World Championships: Ryan Crouser (USA) 22.34m World Indoor Championships: Tom Walsh (NZL) 21.65m Wanda Diamond League: Joe Kovacs (USA) 22.46m South American Championships: Willian Dourado (BRA) 20.65m Asian Championships: Mohammad Reza Tayebi (IRI) 20.32m NACAC Championships: Josh Awotunde (USA) 21.68m
Season snapshot
The man who has dominated the shot put for almost a decade, Ryan Crouser, wasn’t sighted for most of the year due to ongoing elbow concerns, but having returned from a long injury lay-off to claim his third Olympic gold medal in Paris last year, the US athlete knew that if he could just get himself fit enough and healthy enough he could challenge again for the world crown. And that is exactly how the World Championships unfolded.
Crouser arrived in Tokyo looking extremely rusty in the qualifying round, but he progressed with a season’s best of 21.37m. However, he improved with each competition throw and triumphed against all odds in the final, finding a 22.34m effort in his back pocket to see off the challengers who had dared to hope earlier in the season.
For much of the last decade, Crouser, his US rival Joe Kovacs and New Zealand’s Tom Walsh have monopolised the men’s shot put podium but there was a new look in Tokyo, as some generational change set in. Mexico’s Uziel Munoz set a national record of 21.97m to win a surprise silver medal and European champion Leonardo Fabbri lifted Italy on to the podium with the bronze (21.94m) after defeating Walsh (who also threw 21.94m) on countback.
The 2019 world champion Kovacs was sadly out of sorts at the wrong time of the year and missed qualifying for Tokyo when he finished fourth at the cut-throat US trials. However, he refocussed his ambitions towards winning the Diamond League and triumphed in the final there in Zurich, with a best effort of 22.46m, which would have been good enough for gold in Tokyo had he been able to compete there.
While the Tokyo podium looked different, the old firm of Crouser (33), Kovacs (36) and Walsh (33) did come away with the three major titles of the year – Crouser in Tokyo, Kovacs in Zurich and Walsh grabbed his third world indoor title in Nanjing (21.65), denying two of the US younger brigade Roger Steen (21.62m) and Adrian Piperi (21.48m).
The big three may find it harder to maintain that ascendancy next year. Fabbri, 28, did not quite get it right in Tokyo but he registered the biggest throw of the year, 22.82m from the Italian Championships, and has fire in his belly after missing an Olympic medal in Paris.
World Championships: Jessica Schilder (NED) 20.29m World Indoor Championships: Sarah Mitton (CAN) 20.48m Wanda Diamond League: Jessica Schilder (NED) 20.26m South American Championships: Ivana Xennia Gallardo (CHI) 17.55m Asian Championships: Ma Yue (CHN) 18.26m NACAC Championships: Sarah Mitton (CAN) 20.02m
Season snapshot
The 2025 top list would suggest that 2023 world champion Chase Jackson dominated the year. She had the top four throws – 20.95m, 20.94m, 20.90m, 20.84m – and six of the top 10, but unfortunately for her they all came outside of the major championships, where her returns comprised a silver medal in Tokyo and a bronze in Nanjing. However, her consistent excellence did earn the world No.1 ranking.
US champion Jackson went to Tokyo to defend the world title, but she fell just short as Dutch athlete Jessica Schilder produced final round fireworks (20.29m) to claim the title.
Schilder built steadily through the year, winning the European indoor title in March with her best throw of the year (20.69m) and following up with a silver medal behind Canada’s Sarah Mitton at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. She won the Diamond League final in Zurich and arrived in Tokyo with good momentum which she rode to the title.
Olympic silver medallist Maddison-Lee Wesche extended New Zealand’s brilliant record in this event (competing in the wake of triple world champion Valerie Adams), equalling her personal best of 20.06m to snare the bronze. Surprise Paris Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye could not repeat her feat and finished in sixth.
Mitton won her second consecutive world indoor title but could not convert outdoors, falling just short of the podium in fourth place in Tokyo.
