Nicola Olyslagers overcame two rain delays to deliver Australia’s first gold medal of the world championships on the final evening, being first to clear 2m to win on a countback over Poland’s Maria Zodzik and cement her place at the summit of high jump.
On an extraordinary and at times farcical evening in Tokyo, however, the men’s discus was stopped because of incessant rain that left the circle slippery, and then restarted after the final track event. The saga stretched proceedings late into the night and prompted a desperate attempt by officials to use dozens of towels to keep the circle, the discus and the athletes’ shoes as dry as possible.
Only at the very end of the session, past 11pm on a Sunday in Tokyo with the stadium near empty, did the rain cease. Two late throws flipped the placings and shunted Australia’s Matt Denny off the podium, as Sweden’s Daniel Ståhl – who had been dancing under an umbrella at the start of the evening – claimed the gold medal with a throw of 70.47m.
Denny described the conditions as the worst in which he has competed, and later he shed tears in a moment with his wife in the stands, dismayed and frustrated at how the competition played out. “It was just really hard, really emotional and disappointing,” said the Paris bronze medallist, who slipped and fell during the competition.
“I didn’t get a concussion, I didn’t break any bones and I didn’t tear anything, so I’m good for next season so that’s the main thing, and that was the first thing that my wife said to me.”
The high jump was also affected the stormy weather, and forced Olyslagers into a long wait after her 2m clearance. “Even if [I was] waiting and out there in the rain, I have such a joy because I know these moments are forever,” she said. “The gold medal was the added bonus, but being out there and enjoying it, I’ll never forget what I just experienced.”
Having won the world indoor and Diamond League titles already in 2025, Olyslagers entered the competition as favourite and quickly moved to 2m without a miss, as the rain and wet mat made jumping difficult. Only Żodzik was able to challenge her after the second rain delay with her own clearance of 2m, but neither was successful at 2.02m.
Olyslagers’s countrywoman Eleanor Patterson finished fifth, having cleared 197cm, the same as the joint bronze medallists Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Angelina Topic, but the Australian found herself off the podium on a countback.
Olyslagers said her medal was the result of her preparation, and throughout the evening she leaned on her strong Christian faith. “Of course the raindrops started sideways underneath our towels and then we had to go [under cover], but again, I was just spending time with Jesus out there and I was like, I could be here for hours, the stadium can shut down, I’m in my happy place right now.”
Earlier, Jess Hull was within two tenths of another national record in the 800m final but finished eighth behind the Kenyan winner Lilian Odira, unable to make up ground on a pack that started swiftly. She was happy to repeat a similar time from the semi-final on Friday and was in awe of her rivals in her first taste of a major global final in the two-lapper.
“We [Hull and her coach] thought I would get a big piece of some carnage if they had gone out that hard, but every woman [brought] it,” she said. “I think I’ve got to get faster in that first 400 because once they were gone tonight, they were gone.”
Ky Robinson recorded an outstanding fourth in the 5,000m final behind the American winner Cole Hocker. It was Australia’s second best result in the event at a world championships meeting, after Craig Mottram’s bronze in 2005. “Instantly, over the line, it’s just sheer joy, sheer happiness,” Robinson said. “A minute later, the ‘what ifs’ start kicking in, and it’s like: ‘Man, I’m one spot off a medal, what if I found a little bit more?’ But that’s hindsight. I feel like in the race I was giving my all a kilometre in, and I was just hoping that I could hang on for as long as possible.”
The Australian men’s 4x100m group failed to finish after a botched change between Calab Law and Rohan Browning, heaping more misery on the relay program. In the heats on Saturday the men’s 4x400m team were disqualified for a changeover area breach and the women’s 4x100m dropped the baton.
The Tokyo world championships end with Australia 15th on the medal tally with one gold and three bronze. USA finished on top with 16 gold among 26 medals, ahead of Kenya and Canada.
