was that of McLaughlin with 47.82 s). The women's 4x100 m was the swan's song for Fraser-Pryce who led the jamaican relay to silver with 41.79 s. (A relay in which Tia Clayton, who was not selected for the individual events, joined her sister Tina but where S. Jackson was absent)  The US team anchored by S. Richardson won the title in 41.75 s. The semis of the men's 4x100 m were a pure carnage. Jamaica, Great Britain and South Africa did not manage to finish the race. In the final, despite a sluggish first relay by C. Coleman, the US won over Canada 37.29 to 37.55 s, while the bronze medal went to the team of Netherlands, a minor surprise. 

And to close my report on the 2025 World Championship, here is a photo that I find superb:

All the winners of the various events are on it, as well as several medallists.

Field events at the Tokyo World's

Greece went to Tokyo expecting to garner between 1 and 3 medals. It turned out that it was the most conservative estimate that was realised.     

M. Karalis was, once more, second to the great Duplantis. But that silver medal in pole vault came only after some nail-bitting moments. A 5.75 m jump was enough to qualify for the final and exactly 12 athletes managed that. Among the victims were J. Obiena and P. Lisek, both with 6 m personal records. The final started with E. Sasma fouling out at 5.55 m and 7 athletes reaching 5.90 m. The next height, 5.95 m turned out to be crucial with Duplantis clearing it at his first try, Marshall and Kendricks at their second, while Karalis failed twice. Had he not passed at his third attempt he would have been pushed out of the podium. But he managed on his third try and then went on to clear 6 m on his first jump securing his second place, Marshall and Kendricks (as well as Collet who had gambled after missing twice at 5.95 m) missing this height. Both Duplantis and Karalis moved to 6.10 m and when Duplaintis cleared it, after Karalis had missed, the latter moved to 6.15 m and then to 6.20 m, instead of going for 6.10 m and Greek record. He explained later that although Duplantis is his close friend, when it comes to the competition he is there to beat him. Duplantis (who had jumped 6.15 m to make sure to keep the lead in the competition) moved to 6.30 m after Karalis went out at 6.20 m, passed it on his third try and the rest is history. 

The women's pole vault started with the injury of M. Caudery during the warm-up of the qualifiers. And given that reigning olympic champion, N. Kennedy,  was out due to injury, K. Stefanidi absent due to pregnancy and W. Murto in bad shape (she no-heighted at 4.25 m in the qualifiers) the event was more open than usual. And with E. McKartney (third performer among those present in Tokyo) out of the final due to injury, this removed one more favourite from the event. The good news was the return to great shape of S. Morris. She proved this by winning silver jumping 4.85 m on her first try while K. Moon failed once and let the remaining attempts for 4.90. Moon passed on her second attempt (which was her last), Morris failed and went for broke at 4.95 m. But she did not pass and K. Moon was once more world champion. (The two american twins, Amanda and Hana Moll, that I have been following since the Trials, did exactly the same jumps in the final and ended tied in 6th place with 4.65 m, just above M.J. Bonnin who has had a so-so outdoors season and could do no better than 8th). 

The year 2025 has not been a good one for M. Tentoglou. With recurring injuries, he managed just one good competition, jumping a world-lead 8.46 m in Madrid in June. After his disastrous Diamond League final, one could not reasonably expect him to shine in Tokyo. But his 8.17 m jump in the qualifiers allowed some timid hopes. The qualifiers saw the elimination of L. Adcock, and O. McLeod who figured among the favourites (to which one should add the absence of W. Pinnock who had just changed alliance). Unfortunately even the slim hopes were shattered when Tentoglou, in clear discomfort, could not manage a decent jump and could not even make the first 10. The event was won by M. Furlani with 8.39 m ahead of T. Gayle, 8.33 m. S. Ehammer, with 8.30 m, was fourth, and after his failure in the decathlon, went home medal-less. 

