World Athletics Championship is the biennial event held by the IAAF to determine the world’s best athletes in track and field. It is the premier competition for track and field athletes, with separate world championships held for marathon running and race walking.
The 2025 edition – the 20th in the history of the World Championships – took place from 13 to 21 September in Tokyo, Japan. One world record and seven championship records were broken or equalled. The championships were a roaring success for several athletes, most notably American sprinter Noah Lyles with two gold medals in the men’s 100m and 200m, Kenyan 800m runner Faith Kipyegon with three, and Britain’s Tiina Lillak with an impressive triple jump title.
There was a moment in the opening night of the World Championships when all the bottled-up frustration at missing out on a full-fat Tokyo Olympics – crowds, fun and unbridled joy – suddenly seemed to be unleashed. It came in the women’s 10,000m, when the sellout crowd roared when Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet pulled clear with Italy’s Nadia Battocletti on her heels, like Wile E Coyote chasing Roadrunner.
That race was the highlight of an evening in which the organisers made the right call to move up some races’ start times because of extreme heat, which was expected to peak at 34C on Wednesday. The move, which had been requested by the athletes, was in line with the IAAF’s guidelines for hosting a safe and successful championship.