by Alfonz Juck
TOKYO 2025 DAY 6
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s amazing, it’s an honour. I knew there were a lot of people doubting me with making the switch from 400 metres hurdles to the flat 400m, but ultimately, I had faith in my training. I knew I had it in me (to run that fast). We will need to talk about the schedule for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Maybe I could do both 400m and 400m hurdles. I would need some days off between those events and there is a tough field in both events. You’ve got to respect all the girls,” Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
RESULT OF THE DAY
Historical 47.78 by Sydney McLaughline-Levrone, nearly after 40 years again a female runner achieved sub 48 time. Splits: 11.71-22.95 (11.24)-34.87 (11.92)-12.91. Marita Koch had 11.3-22.4-34.1 (last 100 m 13.5) during WR.
SURPRISE OF THE DAY
Americas getting all 3 medals in men javelin. High level after absence by Yulimar Rojas worth of bronze. Botswana getting two medals in the 400 m. Only third time US no medal in men 400 m.
MEDALS (from 35 to 41 countries)
USA 8-1-3, KEN 4-1-2, CAN 3-0-0, NZL 2-0-0, JAM 1-4-1, ITA 1-2-2, TTO 1-1-0, BOT, CUB, SWE 1-0-1
TITLE RETAINERS
Yes (8): Crouser, M. Perez, Duplantis, Rogers, US 4x4mx, Kipyegon, Katzberg, Moon
No (16): Tsegay, Tausaga, Richardson, Lyles, V. Kiplagat, El Bakkali, D. Williams, Tamberi, Holloway, Yavi, Tentoglou, J. Kerr, Chopra, Rojas, Watson, Paulino
NC (4): A. Martin, Beriso, Spanovic, Cheptegei
TOP MARKS
WR: 630 Duplantis
CR: 630 Duplantis, 4x4mx 3:08.80 USA, 10.61 Jefferson-Wooden, 84.70 Katzberg, 8:51.59 Cherotich, 47.78 McLaughlin-Levrone
WL: 630 Duplantis, 4x4mx 3:08.80. USA, 10.61 Jefferson-Wooden, 713 Davis-Woodhall, 80.51 Rogers, 84.70 Katzberg, 236 Kerr, 48.29 McLaughlin-Levrone, 490 Moon, 47.78 McLaughlin-Levrone, 43.53 Kebinatshipi, 14.94 Perez-Hernandez
AR: 1 Africa (RSA, 4×4 mx), 1 Oceania (Kerr), 3 NACAC (Katzberg, Rogers, McLaughlin-Levrone), 1 South America (Woodruff)
AGENTS (individual gold medals)
Paul Doyle 3, Jos Hermens/GSC 3, Stephen Haas 2, Miguel Mostaza 2, Federico Rosa, Miguel Mostaza, Gianni Demadonna, John Nubani, Riad Ouled, Norman Peart, Adam Phillips, Derek Froude, Daniel Wessfeldt, Florian Clivaz, Sean Whipp, Robert Wagner, Karen Locke, Mario Bassani, Tero Heiska, Jorge Aguilera, Sekou Clarke, Dunfee no agent.
DAY 7 PREVIEW (5 finals)
Expectations: Normally Pichardo vs A. Diaz but in Tokyo all is possible, Warholm Tokyo dejavu, Bol to dominate, Tebogo vs Lyles, Jefferson-Wooden for double
Medals prediction
Triple jump men, AW: J. Diaz (nq), Scott, A. Diaz, TFN: A. Diaz, Wu, Scott
400mHurdles men, AW: Warholm, Benjamin, Dos Santos, TFN: the same
400mHurdles women, AW: Bol, Muhammad, Cockrell, TFN: the same
200 m men, AW: Lyles, Tebogo, Bednarek, TFN: Lyles, Bednarek, Tebogo
200 m women, AW: Alfred (nc), Jefferson, Thomas (nc), TFN: Alfred (nc), Jefferson, Jackson
STATS (by Ken Nakamura and World Athletics)
Day 6
W5000m heats: 14:53.49 is the fastest time that failed to qualify for the final of W5000m in the World Championships, replacing 15:02.03 by Hironaka from 2022
W800m first round: 1:57.86 by Odira is the fastest time in the first round of W800m in the World Championships
JT: First gold for TTO at JT in the World Championships. First medal for US since 2007 at JT in the World Championships. Chopra’s 84.03m is the longest 8th place throw of JT in the World Championships, replacing 83.98 from 2017. Walcott became fourth (after Zelezny, Thorkildsen and Chopra) to win both World Champ and Olympics.
200m semi: 19.51 by Lyles is the fastest semi of 200m in World Championships, replacing 19.62 by Lyles himself from 2022. 19.51 is the fourth fastest time of 200m in World Championships. 20.03 by Charamba is the fastest time that failed to qualify for the final of 200m in the World Championships, replacing 20.10 by Tortu from 2022.
W200m semi: Long missed making the final of W200m by 0.001 sec. Strachan 22.477 and Long 22.478.
800m semi: 1:43.18 by McPhillips is the fastest semi time of 800m in the World Championships, replacing 1:43.83 by Wanyonyi from 2023. In fact both Burgin and Brazer also run faster.