At this point I must explain the new structure of the finals introduced in Tokyo and which I find much better than the previous ones. It applies to horizontal jumps and throws, where the maximum number of attempts is six. Previously the 12 finalists had three attempts and the 8 first went on to the remaining three. Now after the first three, the first 10 are allowed a fourth, then the first 8 a fifth and only the first 6 are given a final sixth attempt. The overall number of jumps or throws is the same as with the previous system but I find this organisation more fair. (It would be interesting, once we have more data from the new organisation, to compare to the ancient one, i.e. how many times an athlete classified 9th or 10th with the new system managed to improve his position to one among the first 8 in the fourth attempt and how many times an athlete in the 7th or 8th position with the ancient system managed to move among the first 6 in his sixth attempt).

The women's long jump saw the elimination in qualifiers of one of the favourites L. Iapichino, together with J. Saywers and E. Brume, all of them 7-plusers. Given that M. Beck-Romantchuk is suspended for a doping offence and the reigning champion I. Spanovic, not in great shape this year, has opted for the triple jump, this made the final somewhat more open. T. Davis-Woodhal announced from the outset her intentions with 7.08 m. She improved to 7.13 m, winning the event ahead of M. Mihambo who was one cm shy of 7 metres. N. Linares with 6.92 m pushed H. Kaptcha out of the medals (the latter being, before the championships, probably the most serious french hope for a medal at the World's).  

Rojas is back

In the women's triple a jump of 14 m was necessary for the qualification to the final and the favorites managed that without problems, although it was clear that S. Ricketts was not in top condition. The big question was that of Y. Rojas who was coming back after two year's absence and serious injuries. Rojas is a great competitor and although I don't like her style (at all) I acknowledge her great talent and tenacity. She finished third with 14.76 m. Will she go back to her 15+ performances? Time will tell. L. Perez-Hernandez won with a 14.94 m jump. She is very strong but I don't particularly like her style which I find rather heavy. T. Lafond is exactly the opposite with probably the best style I have seen in a female triple jumper. I have been closely following her since the beginning of the season and rejoicing seeing that she was steadily progressing. In Tokyo her final jump was over 15 m but she left a small mark behind and, with 14.89 m, she had to content herself with silver. 

In men's triple jump J. Diaz-Fortun dropped out injured already at the qualifiers and W. Claye could not make it to the final (both being 18-plusers). F. Zango could not jump over 17 m and finished in 7th place, and A. Diaz-Hernandez was 6th with 17.19 m. The unlucky one was Y. Triki who with 17.25 m had a place on the podium up to the last jump only to see A. Dallavalle push him out with a 17.64 m personal best jump (L. Martinez being third with 17.49 m). P. Pichardo, who was leading up to Dallavalle's jump riposted with 17.91 m (and celebrated it with one more manifestation of his not so nice character, screaming "who's the best?").

G. Tamberi finally presented himself at the high jump event (he had hesitated for quite some time) but he exited at the qualifiers in an event where O. Doroshchuk and J. Harrisson missed the podium, an event won by H.Kerr with 2.36 m (I don't like him so I will not spend more time on the high jump). In women's high jump the interesting things started at 1.97 m. M. Lake, with 1.93 m was already out (which did not astonish me, despite her 2 m jump at the Diamond League). Patterson and Levchenko with one missed try were tied at 5th place while Olyslagers, Topic and Mahuchikh were first, Zodzik (ex-Bielorussian now jumping for Poland) was second on count-back. At 2 m Olyslagers succeeded at her first try while Mahuchikh failed and decided to continue at 2.02 m. And then rain started pouring. When the competition started again, 40 minutes later, Patterson, Topic and Levchenko failed at 2 m but Zodzik passed at her third try, moving to second place. And it was really interesting to follow the anxiety of Topic, taking refuge under the umbrella of Patterson, waiting for the outcome of the attempts at 2.02 m. Long story short, Mahuchikh failed and Topic won her fist major medal, tying with her for bronze.

