A Wild and Wacky Worlds: Jonathan Gault's final thoughts on a totally unpredictable 2025 World Athletics Championships

Qualify craziest.

Craziest for me would be not putting a halt to all competition despite the torrential downpour.

Very nice article :) The champs were pretty crazy

Excellent article. Some thoughts:

• Crazy that the combined winning margin in the men's 800, 1500, steeple, 10k, and marathon was just 0.22!
• It seems Biniam Mehary has been giving conflicting quotes about his preference between the 5k and 10k. The article mentions he wanted to run the 10k, and I saw the LRC interview from Tokyo in which he said that. Yet he told Citius earlier this summer that he prefers the 5k. In the article linked below, Mehary is quoted as saying: “I really prefer the 5000m over the 10,000m. I enjoy the tactics in the 5000m, and the competitors are challenging and fun to race.”
• I appreciated the list of athletes who won a medal at every global championship from 2021-25.
• Nice to see the updated info on the four-silver club. I created a thread five months ago on that topic (using three silvers), linked below.
• The info on the global nature of the javelin is great.

citiusmag.com

As Ethiopian Phenom Biniam Mehary Cements His Own Legacy, He’s Following in His Uncle’s Path - CITIUS Mag

An inside look at Ethiopian track phenom Biniam Mehary's story and the impact that his uncle, Gebregziabher Gebremariam, has had on his career.

Open link

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=13510389

Was this supposed to be just a re-cap of the men's side? I'm not sure it's clear. On the main page the headline is "A Wild and Wacky Worlds: Final thoughts on a totally unpredictable 2025 World Athletics Championships" but then when you click through to the actual article the sub headline reads "unlikeliest men's distance champions". But then it goes on to talk about mostly the men but also covers some women, but doesn't really mention Sydney, the Kenyan women's gold sweep, Beatriz, Shelby, etc.

Why are you bringing rational thought into this? This is letsrun.

Take down the silly paywall.

Nobody is going to pay money just to read what Gault thinks.

Are you really debating, who is correct - LetsRun or Citius? :)

We speak the truth. In fact, at Worlds, when I told Jonathan what Mehary had told me that, Prett Majithia, who was recording videos for Citius told me that Mehary had told him that earlier at one of the DLs as well.

Prett, who attended the LRC meetup in Budapest and thus has a little LRC blood in him, acknoweldged the conflicting article existed.

But are you really doubting this? In perfect English, he told me he prefers the 10k. He ran the 10k Trials.

this is a record never to be broken.

and if you add in the 100 200 400 and 5k, the total is under 1 second. combined. 1 second

I'm a big Beamish fan - it was my favorite moment and also craziest. He fell in qualifying and had has face stepped on, sprung back up, and made it through. Then in final he ran down nearly entire field on the last lap to beat a perennial winner El Bakkali right at the line. He had been struggling alot with injuries the entire season season and had very short build up. It was both so improbable and enjoyable to watch. The picture with him gritting his teeth, holding sprint form, while El Bakkali tried to lean says it all - so great and a classic:

gettyimages.com

Geordie Beamish front L of New Zealand and Soufiane El Bakkali front...

Geordie Beamish front L of New Zealand and Soufiane El Bakkali front R of Morocco compete during the men's 3000m steeplechase final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, Sept....

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I’m not doubting the reporting of LRC nor Citius. I’m just pointing out that Mehary seems to have said different things to different outlets. Did he change his mind in between interviews? Did he want to run both events?

Darn shame Benjamin hit that final hurdle. Otherwise he probably breaks the world record and has a margin similar to the other events combined

Buddy, you're thinking too much. His quotes occurred at different time of the year. They aren't chiseled into blocks of marble.

Excellent research Mr Gault. You sliced, diced and assembled it many different ways, and at no point was it ever boring or tedious. Bravo!

My overwhelming thought when I finished the article...don't women exist?

It was only a difference of two months. That’s why I think it’s noteworthy.

It would make sense if the Citius interview was conducted at the beginning of the year. In that case, it would have been understandable if he changed his mind about preferring the 5k when he saw how well he did in the 10k at Pre. But the Citius interview occurred after Pre.

In July, after winning the 10k at Pre, Mehary told Citius he prefers running the 5k. Then, just two months later, he told LRC he wanted to run the 10k in Tokyo.

The takeaway from Paris Olympics and now this World Championships is this. These races are being run so slowly at the start that its rare the best runner is going to win. Every race just turns into a 600m showdown and who evers legs have it that day wins, it was actually REALLY lame and diminishes my interest in watching immensely. Grant Fischers Bronze medals are a result of this, Hockers 5000m title is a result of this (to be fair, his 1500 Oly Gold was in a race that did the exact opposite). Gressiers 10k Gold is because of this, etc.

Id rather see championship finals have pacers then this sit and kick 1 lap fiascoes. No athlete is required to lead, and the pace is set to make it a fast, competitive race.

What?

This is an all timer

Has LRC visitor and poster coach Mike Scannell given any analysis of Grant’s build up and execution at the major champs? What they mis-judged of would change?

Looks like they got a few things wrong and went backwards since Paris.

Paris he ran to medal. Tokyo looked like he also ran to ‘just’ medal.

It’s not like he risked it all on the Gold and faded. He never really got close.

A theory going around is that both Grant and Blanks complete ignored the optimal way to nail heat prep.

Grant combined heat + altitude… a big no no. Perfect recipe to be COOOKED! (look at Mills).

Blanks and Gibby just ignored the fact racing 28 min in Tokyo summer heat and humidity then having a blazing kick actually requires quite specific prep.

Great stuff from JG as always.

on the distance finals being a surprise, feel like we have to put it in context of the distance finals over the last 15 years…

Mo Farah owned 5k/10k from 2011-2017 (10 golds). An all time great. He was clearly the best kicker over that period of time so we got used to some consistency in who would win in tactical races.

after Farah retired, we had another all timer (Cheptegei) step in and take one of the 5k/10k golds almost every year since.

no all time talent (as far as we know) + tactical affairs = surprising outcomes.