The Japan National Stadium in Tokyo witnessed an incredible day of athletics. It was a day of upsets and records.
The morning session kicked off with a photo finish in the men’s marathon. Would you believe it? Armand Gustav Duplantis soared once again to break the world record. Well, for him, that is becoming a routine now.
In a huge upset in men’s steeplechase, Geordie Beamish stunned the legendary Soufiane El Bakkali. Ditaji Kambundji smashed the Swiss national record, and Camryn Rogers came up with the second longest women’s hammer throw of all time.
There’s a famous line in Batman Begins when Alfred tells Bruce, “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
Something similar Beamish of New Zealand exhibited, in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase, where he fell and he was spiked on his face, but gave a gritty performance to finish second in his heat.
On Monday, he caused a huge upset by defeating Moroccan legend Soufiane El Bakkali, ending his streak and claiming his first world title with an incredible final kick in the last 100m, clocking 8:33.88. El Bakkali clocked 8:33.95 and settled for silver. Another remarkable finish came from the 17-year-old Edmund Serem of Kenya, who got the bronze medal, clocking 8:34.56.
On his return to the Japanese capital, Duplantis broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time with a clearance of 6.30m. The final ended up in an incredible way. The first seven pole-vaulters soared over 5.90m. This was the first ever occasion when a 5.95m effort was not enough to finish on the podium.
The Swedish pole vault royal lit up the jam-packed Japan National Stadium, winning the gold medal, claiming his third consecutive world title. Emmanouil Karalis of Greece clinched silver with an effort of 6.00m and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall settled for bronze with 5.95m.
In an incredible effort, Alphonce Felix Simbu clinched the first-ever worlds title for Tanzania. The marathon race, which saw runners covering most of the course in the streets of Tokyo, had its climax in a 100m sprint on the track at Japan National Stadium.
The German led for the maximum of the race but in the final moment, Simbu edged him out in a photo finish. Both broke the tape at 2:09:48, but the 33-year-old Tanzanian won by 300th of a second. Iliass Aouani of Italy took bronze in 2:09:53.
In the women’s hammer throw finals, Camryn Rogers of Canada hurled 80.51m — the second longest throw of all time, to successfully defend her title. She is now only behind Polish legend Anita Wlodarczyk (82.98m). Two Chinese throwers, Zhao Jie clinched silver with a 77.60m throw, and Zhang Jiale took bronze with 77.10m.
In a sensational run, Ditaji Kambundji outpaced the current Olympic champion and reigning world champion to take the women’s 100m hurdles title.
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