Before the championships I had voiced, on more than one occasions, my worries concerning R. Crouser's health. The news were not encouraging given the gravity of his elbow injury. I have thus written that if Crouser could not, after all, participate in the championships the USATF should consider replacing him with Kovacs. But Crouser is a great champion, to my eyes the greatest shot putter of all times. He prepared cautiously without straining himself. After his victory he explained that the first time he threw "hard" this year was in the qualifiers of the event. P. Otterdahl did not make the final but the US still had three athletes in it. In the end only Crouser made it to the podium. T. Walsh was, one more time, unlucky, being pushed out of the medals by the last throw of 21.97 m of U. Muñoz and on count-back from L. Fabbri both having thrown 21.94 m. Crouser leading the event with 21.99 m, consolidated his victory with a 5th throw of 22.34 m, winning his third title in a row. (He will be 36 in 2028 in Los Angeles and it would be great if he could fetch a fourth olympic title there).

J. Schilder had a hard time qualifying for the women's shot put final (while the qualifiers saw the elimination of two of the three US athletes, a well-known noxious effect of the US Trials that push the athletes to get in shape too early). M. Wesche took the command of the event with a 20.06 m personal best at first throw, keeping that position up to the last where first C. Jackson with 20.21 m and then J. Schilder with 20.29 m pushed her down to third. S. Mitton who was second up to that point with 19.81 m was left medal-less. V. Allman, who is to my eyes the best female discus thrower in the post-doping era, was deprived of gold in the previous two world championships by what I call "lucky throws" of her opponents. B. Feng won in 2022 while L. Tausaga, who had barely managed to obtain the qualifying minimum in the US Trials, won in 2023. All those throwers were present in Tokyo, together with S. Elkasevic(-Perkovic) who had won the world title in 2013 and 2017. (The only recent world champion absent from Tokyo was Y. Perez, who had won in 2019, and who cannot participate in official championships having deserted Cuba in 2022). Allman took control of the final from the first throw. J. Van Klinken secured the silver medal with a first throw of 67.50 m (after two fourth places in 2022 and 2023) while Elkasevic, Tausaga and Feng finished 5th, 6th and 7th respectively. Allman threw 69.48 m on her final attempt consolidating her victory (one cm less than what Tausaga threw in 2023, and far from the championships record 71.62 m of M. Hellman, going back to 1987. Note that Perkovic won in 2017 with 70.31 m).

Men's discus final was a very special event. It was the only one I could not follow. The heavy rain had the event postponed and the greek television channel I was following ran out of time. So I had to follow the event on the World Athletics radio and the live results. (I understand that WA is selling the rights to the championships broadcast and thus puts restrictions on how you can follow them live depending on your country. But now that the championships are over, not having access to the (ex-)live stream is preposterous). S. Mattis, L. Okoye, M. Ortega and F. Dacres, all 70+ m throwers did not make it to the final. Mykolas Alekna (I have to specify his given name since his brother Martynas, who finished 7th, was also present in the final) took control with 67.84 m at the second throw. K. Ceh was never in contention finishing 8th. M. Denny was third up to the 5th throw but A. Rose (who throws for Samoa) pushed him out of the medals with a 66.96 m throw. And then in the last throw D. Stahl, with 70.47 m, added a third title to the two he had won in 2019 and 2023. Alekna will have to wait for his first major title (but he is young so he can afford this).

I was hoping to see those two be the stars of javelin

Instead, we got a new star

The women's javelin throw started with the elimination of throwers who were among the best this year S. Borge, Q. Dai, M. Rotundo, of the reigning champion H. Kitaguchi, and of the only 70-pluser still active today, M. Andrejczyk. The greek hope for a medal, E. Tzengko barely made it to the final and the anguish was even bigger for A. Villagos: she could manage a decent throw only at her third attempt. Her 66.06 m would have sufficed for gold in the final but finals are different beasties. M. Little also had a qualifying throw that would have sufficed for victory. But at least she managed to take home the bronze medal. In the final V. Hudson, who has the world leading performance this year finished 10th. Villagos did only slightly better at 8th place. And Tzengko could throw no further than 62.72 m finishing 5th, just a few weeks after having dominated the Diamond League final. Olympic silver medallist J. DuPlessis was third till the last throw when A. Sietina passed her and Little with a 64.64 throw. But the gold medal went to an Ecuadorian athlete. At the qualifiers, an almost unknown South-American thrower, J. Angulo, qualified with a national record of 63.25 m. and she did even better in the final with 65.12 m which sufficed for gold. 

