Tokyo 2025: Lyles back on the track as Kerr eyes second world 1,500m title
Katie Moon will be gunning for a third gold in the women’s pole vault in the Tokyo stadium, where she also won Olympic gold in 2021.
AFP Sport looks at three stand-out events:
– Men’s 1,500m –
A cat was put among the pigeons in this ultra-competitive event when Norway’s 2021 Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen failed to make it out of the heats.
Ingebrigtsen sustained an Achilles injury after sweeping to a world indoor double in March, and a first outdoor outing in Tokyo proved too much.
Then Olympic champion Cole Hocker was disqualified in the semi-finals on Monday for ‘jostling’ as the American barged his way through a gaggle of runners in the home straight. His appeal was rejected.
The defending champion is Kerr, who, along with British teammate Wightman deprived Ingebrigtsen of golds at the last two world championships.
“I am coming here as someone who’s done it before, and I am coming to do it again,” said 27-year-old Kerr.
Despite the high-profile athletes missing, competition will be tough, with a third Scot in the shape of Neil Gourlay and the likes of in-form Dutchman Niels Laros, Kenyans Timothy and Reynold Cheruiyot, Spain’s Adrien Ben and Portugal’s Isaac Nader all in the mix.
– Women’s pole vault –
American Katie Moon, the two-time defending world champion and Olympic gold medallist in Tokyo in 2021, will be joined by 13 other athletes in the final of the women’s pole vault.
They all cleared 4.60m in qualification, and Moon will be accompanied in Wednesday’s final by teammates Sandi Morris and Hana Moll.
“I am here for revenge because at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 I broke a pole in qualification and got injured, so I’ve already started better than last time I was here,” said Morris, a two-time world indoor champion who has won three world outdoor silvers.
One notable absentee, however, will be former world indoor champion Molly Caudery after the Briton sustained an ankle injury in warm-up that forced her to withdraw from the event.
Reigning Olympic champion Nina Kennedy of Australia did not travel to Tokyo, having pulled out with a strained leg muscle following hamstring surgery.
– Men and women’s 200m heats –
Noah Lyles will begin his bid for a fourth consecutive world 200m title when he takes to the track at the National Stadium.
In the 100m, won by Oblique Seville from Kishane Thompson in a Jamaican 1-2 on Sunday, was “not the day to get the gold”, Lyles said. The Olympic 100m champion had to settle for bronze.
“The focus is now on 200 metres, that’s my bread and butter,” he said.
The women’s Olympic 100m champion, Julien Alfred, who had to settle for an unhappy third place in the women’s world 100m, has pulled out of the 200m because of a hamstring strain.
“The decision was made to prioritise Julien’s health and long-term career,” the Saint Lucia Athletics Association said in a statement.
Alfred was no match in the short sprint for Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who scorched to victory in 10.61sec.
And the in-form American should be in the mix for a tilt at a sprint double.
“Coming out with the gold medal and a championship record, it’s a great start to my second world championships,” Jefferson-Wooden said after her 100m victory.
“I am excited about the 200 metres now.”
