The World Athletics Championships 2025 – Up to Day 3 – Some Takeaways
A plus of retirement is being able to watch sports events without having to fake illness, and I have been following the ongoing World Athletics Championships that is now into its fourth day. The highlights thus far, for me, have been –
1. A world record in the pole vault – Mondo Duplantis took it to 6.30m. Most notable, to me, was the way the other finalists supported him in his endeavour – they hung around like a group of friends at a barbecue, with the silver medallist Karalis cooling him with a fan between his world record attempts.
2. Both marathons ended with sprint finishes. In the men’s, the difference between first and second was 0.03s (to compare, in the men’s 100m it was 0.05s), with Alphonse Simbu winning Tanzania’s first ever athletics medal at the Worlds. Those who participate in the Mumbai Marathon may remember him as the winner in 2017.
3. For glamour, nothing beats the women’s 100 hurdles. The final line-up included the Olympic champion (Russel), the world record holder (Amusan), and several athletes who could have been supermodels (Visser and Skrzyszowska come to mind). It was won by the beautiful (and beautifully named) Ditaji Kambundji.
4. Some caught the eye for their youth. The front runner in the 3000-steeplechase final was the 17-year-old Edmund Serem – he ended up with bronze. The race was notable for the multiple Olympic champion and world record holder El Bakkali straggling at last place for most of the race (you would have bet on him being lapped if you didn’t know who he was), changing gears in the last lap and moving through the field, cruising with a huge lead in the last 50m, and then being beaten to the line because he couldn’t see Geordie Beamish closing him down and, by the time he did, it was too late. The other kid who caught the eye was in the women’s hammer throw, where the 18-year-old Jiale Zhang took bronze in a Chinese 2-3.
5. A kid I look forward to seeing is 17-year-old Gout Gout in the 200m. The last kid I had heard about with a strange name and a reputation for running like the wind was in the early 2000s, and he was a certain Usain Bolt. I look forward to the 200m for another reason – our very own Animesh Kujur will be running – he is at #40 the lowest ranked in his heat and will have two-time Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who missed a bronze in the 100m by 0.03s, alongside him – but so what. All the best, Animesh!!
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