WCH Tokyo 25 facts and figures - day four

Men’s hammer final

Ethan Katzberg (CAN) added more than one metre to the championship record with 84.70m, a North American record and world lead, to move to fifth on the world all-time list, one place behind Japanese legend Koji Murofushi (84.86m) 

Katzberg’s winning throw was also the longest throw ever recorded on Japanese soil, surpassing Yuriy Sedykh (URS/RUS) mark of 84.60m which was set in Tokyo in 1984

Both Katzberg and teammate Camryn Rogers successfully defended their hammer titles from Budapest in 2023

With silver, Merlin Hummel (GER) won Germany’s first medal in the men’s hammer at the World Championships since Markus Esser won a retroactive bronze in 2005 

Bence Halasz (HUN) won his third successive bronze medal in the men’s hammer. Hungary has won 16 medals in World Championships history - seven silver and nine bronze medals but never a gold in the 42-year history of the championships! 

Mykhaylo Kokhan’s (UKR) fourth-place throw of 82.02m was the longest non-medal winning throw in World Championships history  

Women’s 1500m final

Faith Kipyegon (KEN) becomes just the second woman to win four world titles in a track event after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM) who won five 100m titles. This was her fifth successive global 1500m title spanning back to the Tokyo Olympics  

Kipyegon now has eight global titles to her name: four world 1500m titles, three Olympic 1500m titles and one world 5000m title. She is also defending her 5000m title in Tokyo. “I won here in 2021 just after becoming a mother, so being back here, winning again, means I can show a new gold medal to my daughter. I want to win two golds here in Tokyo,” she said.  

Kipyegon’s time of 3:52.15 was the second fastest winning time at the World Championships, just outside Sifan Hassan’s (NED) championship record of 3:51.95 from 2019. Kipyegon now possesses three of the four fastest winning times in championship history

Kipyegon also broke her stadium record of 3:53.11 from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She joins a growing list of athletes including Ryan Crouser, Peres Jepchirchir, Valarie Allman and Armand Duplantis by winning both Olympic and world titles in Tokyo 

Kipyegon’s winning margin of 2.77 was the second largest winning margin in a women’s 1500m final in World Championships history 

The last six global women's 1500m finals have been won with sub-3:55 times 

Men’s 110m hurdles 

Cordell Tinch (USA) extends the United States’ record to 13 titles from 20 editions of the World Championships

Tinch’s winning time of 12.99 was the sixth time the 110m hurdles title has been won with a sub-13 second time at the World Championships

Enrique Llopis (ESP) has the unfortunate distinction of finishing fourth in back-to-back global finals. He also finished fourth at the 2024 World Indoor Championships as well as at last year's Olympic Games

Men’s high jump

After Geordie Beamish won New Zealand’s first ever world title on the track in the 3000m steeplechase last night, Hamish Kerr (NZL) won New Zealand’s first ever world title in a jumps event, clearing 2.34m in the high jump

This is the first time New Zealand has won two gold medals at the same edition of the World Championships

Women’s 400m semifinals 

Third fastest time in World Championships history! Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) clocked 48.29 in the third semifinal, a time only beaten by Jarmila Kratochvilova (TCH/CZE) with 47.99 in 1983 and Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) with 48.14 from 2019

McLaughlin-Levrone’s 48.29 was also a world lead and an American record, smashing Sanya Richards-Ross’ long-standing mark of 48.70 from 2006. “I didn't expect to run this fast today. I still have more to show. I feel strong and good, and have confidence in my fitness. I will give everything I have in the final,” she said.

McLaughlin-Levrone also moves to seventh on the world all-time 400m list behind Martina Koch (47.60), Kratochvilova (47.99), Naser (48.14), Marileidy Paulino (48.17), Marie-Jose Perec (48.25) and Olha Bryzgina (48.27)

For the first time in World Championships history, all eight athletes who qualified for the final broke the 50 second-barrier in the semifinals 

Martina Weil’s (CHI) 49.88 was by far the fastest non-qualifying time for a women’s 400m final at the World Championships.

Men’s 400m semifinal

Huge breakthrough for Collen Kebinatshipi (BOT) who lowered his lifetime best from 44.22 to a world lead of 43.61, the fastest ever semifinal in World Championships history, and the sixth fastest time in World Championships history. “This morning I was in a meeting with my coach about this race. He knows that I always doubt myself, even this whole season. But he told me this is my time to shine, that I have to go and secure a spot in the final,” he said. 

Yuki Joseph Nakajima became just the second Japanese athlete to make a men’s 400m final at the World Championships after Susumu Takano in this stadium in 1991

No athlete who made the men’s 400m final in Budapest in 2023 qualified for the men’s 400m final in Tokyo. 

Notable non-qualifiers included Olympic silver and bronze medallists Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) and Muzala Samukonga (ZAM) and former world and Olympic champion Kirani James (GRN) whose impressive run of nine successive global 400m finals dating back to 2011 comes to an end

Men’s 800m heats

Donavan Brazier’s (USA) 1:44.66 is the second fastest heat time in World Championships history

Nine men broke the 1:45-barrier across the seven heats and 1:45.15 was the fastest non-qualifying time from a World Championships heats