By Yavuz Yavuz in Tokyo National Stadium

The medal events on the track began with 400m hurdles and the men’s final brought drama to Karsten Warholm, on the very track where he went down in history four years ago by breaking the world record at the Olympics. The Norwegian began in the lead but knocked over the third hurdle which disrupted his tempo massively. By the home stretch, he had already conceded the lead to Rai Benjamin. Despite hitting the final hurdle Benjamin kept his lead for gold.

Following the race, Benjamin was initially disqualified for an infringement as the hurdle he knocked over landed on Nigerian Ezekiel Nathaniel’s lane but was later reinstated as the gold-medallist.

This way, after three silver medals, Benjamin finally won the world title in 46.52 — first men’s 400m hurdles gold medal for the U.S. since 2009. Former world champion Alison dos Santos came in second whereas Abderrahman Samba of Qatar won his second bronze after 2019.

Nathaniel broke the Nigerian record in 47.11 to challenge the podium and finished fourth, whereas Karsten Warholm settled for the fifth place.

Femke Bol was in complete command of the women’s final as she comfortably defended her world title in 51.54. Jasmine Jones of the USA set a new PB in 52.08 and won her first world medal with silver. Emma Zapletalova ran a new national record for Slovakia in 53.00 seconds and won the country’s first world medal in a decade — and the first one on track in 28 years, since Igor Kovac won the 110m hurdles bronze in Athens.

Former world champion Dalilah Muhammad, who ran her last individual race at the global stage, came in seventh, whereas Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell settled for fourth place.

LAST JUMP MAGIC

On his final attempt at the men’s triple jump final, former European silver medallist Andrea Dallavalle produced the leap of his life with 17.64 to jump from fourth to first place.  Former world champion Pedro Pichardo had to figure out something magical to overcome the deficit and he did. A leap of 17.91 metres put him over the top for gold, as he returned to the highest step of the podium after 2022. Dallavalle, on the other hand, won Italy’s first world medal at the world championships since 2002, 22 years after Magdelin Martinez grabbed the bronze at Paris 2003.

Lazaro Martinez, silver medallist from two years ago, won bronze. While Yasser Triki of Algeria stood on the edge of the podium with 17.25, it was just not the day for Andy Diaz Hernandez and Hugues Fabrice Zango, defending world indoor and outdoor champions, respectively, who finished sixth and seventh.

MJW COMPLETES THE DOUBLE

As Jamaicans went 1-2, leaving the Americans only the last spot on the podium in men’s 100m, the roles were reversed in the 200m final. Noah Lyles, defending champion, and Kenny Bednarek took gold and silver, with the winning mark standing at 19.52. Lyles, with his fourth straight gold medal in men’s 200m, tied Usain Bolt’s record.

Jamaica’s Bryan Levell found himself on the first individual global podium of his senior career with 19.64, clinching bronze. In what was one of the fastest world finals ever with five men under 20 seconds, Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo’s 19.65 wasn’t enough for a medal.

In the women’s final, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completed the 100-200 double by clocking 21.69, eighth-best time ever. With 0.46 between her and Amy Hunt of Britain, silver-medallist, Jefferson-Wooden produced second largest winning margin ever at the world championships, after Allyson Felix’s 0.53 second gap with the second-comer in Osaka 2007. The 24-year-old became the fourth woman to complete the double, and first since Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce 12 years ago. With 10.61 seconds to win 100m, hers was the fastest double of the four.

In the final kick, Hunt edged defending champion Shericka Jackson for gold and won her first ever individual medal at the global level in 22.14.

In other notes, it was the first day of heptathlon. While Anna Hall showed why she had a massive gap between her and the rest of the world by leading with 4154 points, the star of the day was Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, who set PBs in 100m hurdles (13.44), high jump (1.86), and 200m (24.07) to gather 3906 points to follow suit.