At the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, we saw 1992 athletes from 193 countries in action. From this pack, a total of 214 medalists emerged. A historic number of 53 countries reached the podium. From our group of 51, seven athletes brought a medal glory to the agency.
The first celebration came on the evening of the third day. Manolo Karalis cleared 6.00m for the twelfth time this year and won silver, his first World Championships medal after last year’s Olympic bronze.
The very next day, Bence Halász secured bronze in hammer throw with 82.69m, repeating his result from Budapest two years ago. Shortly afterwards, Jan Štefela claimed bronze in the high jump after a dramatic salvation at 2.28m and subsequent 2.31m clearance.
On the fifth day, Tina Šutej added another medal for the team in the women’s pole vault, clearing 4.80m to earn her first outdoor world championships medal. Emma Zapletalová then brought Slovakia a bronze in the 400m hurdles, running 53.00 for a new national record after progressing strongly through the season of her dreams.
Two days later, Anderson Peters followed up his javelin qualification lead of 89.53m with 87.38m in the final to take silver, his third medal from the global championships. Moving on to the very last day of the action on the track, Jerome Blake ran the fastest leg of the 4×100m relay final to help team Canada secure silver in 37.55 seconds, adding one more to his major championships medal collection.
Beyond the podium, there were numerous strong performances. Overall, seventeen our athletes advanced to the finals, while eleven of them finished within the top-8. Another ten made it to the semi-finals. The notable results include Amálie Švabíková, who finished fourth in the pole vault, Jerome Blake´s ninth place in the 100m, the 400m performances of Attila Molnár, who improved his national record to 44.55 and left as the third-best European and Kirani James who marked his 92nd sub-45 result of the career.
The team was also strong over the hurdles. All our athletes advanced, at least, to the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles. While Emma Zapletalová took bronze, Elena Kelety improved her personal best to 54.61 and Daniela Ledecká came close to her best mark running 54.86. Among men, Tyri Donovan of Great Britain took eleventh place in his championships debut, running a new lifetime best of 48.21 which also ranked him third among Europeans. Matic Ian Guček came in fourteenth with 48.51.
We also witnessed a world record. Anita Wlodarczyk improved her own mark in the M40 category to 74.64m and finished sixth in her sixth world championships final. Another experienced member of the team, Raphael Pallitsch of Austria also achieved remarkable success. Aged 35, he marked his debut semi-final on this stage in the 1500m. Staying on the track, Marino Bloudek did a great job in the 800m, where he managed to reach the semi-final after a fierce tactical battle.
Jakub Vadlejch added another global final to his streak, advancing for the fifth time in a row. He qualified with a season’s best of 84.11m, but in the final managed 78.71m for 11th place – not the result he hoped for, yet another sign of his longevity at the top level.
Defending champion Miltiadis Tentoglou struggled in the men’s long jump final, limited by cramps. He reached 7.83m to finish 11th overall, calling it one of the toughest competitions of his career.
On the home soil, Haruka Kitaguchi was hampered by an elbow injury. The reigning Olympic and world champion threw 60.38m in qualification, placing 14th and missing the final, but expressed gratitude for the support of the Tokyo crowd.
Adriana Vilagoš achieved the longest throw of the entire championships in qualification, leading the round with 66.06m. In the final she was unable to reproduce the form and finished eighth with 61.29m, still confirming her position among the world’s best.
In discus, Kristjan Čeh qualified easily with 68.08m. In a rain-delayed final where many throwers struggled to stay in the circle, he managed 63.07m for eighth place. Leaving Tokyo healthy and motivated, he remains one of the event’s dominant figures.
With medals across six disciplines, multiple finalists, and several national and personal bests, our agency leaves Tokyo with a strong balance. The results underline both the proven quality of established persons and the steady rise of a new generation ready to follow in their footsteps.
