The 2025 World Athletics Championships saw many British athletes return to the stadium in which they represented Team GB four summers ago – and this time the stands were full.
Over the course of nine days of action, there were tales of redemption, tears of joy and no shortage of drama.
Here are the headlines from a British perspective…
Hunter Bell pips Hodgkinson
Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell have been near inseparable since they arrived in Japan, so it was fitting that a photo finish was needed to reveal who had crossed the line first.
For a few seconds, it appeared the training partners and roommates in Tokyo would score Great Britain’s first World Championships one-two in 18 years.
Hodgkinson was at the front and Hunter Bell on her shoulder down the final straight, with photographers ready to capture an all-time iconic image for British sport.
As it was, Kenya’s unheralded Lilian Odira nipped in to ruin the shot but Hodgkinson, who has had a frustrating year with injuries since winning gold in Paris last summer, took the positives.
Two Brits on the same World Athletics Championship podium for the first time in 18 years 🌟
Georgia Hunter Bell 🥈
Keely Hodgkinson 🥉pic.twitter.com/zrZ9sUoNUV
— Team GB (@TeamGB) September 21, 2025
“I think when you look at some of the greats in all sports, there are years where they haven’t done as well or they’ve missed podiums or they’ve missed a complete year,” she said.
“Somehow, I’ve managed to stay on that trajectory which I think is incredible. At the end of my career, I think people will remember what you’ve won, not what you’ve lost.
“This will just go down as part of my journey and on reflection, I’ll be happy.”
For Hunter Bell, silver in a superb 1:54.90 PB was justification for dropping down from 1500m.
“I look at what Keely’s achieved at 23 and I think we were running very similar times when we were, like, 11, 12, 13,” she said.
“If I went and did what Keely did in my young 20s, then maybe Trev [Painter, coach] would be able to do what he did with Keely, with me.
“At the same time, I wouldn’t have met my husband, I wouldn’t have experienced what I’ve experienced in life. So I just think I’m on my own path and it’s cool.”
KJT banishes demons
Katarina Johnson-Thompson shed tears of joy after sharing an unprecedented World Championships bronze medal at the end of a dramatic 800m finale.
Competing at the same stadium where she suffered Olympic heartache four years ago courtesy of a calf injury, she won her fourth global heptathlon medal.
Starting the 800m in fourth overall, Johnson-Thompson needed to beat USA’s Taliyah Brooks by 5.8 seconds to overhaul her and take the final place on the podium.
She crossed the line in a season’s best 2:07.38 and collapsed to the track at the end of a lung-busting effort. Behind, Brooks crossed in 2:13.17, with the gap remarkably 5.79 seconds.
“It really does mean the world to me,” Johnson-Thompson said.
“I have been through it in this stadium, the minute I stepped inside earlier in the week, I just started sobbing as the memories came back. I can’t put into words the full circle moment I have just been through.”
Hunt announces herself
Amy Hunt sped to a dazzling silver to announce herself as a true force to be reckoned with in the women’s 200m.
Hunt, who burst on to the scene as a junior world record holder in 2019, fulfilled her promise on the senior global stage by storming home in 22.14 to occupy the second spot on the podium behind Melissa Jefferson-Wooden.
The Cambridge University graduate then made plenty of headlines with her trackside interview, insisting her exploits were proof ‘you can be an academic badass and a track goddess’.
WOW AMY HUNT 🤩🤩
A simply stunning world silver medal over 200m! 🥈#WCHTokyo25 | @amyghunt
pic.twitter.com/LQYES0JI6U
— Team GB (@TeamGB) September 19, 2025
Wightman shows his grit
Jake Wightman’s superb silver ended Great Britain’s wait for a medal in Tokyo.
Wightman hit the front during the final lap of the hotly anticipated men’s 1500m final, which sadly saw reigning champion Josh Kerr pick up an injury.
Wightman, the 2022 world champion, was reeled in down the home straight by Portugal’s Isaac Nader, who triumphed by just two-hundredths of a second.
But silver marked an excellent result for the 31-year-old after an injury-hit spell.
“It has been a very bleak couple of years for me, and I made some huge changes in my life this past year to try and get back to this point,” he said.
“I’m a big believer that you kind of get what you’re putting in at some point. And when I kept getting kicked when I was down, I just kept believing that at some point, karma was going to come back and give me a bit of luck.”
AloJapan.com