World Championships: Daniel Stahl (SWE) 70.47m Wanda Diamond League: Mykolas Alekna (LTU) 68.89m South American Championships: Claudio Romero (CHI) 64.13m Asian Championships: Abuduaini Tuergong (CHN) 63.47m NACAC Championships: Fedrick Dacres (JAM) 65.10m
Season snapshot
This was a historic year for the men’s discus, courtesy of the consistently perfect conditions offered in “Throw Town”, Ramona in Okahoma. After breaking a 35-year-old world record there last year, Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna returned and extended the standard by more than a metre to 75.56m, but this time he was not alone in that rare air.
Australia’s Olympic bronze medallist Matt Denny moved to No.2 on the all-time list on the same day in April, launching the disc to 74.78m. Throws achieved at Ramona dominated the top list. Sam Mattis’s 71.27m in the same competition ended up as the fifth-best throw of the year, while Jamaica’s Ralford Mullings snared a 72.01m throw in August for fourth on the list. In all, 11 men breached the 70-metre barrier this year for a total of 29 throws, eight of them achieving their best throw in Ramona.
Alekna was one of the few able to reproduce that form elsewhere. His seven 70-metre-plus throws spanned a multitude of venues in North America and Europe. He also clinched the Diamond League title with a 68.89m effort in Zurich, rightly arriving as the favourite for the World Championships in Tokyo.
However, the world final was held in terrible rain-affected conditions on the last of the nine nights, which gave the organisers no option to reschedule. In circumstances which forced the officials to postpone the competition after just two throws as the circle became waterlogged and unsafe for the athletes, the final turned into something of a lottery, and the chances of some of the contenders were undoubtedly impacted by the inclement weather.
Alekna took the lead in the second round (67.84m) and looked the winner until defending world champion Daniel Stahl stepped into the ring for his final throw. The Swede summoned all of his vast experience to produce his best throw of the season, 70.48m for the only 70-metre throw of the competition, and claim his third world title (2019, 2023, 2025).
There was history too for bronze medallist Alex Rose, whose 66.96m in the final round snatched the final medal from Denny, and delivered Samoa’s first ever World Championships medal.
World Championships: Valarie Allman (USA) 69.48m Wanda Diamond League: Valarie Allman (USA) 69.18m South American Championships: Izabela Da Silva (BRA) 62.87m Asian Championships: Feng Bin (CHN) 61.90m NACAC Championships: Samantha Hall (JAM) 61.19m
Season snapshot
With two Olympic gold medals in the bag, Valarie Allman is undoubtedly the leading female discus thrower of her generation, and one of the best of all time, but until this year, the world title had proved to be elusive. After becoming Olympic champion in Tokyo in 2021, she could manage only bronze in Oregon in 2022 and silver in Budapest in 2023. But a return to Tokyo’s National Stadium finally did the trick and she dominated the World Championships final.
Allman was the picture of event dominance all season. She also won the Diamond League final and had the top throw of the year – an extraordinary 73.52m US record, set in discus heaven, also known as Ramona in Oklahoma. It was the biggest throw for almost 36 years and lifted Allman to No.6 on the all-time list. In all, she had eight of the top 10 performances of the year, and her winning throw in Tokyo was only fifth on her personal list. The top four were all over 70 metres.
Her best mark was almost three metres beyond the best throw by any other athlete this year – fellow US athlete Laulauga Tausaga’s 70.72m, also set in Ramona on the same day. In fact, the top list was awash with performances achieved in Ramona, a small town of under 1000 citizens that is having a big influence on the all-time lists in the discus.
Tausaga upset Allman to win the 2023 world title, but the prima discus thrower of her generation finally attained the one global title that had eluded her in Tokyo and did it with consummate style, her 69.48m best almost two metres clear of silver medallist Jorinde Van Klinken’s 67.50m, which was a season’s best for the Dutch athlete, who was also the runner-up in the Diamond League final.
Silinda Morales extended Cuba’s exemplary record in this event as she claimed her first world medal, securing the bronze with a 67.25m personal best, despite entering the competition ranked just 20th in the field. Veteran multiple global champion Sandra Elkasevic, 35, finished fifth with 65.82m, and Tausaga managed sixth place in her title defence.
