Isaac Nader timed his finish to perfection to take a surprise victory in the men’s 1500m at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, continuing the trend of shock victories in men’s endurance events at these championships.
All eyes were on defending champion Josh Kerr and medal hope Niels Laros in the early stages, both men running within the pack. On the penultimate lap, though, Kerr was struck by what appeared to be an achilles injury, forcing him to limp and immediately lose ground on the rest of the field.
Laros, meanwhile, forged ahead with the rest of the field that included the likes of Nader, 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, 2022 world champion Jake Wightman and Kenyan youngster Reynold Cheruiyot. Wightman took the lead with 200m to go and appeared to be on his way to victory, just about holding off the rest of the pack. But in the closing stages, Nader emerged from the group to take victory by 0.02 in 3:34.10.
Wightman took silver in 3:34.12 and Reynold Cheruiyot claimed bronze in 3:34.25.
More to follow…
AloJapan.com