The opening day of the World Athletics Championships was immediately added as one of the unforgettable ones in the event’s 40-year history. The drama-filled day kicked off with a blistering 20K race walk in the morning and concluded with a world record by the United States 4x4 mixed relay quartet. The Netherlands’ two brightest stars; Sifan Hassan and Femke Bol were both tragically grounded at the very end of the races within just 20 minutes, which cost the team two - possible - golds.

Here are the highlights from Athletics Podium’s Sevket F. Erbay in Budapest. 

20K RACE WALK MEN

Spaniard Alvaro Martin secured a stunning victory in one of the fastest 20K races ever held. 13 men passed the halfway point in under 39 minutes and Martin lapped 3:55 in the final turn to victory with a good clearance over strong chasers, Perseus Karlström and Caio Bonfim, who both added yet another world medal to their personal tally. Karström and Bonfim lowered their respective national records to just under one hour and 18 minutes while Canada, Germany, Finland and Peru all registered new NRs. Meanwhile, two-time title defender Toshikazu Yamanishi has fallen back in the early part of the race and then came 24th at the finish.

SHOT PUT MEN

Hot favourite and world record holder Ryan Crouser of the United States arrived in Budapest with a minor injury, diagnosed with blood clots in his lower leg. He still over-impressed in the final! He took an easy lead by 22.63 in the opening round then threw a powerful 22.98 metres. After all medals were determined, Crouser closed the competition with a crazy put which landed at 23.51 metres – an absolute championship best mark and just five centimetres short of his world record. He said, “The week before I was supposed to leave I woke up with calf pain and we thought I had a partial tear in my calf. We treated it like that but after 10 days of no improvement we had a doctor look at it and he said you have two blood clots. After all that, it was the best performance of my life, given the health issues, the stress and all of it. It wasn't quite a world record but to me it was.”

A surprise of the night came from Leonardo Fabbri. The Italian broke the 22-metre barrier during the most important contest of his life. With his 22.34m third-round effort, he became only the second Italian athlete to win a World Championships medal in shot put after his hero, 1984 Olympic champion Alessandro Andrei. In the morning session, Fabbri had barely obtained the final berth with a 20.74m throw.

10,000M WOMEN

One of the highly anticipated races of the Championships has just become the weird one. Opened in a pedestrian tempo by Europeans around 32 minutes predicted finish time, Gudaf Tsegay was placed up in front at around 6000m. At the bell, Sifan Hassan was in close touch with three Ethiopians, two Kenyans and American Alicia Monson. The Olympic champion kicked up with 300m to go in order to pass her “main” rival Letesenbet Gidey, but Gudaf Tsegay caught her in the home stretch. The stadium crazed over witnessing the neck-to-neck contest between the two, which eventually turned into a drama with Hassan’s fall on the ground just 20 metres before the finish line. Hassan replied to the questions with a smiling face in the mixed zone: “This is sport, these things happen. I just had a bad moment. I felt really strong and tried to push in the last lap. I think I got pushed by the Ethiopian. I really enjoy what I do. I always want to try running multiple distances.”

On the other hand, Gudaf Tsegay kept the Ethiopian flag high in their national superiority to take her second outdoor world title after the 5000 victory in Eugene.

4x400 MIXED RELAY

The Netherlands' strong quartet was looking as the best team to beat the United States. European Olympic medallists had a slight lead after a good leg from Lieke Klaver (did 49.80 on her lap), then Femke Bol commanded the race in the final turn. However, Alexis Holmes accelerated through to finish and caught up with Femke, who lost her balance after she came nearby on the scene. Unfortunately, Femke's baton flew out of her hand on the finish line, which caused DNF for the Netherlands.