The 2025 World Athletics Championship was the twentieth edition since the first ever competition was held in 1983. The event was held in the Japan National Stadium and featured 49 events over nine days of competition. There were a number of high-profile races and the prestigious sprint triple crown was finally crowned, with USA’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden joining Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in that elite group.
There were also a lot of surprises, including an utterly dominant performance from Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in the women’s 1500m as she won her fourth world title. She was untouchable as she cruised to victory ahead of Dorcus Ewoi and Jessica Hull.
Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers added to her global outdoor and indoor high jump success with another gold, clearing 2.00m in Tokyo. She had a faultless competition up to that point and was rewarded with the win over Poland’s Maria Zodzik, who had a PB clearance of 1.97m. Bronze went to Serbia’s Angelina Topic, who shared it with Ukraine’s defending champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh on countback.
There were also some pulsing finishes, with USA’s Geordie Beamish producing a stunning last-lap surge to win the men’s 3000m steeplechase by 0.3 seconds from Edmund Serem of Kenya and New Zealand’s Tayler Blewett. Other highlights included a shock victory in the men’s 4x100m relay by Botswana, with the US team pipped by a second-placed Jamaica.