Haruka Kitaguchi came to the home soil as a defending world and Olympic champion. The expectations were massive. However, an elbow injury that hampered her season showed up when it mattered. She threw 60.38m in qualifying, well under her usual standard, and did not make the final, finishing 14th overall. She admitted the throw fell short of her goals but expressed gratitude for the support of her home crowd.
While Kitaguchi faced struggles, Adriana Vilagoš of Serbia seized the moment. She led the qualifying round with a powerful throw of 66.06m, asserting herself early in the competition. Her performance strenghtened her status as one of thd key persons of the event right now and gave a glimpse of what the final might hold. There, however, Adriana could not build on the performance. With a throw of 61.29, struggling to find the optimal composure, she took overall 8th place.
The men’s 4x100m relay final was another glorious moment for Team Canada. Jerome Blake ran the fastest leg split of the final (8.75), helping his squad clinch silver in a high-quality time of 37.55 seconds, repeating their Tokyo Olympic result from four years ago. Their execution under pressure showed the ability of the squad to deliver at major championships and confirmed Jerome as a crucial block in their sprint relay mosaic. His collection from World Championships and Olympics now includes 2x gold and 2x silver.
In the men’s discus throw, Kristjan Čeh delivered a strong qualification throw of 68.08m, easily making the final. However, in the final, he wasn’t able to show his true potential. The throw of 63.07m,landed him on 8th position in the most stacked throwing event of the year. The conditions were far from ideal – persistent rain delayed the event for hours and made the throwing circle slippery, which visibly impacted many athletes, including Kristjan. Given that, the positive outcome is the fact that he is leaving Tokyo injury-free and even more motivated for the future goals. His results throughout the season showed a great progression and placed him among the best to ever do it.
