Day 5 of the World Athletics Championships at Tokyo’s National Stadium saw another evening session of surprises and brilliance.
Three new champions were crowned and the day witnessed Katie Moon completing a remarkable hat-trick of world pole vault titles. Isaac Nader stunned the 1,500m field with an impressive run, Faith Cherotich claimed the steeplechase crown in style and the teenage prodigy Mattia Furlani etched his name into history as the youngest-ever long jump world champion.
With the season’s best performance, the American pole vault legend reaffirmed her brilliance on the global stage. Moon soared over 4.90m to clinch the title and complete a historic three on the go.
It was kind of heartbreak once again for another USA women’s pole vaulter, Sandi Morris. She cleared 4.85m and tried 4.95m, but fell short and finished second. It was her fourth silver medal at the World Championships.
Adding a touch of inspiration to the night, the 36-year-old from Slovenia, Tina Sutej claimed her first-ever Worlds medal (bronze) with an impressive leap of 4.80m. She proved it’s never too late.
Faith Cherotich added another gold in the medal tally for Kenya, winning her first-ever 3,000m steeplechase crown. She sprinted an amazing lifetime best of 8:51.59, making a championship record to dethrone the Paris Olympics and defending champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, leaving the steeplechase world in shock. Yavi clocked 8:56.46 to win silver, and Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew went for bronze with a personal best of 8:58.86.
The 20-year-old Mattia Furlani of Italy etched his name into history with a lifetime best leap of 8.39m, becoming the youngest man in the history of long jump to clinch the world title. He edged out Jamaica’s former world champion Tajay Gayle, who leapt 8.34m to claim the silver medal. China’s Shi Yuhao settled for bronze with a jump of 8.33m.
Isaac Nader turned out to be the surprise of the day. When he crossed the line, he left the men’s 1500m field stunned even though he himself was in shock seeing him on the top when the result flashed on the big screen. The Portuguese edged two former world champions to claim the crown. Nader clocked 3:34.10 and outpaced Britain’s Jake Wightman (3:34.12) by just 0.02 seconds. Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot secured bronze in 3:34.25.
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