Having written an article after the US Trials commenting on the athletes that would not make the team, I felt compelled, once the final composition of the US team for Tokyo was announced, to compare my comments with the final formation. I will definitely not present an exhaustive list of all champions that will miss this year's World Championships. (Had that been the case I should have started with France's only Paris Olympics athletics medallist, Samba-Mayela, who will miss Tokyo due to injuries). I will concentrate on the US athletes, with just one exception (but more on this later).
To my eyes there is one "huge" absence from this year's World's: Joe Kovacs. He finished 4th at the US Trials in a competition where he was leading from the first to the third throw, was second up to the fifth throw only to be passed in the last throw by two competitors, relegating him to the fourth position. (It is funny that 5 among the 8 finalists had their best throw in their last attempt. Not so Kovacs, who could not reply to the throws of Awotunde and Otterdahl). And, at the end of August, Kovacs went on to win the Diamond League final, beating Otterdahl and Piperi who had denied him the national selection. Now, normally, the winner of the Diamond League gets a wild card for the championship. But, unfortunately for Kovacs, a country can only have up to 4 representatives, including wild cards. And in the case of men's shot put, the US have already one wild card for the defending world champion, Ryan Crouser. So, Kovacs is definitely out. (Those who follow my blog certainly know that I am a big fan of Crouser. But Crouser, plagued by elbow problems, has not thrown even once in 2025. I just hope that the wild card, that would have allowed Kovacs to go for a third world title, would not be wasted).
In my comments I had missed two important points. I made a whole fuss concerning the tactics of the Moll sisters in pole vault, forgetting one important thing: at 4.73 m, with just four athletes left, all of them had secured a spot in the team. K. Moon had a wild card, being the reigning champion (well, co-champion, to be precise). So, both Amanda and Hana Moll were in, and they could take any risk they wished with the remaining heights. The other wild card I had missed was that of B. Andersen in women's hammer throw. She had obtained it by being the best performer in the Continental Tour (the women's hammer not being part of the Diamond League circuit). Thus both Kassanavoid and Richeson made the team (which is somehow fair since, in the Trials, they were separated by just 2 cm).
If you peruse the list of the medalists of the US Trials you'll find that there are athletes absent from the team. Most of them, like J. Lawson in the long jump or D. Simon in the javelin throw, could not qualify because they had not realised the minimum entry standard and were too far in the world rankings. You can verify this through the Road to Tokyo page in the World Athletics website, but bear in mind that it was not updated so as to include the Diamond League wild cards.
Britanny Brown did obtain a wild card for the 200 m by winning in Zürich's final. But since Gabby Thomas had announced her non-participation due to injury, Brown's wild card offered to McKenzie Long a spot in the team. So, the two sprinters that were denied a selection for 1 and 2 milliseconds respectively, ended up making the team. Thomas has been in the limelight recently having declared that the coaches involved in doping offences should be banned for life. As expected, Thomas' inflammatory words sparked a huge controversy on the media. The one remark that I did not expect was that of multiple doping offender J. Gatlin. But in this case I must admit that Gatlin had a point. For him there were not the comments but their timing that was badly chosen. Had Thomas made those comments after winning gold in the 2024 Olympics, things would have been different. But after a season where she was regularly beaten by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Thomas' remarks look as they were addressed at Jefferson-Wooden and her coach (Dennis Mitchell, who was also the coach of Gatlin and was involved in doping controversies).
And now it's time for the exception I alluded to at the beginning of this post. I had a look at the composition of the Jamaican team and I was astonished when I did not see the name of R. Stona, who had won the men discus event at last year's Olympics. On the other hand I remembered well having seen him participate in international competitions and have thrown over 70 m. I decided to dig further and I discovered that Stona, together with olympic medallists Rajindra Campbell and Wayne Pinnock, as well as triple jump talent Jaydon Hibbert, who at 19 years of age finished 4th last year in Paris, had switched alliance form Jamaica to Turkey. (There was a signing bonus of reportedly half a million dollars, and the agreement included a monthly stipend and huge bonuses for medals won at major championships). Stona pointed out that his financial struggles had led him to first consider abandoning athletics for american football and, in the end, opting for the transfer of alliance. It goes without saying that, according to the rules, the four ex-jamaican athletes, will not be allowed to participate in major championships for three years (but can represent Türkiye at 2028 Olympics).
PS The entry list for the Tokyo World Championships are out and I would like to remark that Kovacs, figures prominently in the list. This is due to the fact that a country can enter one more athlete as "reserve". This means that if Crouser is not able to compete, Kovacs will be allowed to participate as the fourth US athlete, thanks to his wild card.
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