Femke Bol and Pedro Pichardo underlined their status as modern greats by winning gold in their specialist events for the second time at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Friday (19), both with world-leading performances.
Bol defended the women’s 400m hurdles title she won in Budapest 2023 in style, clocking 51.54. Pichardo regained the men’s triple jump crown he last claimed in Oregon 2022, producing a superb final-round leap of 17.91m.
Surprise medals
There were surprise medallists behind them. Emma Zapletalová set a Slovakian record of 53.00 to take bronze behind Bol, while Italy’s Andrea Dallavalle nearly stole gold in the triple jump with a personal best of 17.64m before Pichardo’s decisive final effort. It was Dallavalle’s first global medal.
In the women’s 200m final, Great Britain’s Amy Hunt produced a brilliant breakthrough run, taking silver in 22.14 behind USA’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who completed the sprint double. Hunt’s teammate, 2019 champion Dina Asher-Smith, finished fifth. Another Briton, Zharnel Hughes, also placed fifth in the men’s 200m final.
In the men's 400m hurdles final, Karsten Warholm struggled in lane four, clattering the third hurdle and fading to fifth in 47.58 in a race won by USA's Olympic champion Rai Benjamin in 46.52.
Keely eases through to final
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson eased into Sunday’s (21) women’s 800m final with an assured semi-final performance. Running in the third heat, the Briton went straight to the front and controlled the race, winning in 1:57.53. Kenya’s Sarah Moraa was credited with the same time in second.
Hodgkinson’s training partner, Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell, advanced to her first major 800m final by finishing second behind defending champion Mary Moraa in the opening semi, clocking 1:58.62.
Switzerland’s European U23 champion Audrey Werro impressed in the second semi, bossing the kerb from the gun and only conceding the lead in the final strides to Kenya’s Lilian Odira. Both qualified, Odira winning in 1:56.99.
Gressier double bid alive as Ingebrigtsen toils
In the men’s 5000m, 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier kept his double bid alive by finishing second in his semi-final in 13:41.64. Olympic and world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen looked short of his best but did enough to secure the final automatic qualifying spot in eighth, clocking 13:42.15.
European silver medallist George Mills of Great Britain also advanced, along with all three 10,000m medallists from April’s European Running Championships — Yann Schrub and Etienne Daguinos of France and Isaac Kimeli of Belgium. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, bronze medallist in the 10,000m last Sunday (14), was eliminated.
O'Connor produces PBs to sit in silver
After day one of the women’s heptathlon, Ireland’s Kate O’Connor sits in silver medal position following three personal bests across the first four events.
The 24-year-old, who has already won world indoor silver and European indoor bronze in the pentathlon this year, clocked 13.14 in the 100m hurdles, cleared 1.86m in the high jump, and ran 24.07 in the 200m — all lifetime bests. She ends the day on 3906 points, 248 behind USA’s Anna Hall, the overnight leader.
Three-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam, competing in her first heptathlon since Paris 2024 after only opening her season at the Belgian Championships on 2 August, was below her usual standards but remains in contention with 3818 points. Great Britain's defending champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson had a solid day and holds bronze position with 3893 points.
In women’s javelin qualifying, Serbia’s two-time European silver medallist Adriana Vilagos led the way into Saturday’s (20) final with 66.06m. World leader and European champion Victoria Hudson also progressed, finishing fifth with 62.85m, while Greece’s 2022 European champion Elina Tzengko advanced despite being down on her best, with 61.31m.