WTJ: LaFond won first medal for DMA at WTJ in World Championships. Rojas won fifth medal at WTJ in World Championships tying Ibarguen with number of medals. Leyanis Perez Hernandez became 5th to win both World Championships and World Indoor Championships, 4th to win both World Championships and Pan American Games.
400m: 43.53 by Kebinatshipi is 6th fastest time in 400m in World Championships. First gold (actually first medal) for Botswana at 400m in World Championships. Richards won first medal for TTO since Quow won bronze in 2009.
W400m: Best marks for places for 1st to 8th. All time best marks for places for 2nd to 4th at 400m were set. First time in history, two women cracked 48 sec in the same race. Fastest time in Asia and also fastest time in September were set. Both Paulino and Naser won third medal, thus tying the most medal in this event (400m) at World Championships.
WHJ: Fatoumata Balley made history by becoming the first athlete from Guinea – male or female – to make a World Championships final in any event Angelina Topic qualified for the women’s high jump final some 34 years after her coach and father Dragutin made the men’s high jump final at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.
TOKYO NEWS
TOKYO (JPN): The crowd was back to 50 000+ on Thursday with evening session total of 57,327.
TOKYO (JPN): Area Associations set gender equity actions as new Allyship Award was announced at Gender Leadership Conference in Tokyo. All six Area Associations of World Athletics committed to specific actions and targets to advance gender equity within their organisations and the sport at the Gender Leadership Conference held in Tokyo on Wednesday. All World Athletics Commissions have also achieved gender parity and attention has now turned to assisting the Area Associations and Member Federations to reach the same standards.
TOKYO (JPN): Keshorn Walcott has now the unique distinction of winning global titles 13 years apart. After winning Olympic gold in 2012 as a teenager at 19, Walcott wins the world javelin title in Tokyo with 88.16m. “I have been fighting for this but I was always off the podium. I even thought that the championships are not my competition. But I never gave up,” he said. Walcott’s roommate at the World Championships is Jereem Richards who won silver later in the same session in the men’s 400m
TOKYO (JPN): Olympic 4x400m relay silver medallist Collen Kebinatshipi claims the first senior global title of his career in style. “This is my first title and it feels crazy. After the semi-final I really started to believe in myself. To think that this my new chapter. Up until the semi-final I have been doubting myself. I had my struggles. But in the final, I had no fear.”
TOKYO (JPN): “Some people criticized me and said I would never achieve this, but here I am: world champion and the first Portuguese man to win a global gold in the 1500m,” Isaac Nader said. “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to hear the Portuguese team cheering for me because the crowd here is so loud. This is just one of my dreams accomplished, the other will have to wait until 2028.”
TOKYO (JPN): Drama in women steeple final, Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto had the bronze medal position for most of the final lap, but when she landed her final water jump she pitched forward and fell face down in the shallow part of the pit. As she tried to get up, Kenya’s Doris Lemngole tripped over her on her landing. That gave Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew an opening to skip past her fallen rivals and sprint in for the bronze medal in 8:58.86, a personal best. Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani, who also benefited from the water jump chaos, took fourth in a national record 9:01.46. Earlier Tokyo Olympic winner Peruth Chemutai faced difficulties and did not finish.
TOKYO (JPN): Kenya’s Julius Yego pulled up on his third attempt in the javelin throw final, seeming to have picked up an injury.
TOKYO (JPN): “I’m disappointed that I have to scratch from the 20km. We briefly held out hope of recovery but an MRI has confirmed the crippling pain I’m in is a fairly bad tear,” 35km race walk champion Evan Dunfee of Canada posted on X.
TOKYO (JPN): Two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou attributed the cramps he felt during the long jump final to the increased intensity he put in during the warm-up, which prevented him from taking a better place than 11th on Wednesday. “It was the worst competition I have ever done. I felt great and very strong in the warm-up,” he said. From SEGAS.
TOKYO (JPN): Julia Lillo Perez of Great Britain and Japan’s Masato Yokota won the media 800m races in Tokyo.
TOKYO (JPN): The Athletics Integrity Unit’s (AIU) has brought its expertise to the fore to protect the integrity of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25. Whether it’s a robust testing programme encompassing 2,000 athletes – both before (AIU and National Anti-Doping Organisations combined) and during the competition – or the prosecution of cases or its education outreach to the athletics community, the AIU is tangibly involved in the global event. AIU Chair David Howman disclosed at least 650 tests were conducted pre-competition at the team hotel and another 550 tests are being conducted at the Japan National Stadium during the competition. Wide-ranging analyses will be performed at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Tokyo including, for the first time, testing for all three blood modules of the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) – endocrine, haematological and steroidal. Samples collected at this World Championships will be available for analysis for 10 years, pursuant to the AIU’s retention and reanalysis policy. It was also revealed that athletes from World Athletics’ National Federations with the highest doping risk (Category A of World Athletics Rule 15) have had an average of more than eight tests per athlete ahead of the World Championships. Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Ukraine are currently the National Federations in Category A while Trinidad & Tobago – though not in Category A – was subject to specific requirements as it had failed to meet the minimum testing standards last year.
