Here is Sean Ingle’s verdict on an exceptional day at the Japan National Stadium.
The Swede’s first attempt failed by the tiniest of margins. The second was even closer. As he prepared for the final attempt, the Greek athlete Emmanouil Karalis, who had taken silver with a six metre clearance, blew a fan in his face.
It was time. And Duplantis was armed with a second weapon – a stiffer pole to help him get higher. The crowd roared and then gasped. Duplantis was over. And soon he was charging around the track and punching the sky, with half-a-dozen TV cameramen trying to chase him down.
Read the full report below.
And that brings an end to today’s action at the World Athletics Championships. Thank you for tuning in and join us for live coverage tomorrow!
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US appeal over Hocker's 1500m disqualification rejected
The Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker was disqualified from the event at the world championships after he barged his way through a crowd on the home straight of his semi-final to earn a qualifying slot.
Hocker was boxed in on the inside with nowhere to go, just as he had been in the Olympic final a year ago. He saw a sliver of a gap open and charged through between two rivals, even turning slightly sideways to go through shoulder-first, and then broke clear to finish second.
“It was tight, I was looking for any kind of gap I could find,” Hocker said after the race. “I tried my best to get through there as cleanly as possible, but I knew everybody was going to be coming from behind really fast.
“I got a little bit trapped in there. I have been in that position a few times before and I just tried to stay calm. I trust my instincts and just try to move through as well as I can.”
The US team’s appeal was rejected. Reuters
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Usain Bolt used to be a star at the world championships but now he is just happy to live a more relaxed lifestyle.
I just chill out. I might work out sometimes if I’m in a good mood. I just watch some series and just chill until the kids come home.
I spend some time with them, hang out, until they start annoying me, then I leave,” he added. “And then afterwards, I just stay at home and watch movies or I’m into Lego now, so I do Lego.
Read more on Bolt’s thoughts of the current generation of runners and more below.
Our gold medallists of the day:
Men’s pole vault: Duplantis goes to every single corner of the stadium and bows to the crowd, who you can tell were urging that bar to stay up. What a treat for Tokyo who missed out on watching their home Olympics due to Covid.
Duplantis’s competitors from the final mob him in congratulatory hugs and after he goes to celebrate with his fiance and family, with tens of cameras trying to capture every second. What a moment!
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Duplantis breaks his 14th world record in men's pole vault
It is approaching 11pm in Tokyo but the stands are full. Everyone is ready for Mondo’s final attempt of breaking his 14th world record. He is aiming for 6.30m and … he has done it!
The greatest pole vaulter of all time is the flying Swede as he rushes to the crowd. We are watching a legend.
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Men’s pole vault: The world record is broken … no it isn’t! He has the height but his chest clips the bar on the way down. Such a tease! He will have one more attempt.
Hocker disqualified from men's 1500m
The Olympic champion Cole Hocker of the United States has been disqualified from the final of the men’s 1500m for jostling. The American put his two arms ahead of two racers ahead of him and pulled them apart, making way for himself.
Germany’s Robert Farken is the one who made the appeal and is now in the final.
Hocker and USATF will appeal against the decision.
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Men’s pole vault: Ohhh, so close! He certainly had the height but the bar comes down with his arm. He goes again.
Men’s pole vault: Looks like the great Mundo has decided to go for the world record height of 6.30m. He has taken out a new pole from his bag and is on the runway, getting the crowd to clap.
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Duplantis wins gold in men's pole vault
Emmanouil Karalis clips the bar at 6.20m so gold goes to Armand Duplantis! The two shake hands but the crowd are waiting … is Duplantis going to try to break his 14th world record now that he has won gold?
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Men’s pole vault final: Karalis is now attempting a monumental personal best of 6.15m, a height that could deliver a stunning upset.
And he comes breathtakingly close! He is over the bar, only to have it tremble and fall with the slightest of touches.
Duplantis approaches the same formidable height and, as he has done so many times before, makes it look effortless.
Kambundji wins gold in women's 100m hurdles
It is a new national record for Switzerland! Ditaji Kambundji did not even know she won until the scores came on the screen but a flawless run of 12.24 gives her the win. That puts her in the all-time top 10 runs.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan takes silver and the US’s Grace Stark bronze. The Olympic champion Masai Russell seemed to stumble halfway and never recovered.
