Opinion
World records, underdog victories, and big crashes, the World Athletics Championships had it all.
Among the men and women who competed, there will be those who will love to look back on their time in Oregon, and those who will hate to.
Those are the athletes we look at today, the winners and losers of the World Athletics Championships.
Armand Duplantis (men’s pole vault, Sweden)
The Swedish superstar has done it again. On home soil, he broke his own world record of 6.21m. No one can stop Mondo, and the only question is when will he break the record next?
Tobi Amusen (women’s 100m hurdles, Nigeria)
Two entries, two world record holders. Amusen had already broken the record in the semifinal, running it in 12.12 seconds before she celebrated by bettering herself in the final, with a time of 12.06 seconds, in the process becoming the first Nigerian world champion in an athletic event.
Jake Wightman (men’s 1500m, Great Britain)
It certainly was a family affair when the Brit took home gold last week, with his dad as stadium announcer and his mum watching in the stands. After finishing 10th at the Tokyo Olympics, Wightman shocked the world by winning gold. He ran a PB of 3:29 and overtook Olympic champion Jakob Ingebritsen on the final 100m.
Eleanor Patterson (women’s high jump, Australia)
No other Australian women had won a world or Olympic before Patterson jumped 2.02m on her first attempt, equalling the national record. She then beat Ukrainian Yarolsava Mahuchikh on the countback to clinch gold.
The USA’s women’s 4x100m relay
If you think of relays, it is normally the Jamaicans that come to mind. They were hot favourites for the women’s 4x100m at the World Championships before Team USA ran a 3:17 to win by three seconds.
They were then followed by a gold for the men’s team.
Joshua Cheptegei (men’s 5000m and 10000m, Uganda)
Yes, this may seem harsh. A ninth place finish and a gold medal would not normally land you in the losers category, but that’s how high the standards are of double world record holder Cheptegei.
Favourite for both the five and 10000m races, the Ugandan finished a very lowly ninth in the 5000m, four seconds below winner Ingebritsen. He then bounced back to win the 10000m but for that 5000m performance, he’s in the losers category, just.
Jakob Ingebritsen (men’s 1500m and 5000m, Norway)
I know, this one’s even more harsh than Cheptegei. Am I really saying that one gold and one silver makes you a loser? Yes, if you’re Jakob Ingebritsen. The Norwegian went for the 1500m and 5000m double this year, and very nearly pulled it off.
Ingebritsen actually won in the event he wasn’t the favourite in, winning his first global medal in the 5000m. He was surprised by previously mentioned Wightman for his favoured 1500m, however and said he was “embarrassed” to finish second. His words, not mine.
Daniel Roberts (men’s 110m hurdles, USA)
Was it the tracksuit? That was the question experts asked each other when Roberts, as he was easily leading his heat, crashed out of the World Athletics Championships. Roberts had opened up a big lead, before he tripped. The tracksuit, which he had not taken off, was said to show complacency by the commentators watching.
Daniel Ståhl & Simon Pettersson (men’s discus, Sweden)
A joint entry here, from two Scandinavian discus throwers. The Swedes achieved a 1,2 at the Olympics last year, winning gold (Ståhl) and silver (Pettersson). They entered Eugene as strong medal hopes for their country, but falled agonisingly short of the medal places, with Ståhl in fourth and Pettersson in fifth. Pettersson only threw one legal throw in the final, while Ståhl was 45cm off a medal.
Great Britain’s women’s 4x100m relay
The British female relay team were shaping up for a great shot at a bronze medal, behind teams USA and Jamaica. They were in 3rd by the start of leg 3, with Dina Asher-Smith about to start. DAS began to run, before suddenly stumbling and flailing her arms in the air. She half-ran her 100m before handing over to Daryll Neita, who ran incredibly quickly to salvage 6th.
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