World Championships: Ethan Katzberg (CAN) 84.70m South American Championships: Joaquin Gomez (ARG) 77.69m Asian Championships: Wang Qi (CHN) 74.50m NACAC Championships: Daniel Haugh (USA) 77.08m
Season snapshot
Canada's Ethan Katzberg moved to No.5 on the all-time list after unleashing a championship record of 84.70m to win his second world crown in Tokyo in what was the highlight of the year in this event. Only two men in history have ever thrown more than 85 metres, and the last time the world saw that feat was in 1988, but Katzberg must surely have that milestone on his radar for 2026.
The 23-year-old Canadian, who emerged as a surprise winner in Budapest in 2023, has now won the last three global titles, including the Paris Olympic gold medal, and has become the dominant force in the event. With Camryn Rogers, he completed a third consecutive golden double for Canada, where it has been hammer time for the last three years. He had also impressed in qualification in Tokyo, throwing 81.85m.
However, Katzberg did not have it all his own way in Tokyo. Germany’s Merlin Hummel led the final after the first round with a personal best of 82.77m. That was just the motivation Katzberg needed to respond in the next round with the biggest throw ever seen at the World Championships, and the biggest in the world for 22 years.
It is a measure of the progress of the event in the last two years that all six of Katzberg’s throws went farther than his winning throw at the 2023 World Championships (81.25m). That would not have been enough to win a medal of any colour in Tokyo.
Hummel held on for the silver medal by 8cm, from Hungary’s consistently competitive Olympic silver medallist Bence Halasz, who won his third consecutive bronze medal at the World Championships (82.69m). Halasz also registered the second biggest throw of the year, 83.18m, in his home stadium in Budapest in August.
With Mykhaylo Kokhan finishing fourth on 82.02m, it was the first time in history that four men had surpassed 82 metres in a single hammer competition.
World Championships: Camryn Rogers (CAN) 80.51m South American Championships: Rosa Andreina Rodriguez (VEN) 71.04m Asian Championships: Ji Li (CHN) 72.98m NACAC Championships: Janee Kassanavoid (USA) 74.31m
Season snapshot
Olympic champion Camryn Rogers completed a third successive year on top of her event, successfully defending her world title in Tokyo in the most emphatic fashion, with a monster throw of 80.51m, which lifted her to second on the all-time list.
Any of Rogers’ best four throws would have won the competition, but the Canadian’s second round effort was the biggest in the world for eight years and all the more meaningful to her as she set the mark in front of the legendary world record-holder and triple Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk, still competing at the age of 40. The Polish great’s 2016 standard of 82.98m stands as a monument to her excellence and she still has the top six throws in history, with Rogers’ effort slotting in at No.7.
Leading into the World Championships it appeared that this event would be a shootout between the North American women, including US pair Brooke Anderson (the 2022 world champion) and DeAnna Price (the 2019 world champion). North Americans set the early pace during the international season and ended the season with all of the top 10 throws.
However, Andersen, who arrived in Tokyo with the top throw of the year (79.29m), failed to register a legal throw in qualifying and was eliminated in a huge shock to the event which left the door open for other athletes to shine. US indoor champion Rachel Richeson was another who entered the competition with a big throw to her name this year (78.80m) but failed to make it through the qualifying round.
In the final, it was the young Chinese duo, Zhao Jie, 22, and Zhang Jiale, 18, who took the opportunity to join Rogers on the podium. Paris Olympic bronze medallist Zhao set a personal best of 77.60m in the final round to secure the silver, while the teenager Zhang underlined her immense potential by claiming her first senior world medal. Her 77.10m throw in the final rounded landed just short of the world U20 record of 77.24m she set in August. She ended the year by claiming the Rising Star honour at the World Athletics Awards.
At the other end of the career spectrum, four-time world champion Wlodarczyk is more than twice Zhang’s age but she remains competitive, finishing sixth (74.64m) at her sixth World Championships.
A total of five women surpassed 75 metres in Tokyo – the first time that feat had been achieved in a major championship final.