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Women’s 100m hurdles final: Amusan is the world record-holder but the Olympic champion Russell will do her best to pip her to gold … here we go!
Men’s pole vault final: Close! It is safe to say Karalis has got the height to clear 6.10m but it is just his arm that gets in the way on his first attempt. Duplantis clears it and then hits a bow-and-arrow celebration. Can Karalis respond?
Rogers retains title in women's hammer throw
Canada’s Camryn Rogers earlier threw 80.51m and is sure to take gold. She is only the fourth athlete ever to throw over 80m. For silver it was between Zhang and Zhao, both from China battling it out. Zhang, the 18-year-old, was in second but Zhao’s final throw at 77.60m pipped her countrywoman to silver.
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Men’s pole vault final: Marschall fails to clear 6m but he is guaranteed bronze and beams as he accepts the applause.
Duplantis and Karalis will battle for gold.
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Beamish beats El Bakkali to win men’s 3000m steeplechase gold
Soufiane El Bakkali, the greatest steeplechaser of modern times, is in tears on the floor as he is pipped to gold by Geordie Beamish, who crosses the line first with a time of 8:33.88. Wow! That is New Zealand’s first track gold at the world athletics championships.
El Bakkali is so used to winning and he looked to be on track for another gold as he leaped ahead in the final lap but he was just beaten right on the line. The Morrocan does shake Beamish’s hands but he punches his own head in frustration.
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Men’s 3000m steeplechase final: We are about halfway and El Bakkali is at the back, watching it all, happy with the 15m distance between him and first place. When will he make his move to the front?
Men’s 3000m steeplechase final: The path to the title appears to run through Morocco, with El Bakkali considered the favourite after a commanding performance in his heat. The Moroccan has been a dominant force, collecting either an Olympic or world gold in each of the last four years and is known for ending Kenya’s dominance in the steeplechase
Hot on his heels is Girma, the Ethiopian world record-holder and a three-time world silver medallist. His quest for gold has been marked by caution, as he has only raced twice since a devastating fall in the Olympic final.
Men’s 1500m: Second semi-final is underway. Hocker was the Olympic champion in Paris but he has yet to win a 1500m event since then (aside from his heat yesterday). Cheruiyot (Kenya) just about finishes first ahead of him in the end after a mess of a finish. Ben (Spain), Nader (Portugal), Koech (US) and Gourley (GB) are also through. Gourley just snuck into the finals by a thousandth of a second and he says he needs to go check in to make sure his mum is still breathing.
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Men’s pole vault final: Karalis needs all three chances to clear 5.95m but he clears 6m on his first try. Two massive jumps from the Greek but Duplantis also clears 6m on his first try. The are neck-in-neck. Marschall and Kendrick cannot get over 6m on their first attempt.
Men’s pole vault final: Kendricks is off running in celebration as he clears 5.95m in his second attempt! That is a season best. Up next is Australia’s Marshalls … he clears it at his second attempt! That is his personal best! He celebrates with Kendricks – you kind of feel that they all want to dethrone Duplantis.
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Men’s 1500m: Oh it is crowded near the end and we need to see a photo-finish. Kerr was leading the pack but it is Laros who finishes in first ahead of Kerr. Wightman (GB), Cheruiyot (Kenya), Coscoran (Ireland) and Pihlström (Sweden) are also through.
Men’s 1500m: Our semi-final is underway. Two heats of 12 with the first six of each heat to qualify. Our first heat includes GB’s Kerr and Wightman. The Netherlands’s Laros, another favourite alongside Kerr, is also in this heat.
Kerr is very confident in his chances in the 1500m, hoping to be the fourth man to defend his title.
Men’s pole vault final: Duplantis has taken the lead in the men’s pole vault final. Karalis of Greece, failed to clear 5.95m at his first attempt, as did Kendricks.
Women’s 100m hurdles: In heat two, Amusan of Nigeria and Visser of the Netherlands secured the two automatic qualification spots, finishing in 12.63 and 12.45, respectively.
Skrzyszowska of Poland placed third with a time of 12.53, making her the top non-automatic qualifier for now.
