By Yavuz Yavuz in Tokyo National Stadium
2025 World Championships kicked off on a cloudy and humid Tokyo morning, with medallists crowned in 35km race walk finals. On the men’s side, Evan Dunfee entered Japanese National Stadium first, and clinched the gold medal in 2:28:22. Dunfee trailed behind the leading group for a long while but when Ecuador’s David Hurtado was sat out coming into the 29km line for a third fault and conceded his lead to home team’s Masatora Kawano and Hayato Katsuki, Dunfee managed to erase the home duo’s lead and powered to drop the rest of the walkers off.
Kawano, medallist of the last two world championships, lost even more pace and eventually his podium place, and Caio Bonfim grabbed silver in a personal best mark of 2:28:55 — his first medal in the longer race walk. Hayato Katsuki, with a bronze, opened the tally for Japan.
Spain’s Maria Perez, double world champion of Budapest 2023, won the women’s gold in 2:39:01. Antonella Palmisano of Italy, the only other female athlete to walk the distance under 2:40 this season came in second and Paula Milena Torres broke the Ecuadorean record in 2:42:44 for bronze medal.
NIGHT SESSION DELIVERS
In the women’s 10,000m final, world record holder Beatrice Chebet brought Kenya its first victory in the event in a decade in 30:37.24. In a very tactical race that saw Gudaf Tsegay kick for the lead towards the final lap, Chebet managed to hold for a final push down the last 200 metres and struck gold.
However, Beatrice Chebet was really tested by Olympic silver medallist Nadia Battocletti, who lowered her own national record to 30:38.23. Battocletti became Italy’s first medallist in the event history by coming in second, while she also obtained her first world championships medal. Defending champion Gudaf Tsegay settled for bronze.
In men’s shot put, Ryan Crouser produced the only throw beyond the 22-metre line and managed to win gold at 22.34 in his first race of the year. This way, he also completed a three-peat as the defending champion of the last two events. The real surprise, however, came when Uziel Munoz catapulted himself to silver medal position in his last attempt with a staggering throw of 21.97 metres. This was not only a Mexican record — he also managed to clinch the country’s first ever medal in the event. Furthermore, this became Mexico’s first non-road race medal in the world championships since 2013.
USA CRUISES TO CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD
The night concluded with the mixed 4x400 final. The heats were laden with drama themselves, as South Africa broke the African record in 3:11.16 to advance to the final. While Kenya took over the record minutes later, they were disqualified for a lane infringement and Japan found themselves a place in the final having run 3:08.12 — a national record.
The USA broke the championship record in the final by clocking the fifth fastest time ever in 3:08.80. They took a resounding lead in the second leg as Lynna Irby-Jackson (who had anchored the team to World Relays mixed 4x400 victory in May) clocked the fastest split among the women in the race with 49.18. By the time Alexis Holmes held the baton to anchor the team to gold, the Americans already had a commanding lead. Femke Bol running fastest last lap in 50.06 did not help the Dutch and they won their second silver — with the first being in 2022. Still, they returned to world podium after Femke Bol’s fateful fall in the opening night of Budapest 2023.
Belgium and Poland locked horns in a fierce battle for bronze medal, and to Justyna Swiety-Ersetic’s disappointment, it was Helena Ponette of Belgium who emerged victorious in the final metres of the race. Belgium managed to win its first ever global mixed medal in 3:10.61, edging their rivals by only 0.02 seconds.