World Championships: Keshorn Walcott (TTO) 88.16m Wanda Diamond League: Julian Weber (GER) 91.51m South American Championships: Pedro Henrique Rogdrigues (BRA) 77.92m Asian Championships: Arshad Nadeem (PAK) 86.40m NACAC Championships: Curtis Thompson (USA) 87.24m
Season snapshot
The resurrection of Trinidad and Tobago’s 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott was the highlight of the season as he achieved the rare feat of winning global titles 13 years apart. In London in 2012 Walcott was the youngest man ever to win the Olympic javelin title, and in Tokyo he became one of the oldest to win the world title.
Belying his long absence from the podium, 32-year-old Walcott took control of the Tokyo final from the second round with 87.83m and improved again in the fourth round (88.16m), setting a standard that none of his rivals could match.
Grenada’s two-time world champion Anderson Peters landed on the podium for the third time, winning the silver with 86.38m and decried his lack of rhythm on the runway, knowing that his qualifying round best of 89.51m would have clinched him a third world crown. Curtis Thompson completed the podium, taking bronze with 86.67m and becoming the first US athlete to win a medal in this event since 2007.
The Paris Olympic year was dominated by the South Asian rivals – Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem and 2023 world champion Neeraj Chopra – but the seat of power switched to the Caribbean in Tokyo. Neither Chopra (eighth) nor Nadeem (10th) challenged for the medals, but Nadeem did claim the Asian title with 86.40m.
World leader Julian Weber had blasted a personal best of 91.51m to win the Diamond League final in Zurich at the end of August, but appeared to leave his best form in Europe. In the Tokyo final the German was more than five metres down on that peak (86.11m), and finished fifth, after two consecutive fourths at the previous editions. Despite stunning performances at times, he has yet to get it right at a global championship.
Weber breached 91 metres twice this year, the first time at the Doha Diamond League meeting in May where he and Chopra (90.23m) staged a duel for the ages. But unfortunately, by September neither could muster that form. Luiz Mauricio Da Silver was the other 90-metre-plus thrower this year, setting a South American record of 91.00m at the Brazilian Championships in August. But he also had a tale of woe from Tokyo where he failed to progress from the qualifying round.
World Championships: Juleisy Angulo (ECU) 65.12m Wanda Diamond League: Elina Tzengko (GRE) 64.57m South American Championships: Jucilene Sales De Lima (BRA) 62.32m Asian Championships: Su Lingdan (CHN) 63.29m NACAC Championships: Evelyn Bliss (USA) 58.62m
Season snapshot
Unpredictability was the theme of the women’s javelin this year, as evidenced by Ecuadorian Juleisy Angulo’s surprise victory at the World Championships. The top list, world rankings and World Championships were all headed by different athletes, reflecting the fact that no one athlete established superiority over her rivals this year.
The two-time world U20 champion Adriana ViIagos set the early standard with 67.22m in April and for much of the international season seemed poised to convert her junior excellence into senior success. In August, she won at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, finished second to Greece’s Elina Tzengko in the final in Zurich, and seemed to be timing her run perfectly for Tokyo. The Serbian qualified first for the final there (66.06m) but was unable to replicate that performance in the medal round, where she finished eighth.
The Tokyo final was strangely subdued, perhaps as a consequence of Japanese Olympic champion and crowd favourite Haruka Kitaguchi’s shock failure to qualify for the final. The opportunity was there for the taking but the best credentialed contenders were not able to grab it.
Australia’s Mackenzie Little, who had also thrown big in qualifying (65.54m), led early with a throw of 63.58m, but that mark never seemed likely to survive as the winning performance, and Little was passed first by Angulo in the second round, and then by Latvia’s Anete Sietina in the final round.
Angulo arrived in Tokyo ranked 14th but produced a two-metre personal best in the final (65.12m) to do what her higher-ranked competitors could not, and grab the title, becoming Ecuador’s first female world champion and the first in a field event. Sietina, fourth in Budapest two years earlier, also produced the throw of her life (64.64m) to climb on to the podium for the first time.
European champion Victoria Hudson registered the biggest throw of the year (67.76m), a personal best by almost two metres, at the European Team Championships, but she was unable to reproduce that effort in Tokyo. Vilagos, 21, had the next three best marks and as she gains experience at senior level looks the athlete most likely to dominate in future years.
Mattia Ozbot)