In the third heat, Russell – the current Olympic champion – breezed through as did the Jamaican reigning world champion Williams.
Men’s pole vault final: Greece’s Karalis, the Olympic bronze medallist, is the only other competitor to have cleared 6m this year aside from Duplantis. Karalis just successfully cleared 5.90m, a height Duplantis skipped.
Australia’s Marschall, France’s Collet and the Netherland’s Vloom have also just cleared 5.90m, with Vloom curling his whole body to just clear the bar.
Women’s hammer throw final: Canada’s Rogers, the reigning Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion, gets us started with 78.09. She puts the marker down! China Zhang – just 18 years old – roars as she throws a 76.22.
Women’s 100m hurdles: US’s Stark and Switzerland’s Kambundji start fast and end fast, finishing first and second. Jamaica’s Nugent, who is generally quite strong at the back end of the race, but catches one of the final hurdles and she never was able to get back in it.
Women’s 100m hurdles: Yikes! Finland’s Harala with the false start and she is shown the red card. It was clear as day and she is certainly not going to contest that. We start again …
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Women’s 100m hurdles: Semi-final stage, here we go! Nine hurdlers in three heats, the first two of each heat will qualify to the final alongside the next two fastest times.
Men’s 110m hurdles: In the fourth heat Spain’s Llopis dominated, winning comfortably. He will be joined in the next round by China’s Xu in second, and Prince of Jamaica in fourth. Tinch of the US, who holds this year’s world-leading time of 12.87sec, finished in third. Tinch seemed to be holding back as he easily cruised into the next round.
In the fifth heat, Holloway of the US – probably the most recognisable hurdler at this championships – shakes his head after finishing fourth. Jamaica’s Mason won the final heat with a season-best time of 13.17sec, which was the fastest qualifying time overall.
Holloway says in his interview that he is not injured he just has “some stuff to figure out”.
I am healthy, there are no injuries. I have some stuff to figure out now. I have no idea what is going on, but I need to figure it out. I have no words right now but I have until tomorrow to figure things out.
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Men’s pole vault final: Duplantis and Kendricks clear 5.85m with ease. Still a long way to go in this final.
Men’s 110m hurdles: Bennett, the Jamaican champion and Olympic finalist, won the third heat but the Tokyo crowd are on their feet for Japan’s Nomoto, secured the final qualifying spot behind Kwaou-Mathey of France and Simonelli of Italy.
Men’s 110m hurdles: Joseph of Switzerland, a European indoor champion, took first place in a tight second heat, finishing just two-thousandths of a second ahead of France’s Belocian and the US’s Tharp. Mendy of Senegal took the final automatic qualifying spot, while GB’s Ojora finished in eighth place.
Men’s pole vault final: Big jump from Qatar’s Heneida Abdesalam. The 20-year-old just cleared the national record of 5.75m in his second attempt. His brother Abderrahman Samba won his 400m hurdles heat earlier today.
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Men’s 110m hurdles: In the first heat Dylan Beard of the US took first with a time of 13.28. China’s Chen in second and France’s Zhoya in third. Brazil have done well in hurdles today as Dos Santos secured the final automatic qualifying spot, despite losing momentum in the latter part of the race.
Beard, while winning his heat, will need to improve his start, as his setup was noticeably late. His timing and rhythm over the hurdles were strong, but a faster start is crucial for him to shave off time in the semi-finals.
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Men’s long jump: Lescay of Spain with a very impressive jump of 8.21m – his season’s best. He joins Greece’s Tentoglou who jumped 8.17m to qualify.
Men’s pole vault final: Duplantis cleared his opening height of 5.55m with ease, but has passed on the next height of 5.75m. His top competitors – Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, the US’s Sam Kendricks, and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall – have all successfully made it over 5.75m.
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Men’s 400m hurdles: Warholm also confirms that he was just trying to get through the heat “as easily as possible”. It certainly wasn’t like when he broke the world record in this stadium back in 2021 but he is clearly is saving his energy for the finals.
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Men’s 400m hurdles: Final heat sees Nathaniel from Nigeria take top spot. Alastair Chalmers gets into the top four which means he joins Donovan in the next round as the two racers from GB. Clarke from the previous heat gets through on qualifiers by the skin of his teeth.
