The World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 concluded on Sunday (27) 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 2,100 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 heightened competitiveness provided enormous drama in the field events in particular, where 13 athletes across eight events recorded their best mark in the final round of competition to improve their positions, five of them clinching the gold medal.
Multiple title winners
Meanwhile, US sprinters Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, Kenyan middle distance diva Faith Kipyegon, Dutch 400m hurdles specialist Femke Bol and dominant Spanish walkers Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez emerged as multiple title winners.
Lyles claimed the 100m and 200m double and anchored the USA men’s 4x100m relay team to victory, while Richardson set a championship record of 10.65 to win her first global title in the 100m, then anchored the USA team to a second championship record in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Kipyegon clinched a historic double, becoming the first woman to win both the 1500m and 5000m at the World Athletics Championships after breaking the world records over both distances this year.
Martin (20km and 35km race walk) and Perez (20km and 35km race walk) completed the first gold medal sweep of the race walks programme by one country, Spain.
Bol completed a drama-filled nine days by anchoring the Dutch women’s 4x400m team to a last-gasp victory in the final event, having fallen within metres of the finish line in the 4x400m mixed relay on the first night and won her first individual world title in the 400m hurdles in between.
Most engaging edition
Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas won her fourth world triple jump title, while Lyles (200m), Kipyegon (1500m), Joshua Cheptegei (10,000m), Grant Holloway (110m hurdles) and Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles) have each won three titles in their core event.
With so many brilliant storylines, this will go down as the most engaging edition in the history of the sport.
“Together with the Budapest Organising Committee we have created a new standard for our outdoor World Championships going forward. It is the new blueprint. We have seen full stadia which creates an electric atmosphere, we have had the highest ever number of participating athletes, we have witnessed jaw-dropping and nail-biting performances, and we have had huge audiences as a result,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
“Innovation has been a driving force for these championships. They have had more innovation embedded in them than we have seen in the last decade. From a medal plaza where athletes are treated like rock stars, to the awarding of coaches’ medals, striking branding that can be seen across the city, and a clear sustainability vision. This is a World Championships city and a country with a long-term, ambitious vision for sport and legacy that goes way beyond a nine-day competition,” he added.
