On Sunday August 27, the Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ in Budapest vibrated one last time: the World Championships in Athletics are coming to an end. France saved the honor by winning the silver medal in the men’s 4 x 400 meters.
With seven finals on the program, the last evening of competition also allowed India, Pakistan and Bahrain to invite themselves to the podiums of this 19th edition of the Worlds. Forty-six nations feature in the medal standings, largely dominated by the United States.
Already the first Olympic champion in the history of his country in athletics in Tokyo in 2021, Neeraj Chopra did it again in Budapest by becoming the first Indian world champion in a sport that continues to globalize.
Neeraj Chopra threw 88.17 meters on his second try. He won ahead of another representative from the Indian subcontinent, the Pakistani Arshad Nadeem (87.82m). The bronze medalist hails from a traditional javelin throwing nation: Czech Jakub Vadlejch (86.67m). Two other Indians, Kishore Jena and D.P Manu, take 5th and 6th place.
Like the 2015 world champion, the Kenyan Julius Yego, Neeraj Chopra first perfected his gesture by watching videos of the Czech Jan Zelezny, world record holder in the specialty, triple Olympic champion and triple world champion.
The 25-year-old Indian javelin thrower is building a magnificent record: Olympic champion, world champion and vice-world champion. Last year, in Oregon, he was overtaken by Grenadin Anderson Peters.
An emerging athletics nation, India also qualified its 4 x 400m torchbearer team for the final. In the long jump, two of its representatives – the best performers in the world for the season before the Worlds – were present in Hungary. But, Murali Sreeshankar was eliminated in qualifying. Jeswin Aldrin took 11th place.
We were no longer expecting her and she came during the penultimate event of the Worlds. This silver medal does not completely change the very disappointing character of the tricolor balance sheet, but it allows France to avoid the humiliation of a zero point.
Les Bleus in the 4 x 400 m – Ludvy Vaillant, Gilles Biron, David Sombe and Téo Andant – won second place, beating the French record for the specialty (2 min 58 s 45). The United States won with ease in 2 min 57 s 31. The British completed the podium.
Winfred Mutile Yavi became world champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, with the 4th fastest time of all time: 8:54:29. Born in Kenya and naturalized in 2015, she is a handful of seconds ahead of her two former compatriots, Beatrice Chepkoech and Faith Cherotich. At 23, his progression curve is impressive: 10th at the Olympic Games in 2021, 4th at the Worlds in 2022, and now 1st in 2023.
One lap from the finish, in 10th place, Frenchwoman Alice Finot completed a superb last lap to take an excellent fifth place, once again improving her French record by 4 seconds, to 9 min 6 s 15. She equals Sophie Duarte, the last tricolor athlete fifth in a 3,000 meter steeplechase at the 2007 world championships.
Beaten by a Briton for the second time in a row in the world 1500m final, Jakob Ingebrigtsen did in Budapest what he did in Eugene (Ohio) last year: win the 5000m.
In a race that accelerated sharply on the last lap – a favorable scenario for excellent 1,500m runners – the Norwegian suffered, but he managed to pass, in the final meters, the Spaniard Mohamed Katir to win the gold medal (13 min 11 s 30). The bronze medal went to Kenyan Jacob Krop. Frenchman Jimmy Gressier took an encouraging 9th place.
The prodigy of the Scandinavian middle distance flew less over the debates than usual. “I was infected with a virus on Sunday. I did not feel very well during these championships, he explained. I wanted to run and do my best. It was not a very pleasant experience but thanks to the support of the public, I succeeded. At 22, he is still building an impressive track record outdoors: an Olympic title, two world titles and two world silver medals.
The British runner signs her third second place in a major athletics competition: already a silver medalist at the 2021 Olympics, then at the 2022 Worlds, she has once again failed in her quest for gold.
It was the Kenyan Mary Moora who won in 1 min 56 s 3. Keely Hodgkinson finished 31 hundredths, while the American Athing Mu, long in the lead, broke down in the home stretch (1 min 56 s 61).
In Paris, during the next Olympic Games, Keely Hodgkinson will try to climb on the top step of the podium. She will be one of the headliners of an excellent British middle-distance team which shone again this summer in Hungary.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh dominated the high jump contest, beating Australians Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers. The Ukrainian jumper cleared 2.01m to become world champion, while her rivals remained at 1.99m. The French Nawel Meniker and Solène Gicquel finished 12th and 15th.
The 4 x 400 meter torchbearers from the Netherlands team snatched the ultimate gold medal of these world championships in extremis. Thanks to a breathtaking last lap from Femke Bol, the Dutch – also with Eveline Saalberg, Lieke Klaver, Cathelijn Peeters – edged out the Jamaicans. The British finish in third place.
