American pole vaulter Katie Moon has taken full advantage of the enforced absence of her great Australian rival Nina Kennedy to win a third straight world championships gold medal.
And this time she gets to stand atop the podium on her own.
Two years ago in Budapest, Moon and Kennedy famously agreed to share the gold medal rather than participate in a jump-off.
Last year in Paris, Kennedy won Olympic gold in commanding fashion, relegating Moon to the silver medal position.
After undergoing major hamstring surgery in April, Kennedy looked to have recovered in time to compete in Tokyo, only to suffer another leg injury less than two weeks before the world championships.
Moon claimed gold on Wednesday night with a second-attempt clearance at 4.90m, ahead of fellow American Sandi Morris (4.85m) and Slovenia's Tina Sutej (4.80m).
"It was incredible, it was such a battle," said 34-year-old Moon. "I am just happy and relieved it ended up the best for me.
"All my medals are special but this one is the one. The older you get, it gets harder."
Portugal's Isaac Nader caused a major boilover in the men's 1500m final, flashing past 2022 world champ Jake Wightman from Britain in the shadow of the line to win in three minutes 34.10 seconds.
Wightman, who tumbled over after stretching for the line, was two hundredths of a second adrift in second place and Kenyan Reynold Cheruiyot was third, with less than half a second separating the top five finishers.
Since winning the world title in Eugene, Oregon in 2022, Wightman has endured two injury-plagued years.
"I don't think one person would have expected Nader to win that and even myself coming into the home straight I felt good, and I thought I'd written my own perfect fairytale," sighed Wightman.
"If I look back on this, I never would have expected it. I feel like I ran the perfect race for me. I laid all my cards out."
Nader, a 26-year-old who'd come in to Tokyo ranked eighth in the world, beamed: "There were 14 men in the final, and I thought it was possible to win. I told myself before the race that I was either going to finish 14th -- or I was going to finish first."
It was a bitterly disappointing night for Wightman's fellow Brit and defending world champion Josh Kerr, who began to struggle mid-race with an apparent calf injury and eventually trailed home in last place.
Italian Mattia Furlani (8.39m) won the men's long jump ahead of 2019 world champ Tajay Gayle from Jamaica.
Kenya's Faith Cherotich overhauled reigning champion Winfred Yavi on the last lap to win the women's 3000m steeplechase.