Men’s 400m hurdles: Olympic champion Benjamin finishes first in his heat. Clarke from Jamaica was looking to finish in fourth, but Costa Rica’s Drummond snuck ahead of him. Clarke will now have to keep an eye on the next heat to see if he can qualify.
GB’s Derbyshire struggled with a shake of a head at the end of the race, finishing in seventh.
It is not my best. It is not the time to mess up. I would be lying to say if I was happy with my performance.
I didn’t think I would be in the sport 12 months ago so this will be a good platform.
Men’s 400m hurdles: Warholm started strong but failed to hit his stride, finishing third. The commentators are theorising he was told to take it easy just get through due to the conditions. It was Brazil’s Lima who impressed to get top spot ahead of Qatar’s Abakar. Turkey’s Akcam nabs the fourth spot with a season best.
Men’s 400m hurdles: The second heat saw hurdles great and the 2022 champion Dos Santos come in second behind Qatar’s Bassem Hemeida.
Dos Santos told BBC after that the track “felt amazing,” and that he is “here to fight for the gold”.
The third heat is just about to start which contains one of the favourites for the title, Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
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Men’s pole vault final: Our first final of the day and it is a star-studded field, led by Armand ‘Mundo’ Duplantis. The Swede is the current world record-holder at 6.29m and is a two-time Olympic (2020 and 2024) champion, a two-time world outdoor (2022 and 2023) champion and a three-time world indoor (2022, 2024 and 2025) champion.
Let’s see what he can conjure up today.
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Men’s 400m hurdles: Tyri Donovan speaks after his second-place finish in the first heat.
The GB support has been incredible. I tried to be patient and I am glad I finished strong.
To come out here and set a PB and get to the semi-finals is amazing. I put in the work though. If I get here anyone can get here.
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Men’s long jump: Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou comes into the qualifiers as the 2023 champion and the back-to-back Olympic champion. The automatic qualifying mark is 8.15 or at least the best 12 qualify to the final.
Men’s 400m hurdles: Qatar’s Samba is well in first but it is tight on the line for who is second … And it is who Donovan gets a PB in second with a time of a 48.26! The GB man lunges and stuck his right arm out in an effort to get over the line before he collapsed after the finish. Robinson from the US finishes in third with a time of 48.27.
Men’s 400m hurdles: First heat includes GB’s Donovan and home favourite Inoue – who gets the loudest cheers. Here we go …
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Men’s 400m hurdles: We are gearing up for our first event of the evening session. Five heats with nine athletes each. The first four of each heat will go to qualifiers and the four fastest times will qualify straight to the semi-finals.
The USA’s Rai Benjamin, who won gold in this event in Paris, is in the fourth heat. GB’s Alastair Chalmers, Seamus Derbyshire and Tyri Donovan are also taking part.
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Men’s 200m: Gout Gout is the name on everyone’s mind in Tokyo and the Australian said his legs are “ready to rumble” ahead of his debut at these championships on Wednesday.
“[My legs will] be ready to go, like in F1 when the cars are warming up the tyres,” he said, making a swerving gesture with his hands. “They’ll be just … ready to rumble, that’s what they’d say.”
Read more below from Jack Snape on how nervous he feels and what his expectations are.
Brit watch: Some unfortunate news from Toyko overnight as medal hopes Molly Caudery and Emile Cairess were forced out of their respective events.
Caudery sustained an ankle injury in the warmup before pole vault qualifying, while Cairess – who finished fourth in the Paris Olympic marathon – battled through heat and humidity before bowing out in the 38th kilometre as a result of the muggy conditions.
Last week, World Athletics announced that road event start times on the first three days of competition would be moved forward by half an hour, to 7.30am local time, as a response to concerns over athlete welfare after forecasts of high temperatures and humidity.
Cairess said: “I tried my best. I feel I just got too hot, simple as that really, conditions were so tough, it’s just really hot. When I stopped, I just took ages to just feel all right again. I’ve cooled down now, but it took a while.
“I used all the stations to be diligent with the ice and the sponges and while it helped, it just still got too hot. I felt pretty good the first 25km and then 30km I was still feeling good and then about 32km I just really suddenly didn’t feel very good any more.
