The highlight of Day 6 of the World Athletics Championships 2025 was the stunning performance of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone as she broke the decades old women’s 400m record.
Busang Collen Kebinatshipi won Botswana’s first-ever world title. Yulimar Rojas’s golden streak in triple jump came to an end. The Caribbean athletes impressed in the men’s javelin final. For Indian track and field fans, the day turned out to be disappointing as defending champion Neeraj Chopra failed to finish on the podium. Along with him, a few other top medal contenders like Julian Weber and Arshad Nadeem also missed out.
Braving a steady drizzle, Sydney lit up the track at Tokyo’s National Stadium with a historic run. She shattered Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 42-year-old championship record of 47.99s by clocking a blistering 47.78s. It was the second fastest 400m time in history behind only Marita Koch’s controversial 47.60s.
The American who switched from the 400m hurdles to the flat 400m found no hurdles on the track. Reigning Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic also clocked under 48 seconds, securing a silver with an impressive 47.98s (the third-fastest time ever). Nigeria born Bahraini athlete Salwa Eid Naser settled for a bronze with 48.19s.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, the London Olympic champion, won the javelin throw title with a season’d best of 88.16m. Anderson Peters clinched his third Worlds medal. With a throw of 87.38m, he took the silver while the USA’s Curtis Thompson secured bronze with 86.67m, clinching his first-ever World Championships medal. India’s big man Sachin Yadav missed the podium by just 0.40cm.
For the first time since 2018, Neeraj finished outside the podium. His streak of 26 consecutive podium finishes came to an end. This was also the first time since 2018 that Neeraj failed to finish on the podium in any athletics meet. His best effort was measured at 84.01m as he was struggling with back pain, according to few media reports.
In the men’s 400m, Botswana saw its first-ever world champion. The 21-year-old quartermiler, Busang Collen Kebinatshipi, outpaced the field to clinch gold with a blistering personal best timing of 43.53s. His compatriot Bayapo Ndori also made the podium with a bronze finish clocking 44.20s, while Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards settled with silver with a national record timing of 43.72s.
The women’s triple jump saw Cuba’s Leyanis Perez Hernandez shining with an excellent jump. The 23-year-old took the gold with an impressive leap of 14.94m, upgrading her colour as she won bronze in Budapest. Paris Olympic champion Thea LaFond of Dominica bagged the silver with her best jump of 14.89m, while four-time world champion Venezuela’s world record holder, Yulimar Rojas (14.76m), took the bronze.
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