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 the 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).
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).
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.
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