The biggest winner of the 2025 World Championships was...

The Jefferson girl was a huge winner. Huge. Also Coevett as he probably experienced sensations he hasn’t in years at the success of the white distance runners.

Botswana

Did you forget Noah Lyles or intentionally omit him?

MJW was my first thought.

Sydney is a good pick too. She was definitely not a lock to win against that field and setting the American record was wild.

Mondo

Marita Koch

I also posted in other thread - these are my favorites:

#1 Beamish SC - never count him out.

Botswana entire sprint team - coached so well and achieving at highest level with very few resources or facilities.

W400m: SML, Paulino, Nasser - such a great race.

Hocker 5K - peaked to perfection and raced like a champion.

Wanyonyi 800m - continues to amaze.

Mondo PV WR - this picture below from the Guardian says it all - my friend calls it "air ballet."

MTJ - Pichardo and final jumps of competition by top three were spectacular.

Image:i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5115e7ca8166e21...

My top contenders, in no particular order:

• MJW: successfully closed out one of the all-time great seasons for a female sprinter
• Lyles: is now in the highest elite company as a 4x world champion in an individual event
• Mondo: people may have WR fatigue with him, but 6.30 was a significant barrier
• Hocker: can no longer be dismissed as a one-hit wonder
• Tinch: from phone salesman and missing out on the Olympics to world champion (see article below)
• Kambundji: pulled off the upset, hailing from a country that has major influence in the sport
• Team Kenya female distance squad: amazing sweep

That said, my #1 choice is Sydney. Leaving her comfort zone and not only winning gold but breaking the championship record and going sub-48 has really elevated her profile as one of the sport's GOATs. Just from looking at the comments in various threads here, it looks like she's gained a lot of people's respect for what she did.

From a historical perspective, we've seen people win the 100m-200m double before. We've seen nations dominate a group of events before, we've seen a prolific record-breaker in the pole vault before, we've seen upsets before, we've seen new stars emerge before, and we've seen established stars continue shining before. But we have never seen a woman go from dominating the 400m hurdles to winning gold and breaking the championship record in the 400m flat. Gail Devers won gold in both the 100m and 100m hurdles, but no woman has done it in the longer sprints/hurdles. Sydney is one of one.

nbcsports.com

Cordell Tinch goes from phone salesman to world champion in 110m hurdles

https://www.nbcsports.com/author/nick-zaccardi

Cordell Tinch was out of track for three years. Now he's a world champion.

Link:www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/cordel...