But in the men's event it was the old guard that shone

In the men's javelin qualifiers the only 90-pluser who did not make it was L. DaSilva. A. Peters threw 89.53 m, which would have sufficed for gold in the final, while J. Weber had a throw at 87.21 m that would have given him the bronze medal. The final was a disaster for most favourites. Olympic champion A. Nadeem finished at 10th place. Reigning world champion N. Chopra was 8th. J. Yego injured himself on his first throw and finished 6th. World leader J. Weber could do no better than 86.11 m finishing 5th. A. Peters, the world champion of 2019 and 2022, finished at second place. But it was a veteran of the event, the olympic champion of 2012, K. Walcott, who won the event with a 88.16 m throw. (Before the championships he was just 10th in the year's best list).

In the months preceding the championships E. Katzberg was not the dominant figure in men's hammer throw. B. Halasz and R. Winkler had better performances than him and had beaten him on a few occasions. However when the final started in Tokyo it was clear that he was untouchable. M. Hummel led for just one throw with a personal best of 82.77 m (which sufficed for silver) but then Katzberg threw the 5th best performance of all times, 84.70 m, backing it up with two throws beyond 83 m. Halasz managed to save the bronze medal and Winkler finished 5th. The great A. Wlodarczyk was present at one more championship, finishing 6th in the final. The world leader B. Andersen did not make the final, just as her team-mate and third world performer R. Richeson. In the end it was the two chinese throwers J. Zhao ad J. Zhang who grabbed silver and bronze. But the protagonist of the event was the reigning olympic and world champion C. Rogers who with 80.51 m won the event and moved to second place in the all time list.

The blog is 12 years old

Twelve years ago I decided to create a blog on Athletics. I had some experience with blogging and after having read Juliand's excellent monograph "Rethinking Track and Field" I decided that I had some ideas of my own that I would like to cast into writing. I had been publishing longer articles in "New Studies in Athletics" (a journal, alas, killed by Lord Sebastian's belt tightening) but I had ideas that would not justify a full article and which were still worth publishing. So, I decided to create this blog and, as a tribute to Juliand, I plagiarised his title. (A funny remark is in order here. While writing this post I decided to go back to the original "Why rethinking" article and I discovered that the photo of Juliand's book was blurred. And I hadn't noticed that for 12 years! I replaced it and, at long last, the photo is now sharply focused). 

I would never have predicted that the blog would be alive for more than a decade. I try to publish between 30 and 50 articles per year and I have never let a month pass without publishing something. The one thing I cannot control are the views. and to tell the truth I cannot understand what is happening. Here is the history of the blog views.

I don't have any explanation for the spikes in 2017 and 2019. The huge spike in 2025 appeared at the time of the World Championships but I don't think that there was a real correlation. What one can claim is that since 2023 there are more visits to the blog. But are those due to physical readers or caused by the training of some Large language Model (that is learning how to blog in my style)? Some of the spikes are associated to huge (unexplainable) spikes in some particular article: why is the article "Before the curtain falls: a jaunt into gerontology" the third most viewed one with a huge peak of 5 k in July 2019, when it was published (and has between 0 to 3 daily views since)? Normal views look rather like the one of the pole vault history

 where there are a few decades of daily views. Anyhow the blog has surpassed 400 k views for roughly 500 articles.

The crucial question is where do we go from here. The truth is that I like writing articles for the blog. I do not hesitate to be irreverential and critical. My readers know that there are athletes that I like and others that I don't (even some that I despise). So, as long as I have ideas for new articles I will continue writing the blog. Let us meet here next year.