“I did a decent amount of prep for the conditions, as much as I could balancing it with training. I’ve not known conditions like it, but this is only my fourth marathon. Paris was a hot one but it was more warm and this was very, very humid. I did the best I could.”
The temperature was already 26C with 68% humidity at the marathon’s start, rising to 28C with 54% humidity by the time the event concluded at 10.04am.
Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion and ranked fourth heading to Japan, was seeking redemption after a disastrous Olympic debut in Paris, when she crashed out of the qualification session with a no mark.
A British Athletics statement read: “Unfortunately, Molly Caudery has been forced to withdraw from pole vault qualifying following an ankle injury sustained in warm-up.”
It will come as particularly devastating news for the 25-year-old, who vowed to learn from her Olympic mistakes. In Paris, Caudery was the only entrant who elected to skip the 4.40 metres height attempt, electing to enter at 4.55.
It was a decision that proved costly when she failed to clear the bar with her three tries, particularly after it turned out 4.40 was all it took for nine other women to advance. She cleared 4.85 metres at the British championships last month. PA Media
Men’s marathon: As we await today’s action, let’s run through what took place in the morning session/overnight. Alphonce Felix Simbu snatched gold in the first photo-finish at a major championship marathon edging out Germany’s Amanal Petros in a dramatic race to the line to give Tanzania its maiden world title.
The photo-finish showed the race was decided by three hundredths of a second as Simbu surged past the diving Petros at the line, closer than the 0.05-second gap between the gold and silver medallists in the men’s 100m final the day before.
Simbu and Petros were given the same time of two hours, nine minutes and 48 seconds, the German taking the silver despite heading the field as the leaders entered Tokyo’s National Stadium. Italy’s Iliass Aouani took the bronze in 2:09.53.
“When we entered the stadium, I was not sure if I would win,” the 33-year-old Simbu said. “I did not know if I had won. But when I saw the video screens and me on the top of the results, I felt relieved. I made history today – the first Tanzanian gold medal at a world championships.”
The finish was closer than at the 2001 championships in Edmonton, when Ethiopia’s Gezahegne Abera beat Kenya’s Simon Biwott by a single second. South Africa’s Josia Thugwane won the closest Olympic men’s marathon by three seconds against South Korea’s Lee Bong-ju at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
It was a first global title for Simbu, who won bronze in the marathon at the London world championships in 2017 and finished second in the Boston marathon in April.
Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele and Deresa Geleta, who took gold and silver at the Tokyo city marathon in March, dropped off with less than 10km to go. The race was wide open for much of the distance, with a couple of dozen runners in the leading cluster 90 minutes in. The pack then gradually thinned out as some faded in the morning heat, leaving Simbu, Petros and Aouani clear of the field coming into the stadium. Petros was in the lead to take take the title until Simbu found a late kick and ran him down at the line.
“It’s like the 100 metres,” said Petros. “Coming into the finish I was thinking about winning so a bit of me is feeling very sad. But I have to accept it. As an athlete you have to learn for tomorrow, train hard, keep going and be thankful for the silver.”
Preamble
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the world championships in Tokyo where a gripping day three awaits us.
Four more gold medals are to be handed out in today’s evening session: men’s pole vault, women’s hammer throw, men’s 3000m steeplechase and women’s 100m hurdles.
And as always, if you have any predictions, queries or thoughts on any of the events, send me an email.
Today's schedule
It is 6.30pm JST 10.30 am in Tokyo at the moment and here is what is scheduled for the evening session:
11.35am BST / 7.35pm JST – men’s 400m hurdles – heats
11.40am BST / 7.40pm JST – men’s long jump – qualification
11:49am BST / 7.49pm JST – men’s pole vault – final
12.23pm BST / 8.23pm JST – men’s 110m hurdles – heats
1pm BST / 9pm JST – women’s hammer throw – final
1.06pm BST/ 9.06pm JST – women’s 100m hurdles – semi-final
1.30pm BST / 9.30pm JST – men’s 1500m – semi-final
1.55pm BST / 9.55pm JST – men’s 3000m steeplechase – final
2.20pm BST / 10.20pm JST – women’s 100m hurdles – final
