All good things must come to an end, and an action-packed final day of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 will see the remaining nine titles decided.
The first final on Sunday (21) is the women’s high jump and the session will close with the 4x100m finals.
Ready to hit the heights
Olympic and defending women’s high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine goes up against the two athletes she beat in Budapest two years ago: Australia’s Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers.
Mahuchikh improved the world record to 2.10m last year, but it’s Olyslagers who tops this season’s world list with the Oceanian record of 2.04m she set to win the Diamond League title in Zurich. Olyslagers also won the world indoor title in March, while Mahuchikh won the Diamond League meetings in Xiamen, Shanghai and Silesia.
As well as Patterson, other medal contenders include Mahuchikh’s compatriot Yuliia Levchenko and recent British record-breaker Morgan Lake.
Hodgkinson on the hunt
Keely Hodgkinson will be looking to add the world title to her Olympic crown when she lines up for the women’s 800m.
The 23-year-old made a late start to her season following injury but marked her return by clocking a world-leading 1:54.74 in Silesia – the ninth-fastest performance of all time.
She goes up against the next three women on the season top list – Audrey Werro, Georgia Hunter Bell and Lilian Odira – plus defending champion Mary Moraa.
Ingebrigtsen defends
Following his return from injury, Jakob Ingebrigtsen defends his title in the men’s 5000m after clinching the final qualification place after being unable to advance from the heats in his 1500m bid.
A total of 12 men have dipped under 12:50 this season and six of them star in this final. World leader Grant Fisher will line up alongside his compatriot Nico Young, Biniam Mehary, George Mills, Hagos Gebrhiwet and Birhanu Balew, as well as Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker and recent world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier, as well as Ingebrigtsen.
Clash of titans
Four of the top seven men’s discus throwers of all time will clash in the final.
Mykolas Alekna, who improved his own world record to 75.56m in Ramona, is on the hunt for his first senior global title, Daniel Stahl defends the crown after his championship record-breaking win in Budapest, and major medallists Kristjan Ceh and Matthew Denny seek further podium places.
Stahl threw farthest in qualification and was one of four athletes to achieve the automatic qualifying mark along with Ceh and Denny. An Alekna did, too, but it was Martynas rather than Mykolas and the brothers will both contest the final as they look to follow in their champion father’s footsteps.
That’s a wrap…
The conclusion of the decathlon, plus a series of relays, also star during the final session in Tokyo.
The expected duel between world indoor champion Sander Skotheim and US champion Kyle Garland is playing out in the decathlon, but there are still five more disciplines for them to contest on the second day of competition in their quest for gold. At the end of the first day, Garland led on 4707 points ahead of Skotheim on 4543 and Ayden Owens-Delerme on 4487.
Also as expected, there was drama during the first round of the relays and teams will fight again for medals in the women’s and men’s 4x100m and 4x400m to close the session.
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AloJapan.com