A dramatic final-round victory for Sweden’s Daniel Ståhl in the men’s discus and Germany’s Leo Neugebauer’s triumph in a hard-fought decathlon were the highlights of a magical final day at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday (21).
There were also medals in the distance events: Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell and Keely Hodgkinson took silver and bronze respectively in a record-breaking women’s 800m, while Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli and France’s Jimmy Gressier claimed silver and bronze in the men’s 5000m.
In the field, Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna earned silver behind Ståhl in the discus, while Poland’s Maria Żodzik captured a surprise silver in the women’s high jump as Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh shared bronze with Serbia’s Angelina Topić.
On the track, the Netherlands secured bronze in both the women’s 4x400m and men’s 4x100m relays, with Germany adding bronze in the women’s 4x100m.
Discus drama
The men’s discus delivered high drama, as torrential rain forced a postponement. The sodden circle still proved treacherous when competition resumed, but Ståhl showed his trademark composure, unleashing a season’s best of 70.47m in the final round to snatch gold from world-record holder Alekna, who settled for silver with 67.84m.
In the decathlon, Neugebauer’s superb personal best of 64.35m in the javelin propelled him into the lead with only the 1500m remaining. Digging deep, he clocked another lifetime best of 4:31.89 to seal victory with 8804 points—just 20 ahead of Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme, who had crossed the line 14 seconds earlier.
Hodgkinson pipped
The women’s 800m final produced more drama. Olympic champion Hodgkinson appeared on course for victory, only to be overhauled in the closing meters by Kenya’s Lilian Odira, who stormed to gold in a championship-record 1:54.62.
Hodgkinson was also edged out for silver by just 0.01 seconds as Hunter Bell surged past in a personal best of 1:54.90.
In the men’s 5000m, Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker unleashed a devastating kick off the final bend to deny Kimeli and Gressier, winning in 12:58.30. Kimeli could still celebrate his first global medal with silver, while Gressier added bronze to the 10,000m title he had claimed earlier in the week.
Mahuchikh settles for bronze
The women’s high jump, also interrupted by rain, saw Australia’s in-form Nicola Olyslagers triumph on countback over Żodzik. World champion Mahuchikh relinquished her crown, sharing bronze with Topić after both cleared 1.97m.
In the relays, Femke Bol anchored the Netherlands to bronze in the women’s 4x400m with a time of 3:20.18. The Dutch men’s 4x100m squad set a national record of 37.81 for their bronze, while Germany’s women added another world bronze to the Olympic bronze they earned last year, clocking 41.87.