Around 340 athletes – including Olympic and world champions – from some 56 teams will compete in the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 on Sunday (1October).
Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay and Sweden's Mondo Duplantis both broke world records on a sensational afternoon of action at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene on Sunday (17 SEP).
First, Tsegay set the second senior world record of her career and her first outdoors, smashing the world 5000m record with a remarkable 14:00.21* run.
The World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 concluded after nine days of thrilling action in which superstars of the sport added to their legacy and new stars emerged as global champions.
A record total of 2100 athletes from 195 countries (plus the Athlete Refugee Team) have competed in the Hungarian capital, watched by more than 400,000 ticketed spectators from 120 countries, and producing one world record, one world U20 record, seven championship records, 11 area records and 73 national records.
The World Athletics Championships (August 19 to 27, 2023 in Budapest) ended with the coronation of the United States (12 Gold) ahead of Canada (4 Gold), Spain (4 Gold) and Jamaica (3 Gold). Kenya (3 Gold) and Ethiopia (2 Gold) are respectively 5th and 6th in the final ranking. Four other African countries; Uganda (2 Gold), Morocco (1 Gold), Burkina Faso (1 Gold) and Botswana (1 Silver) are on the medal table. Thus, the harvest of Africa is 9 Gold, 8 Silver, 9 Bronze.
Day eight at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 ended in joyful fashion for the United States as Noah Lyles and then Sha’Carri Richardson anchored victories in the respective men’s and women’s 4x100m finals after earlier trademark wins for Faith Kipyegon in the 5000m and Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault.
Africa distinguished itself in the women's marathon by taking the three places on the podium. Amane Beriso Shankule led an Ethiopian double with a time of 2:24:23 at the finish line at ‘place des Héros’ ahead of her compatriot and defending champion Gotytom Gebreslase (2:24:34).
An Ethiopian medal race was for a long time watched, until the weather conditions badly impacted on last year's London Marathon winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan (100m Hurdles) and South Africa’s Van Niekerk (400m), world record holders in their specialties, missed out on their subjects in Budapest by finishing respectively 6th and 7th at the end of the finals. This poor performance thus deprives Africa from the medals that everyone was expecting at these World championships.
Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, world record holder in the 1500m, won a third title as world champion of the event in Budapest. For his part, the Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali was crowned for the second time in the 3000 m steeplechase.
