9 h. ago Raucous crowd and sprint stars give World Athletics Championships explosive start

Beatrice Chebet roared on to 10,000m gold in TokyoKishane Thompson and Julien Alfred shine in 100mThere was a moment on the opening night of these World Athletics Championships when the bottled up frustration of missing out on a full-fat Tokyo Olympics – with crowds and fun and unbridled joy – suddenly seemed to be unleashed. It came at the end of a thrilling women’s 10,000m, a roar that could have been heard on Mount Fuji, and a vast outpouring of appreciation and pride.At the front of the pack, four contenders were whittled down to two before the Olympic and world champion Beatrice Chebet took off with the Italian Nadia Battocletti in pursuit. It was like watching Wile E. Coyote chasing Roadrunner. Continue reading...

Sport

10 h. ago Great Britain miss out on mixed relay medal at World Athletics Championships

Lewis Davey, Emily Newnham, Toby Harries and Nicole Yeargin were edged into fifth as the United States took gold in Tokyo

Politics

11 h. ago World Athletics Championships: Kenya’s Chebet wins women’s 10,000m gold, big names impress in 100m heats – live

Updates from Tokyo as the championships get under wayMail John | The stars aiming to break records in TokyoNow for the women’s 100m heats. The first sees the US’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden win in a time of 10.99. That looked easy for the Olympic bronze medallist. Dina Asher-Smith goes in the second heat. Three to go through, and Asher-Smith makes it, second behind Tina Clayton, the young Jamaican.The women’s long jump was going ahead while those steeplechases were taking place. Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Olympic champion, makes it with her first jump, of 6.88m. It’s 6.75 to qualify, and the others are having their struggles. Continue reading...

Society

13 h. ago World Athletics Championships: big names and Brits impress in women’s 100m heats, women’s 10,000m final and more – live

Updates from Tokyo as the championships get under wayMail John | The stars aiming to break records in TokyoNow for the women’s 100m heats. The first sees the US’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden win in a time of 10.99. That looked easy for the Olympic bronze medallist. Dina Asher-Smith goes in the second heat. Three to go through, and Asher-Smith makes it, second behind Tina Clayton, the young Jamaican.The women’s long jump was going ahead while those steeplechases were taking place. Tara Davis-Woodhall, the Olympic champion, makes it with her first jump, of 6.88m. It’s 6.75 to qualify, and the others are having their struggles. Continue reading...

Society

15 h. ago World Athletics Championships: 100m heats, women’s 10,000m final and more on night one – live

Updates from Tokyo as the championships get under wayMail John | The stars aiming to break records in TokyoWe’ll begin the Tokyo evening session with the men’s 3000m steeplechase heats; there’s three of them to come. It’s cloudy but very warm as darkness descends. Armand Duplantis is in the house, and warming up for his pole vaulr qualifier. The serial world record holder, the true successor to Sergei Bubka, is perhaps the star of the entire show.Reuters – Evan Dunfee of Canada and Spanish defending champion Maria Perez prevailed in suffocating Tokyo humidity to win the first gold medals of the 20th World Athletics Championships in the 35-km walks on Saturday. Continue reading...

Society

19 h. ago Photo highlights from Day 1 of the Tokyo World Athletic Championships

Photo highlights from Day 1 of the Tokyo World Athletic Championships. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

Culture

19 h. ago How to watch World Athletics Championships for FREE: TV channel and live stream

Tokyo plays host to a nine-day festival of track and field action

Sport

20 h. ago Great Britain breeze through mixed relay heat to seal place in final

Great Britain, who were second-fastest of the two heats, claimed silver in the same event at the last world championships in Budapest,

Politics

27 h. ago The unexpected advantage behind Josh Kerr’s quest to retain 1500m world title

The reigning 1500m world champion has a target on his back as he defends his title in Tokyo but he reveals that’s just the way he likes it and could even boost his hopes of a famous double in Tokyo

Politics

33 h. ago Usain Bolt fires warning to Gout Gout ahead of World Championships debut

There is plenty of excitement about Australian sprinter Gout Gout, with hopes the 17-year-old can follow in the footsteps of Olympic legend Usain Bolt, but man himself has issued a warned to the teenager

Events

35 h. ago Josh Kerr: ‘It’s my world 1500m title. If they want it they can come and get it’

Briton insists that winning gold at world championships will be the easiest thing he has done in the last six weeksAs Josh Kerr prepares for a men’s 1500m with more intrigue and mystery than a Seicho Matsumoto novel, he wants to make one thing clear. He is, without any doubt in his mind, the man to beat at these world championships.Kerr knows that everyone is bigging up Niels Laros, the staggeringly talented 20-year-old from the Netherlands who won the Diamond League final, and the 18-year-old Kenyan Phanuel Koech, who thumped him in London. Cole Hocker, the American who pipped him in an Olympic final for the ages, is one of many other dangers too. But as he prepares for Saturday’s heats, there is no mistaking Kerr’s supreme confidence. Continue reading...

Politics

36 h. ago Doping in spotlight after double drugs shame on eve of World Athletics Championships

Cas bans US sprinter Erriyon Knighton for four yearsEthiopia’s Diribe Welteji ineligible pending case appealDoping in track and field has been thrust back into the spotlight on the eve of the World Athletics Championships after the US sprint star Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years and the Ethiopian Diribe Welteji was declared ineligible to run in Tokyo due to an ongoing case. Both athletes had previously won world championship medals.The 21-year-old Knighton, who won a world championship bronze over 200m in 2022 and silver in 2023, had blamed his failed drugs test last year on contaminated oxtail imported from abroad. Continue reading...

Events

36 h. ago Doping in spotlight on eve of World Athletics Championships with two runners banned

Cas bans US sprinter Erriyon Knighton for four yearsEthiopia’s Diribe Welteji ineligible pending case appealDoping in track and field has been thrust back into the spotlight on the eve of the World Athletics Championships after the US sprint star Erriyon Knighton was banned for four years and the Ethiopian Diribe Welteji was declared ineligible to run in Tokyo because of a case still being adjudicated. Both athletes had previously won world championship medals.The 21-year-old Knighton, who won a world championship bronze over 200m in 2022 and silver in 2023, had blamed his failed drugs test last year on contaminated oxtail imported from abroad. However on Friday the court of arbitration for sport rejected Knighton’s defence. A press release said: “There is no proof that would support the conclusion that oxtail imported into the USA would be likely to contain trenbolone residues at the level required to have caused the athlete’s adverse analytical finding.” Continue reading...

Events

38 h. ago Seb Coe says genetic testing of female athletes almost complete ahead of World Championships

The World Athletics Championships start on Saturday

Politics

39 h. ago Duplantis, humidity and Gout Gout: what to look out for at World Athletics Championships

Who are the biggest stars, what are their chances and how will Great Britain fare in Tokyo? All your questions about the World Athletics Championships answered Continue reading...

Politics

60 h. ago Study predicts Usain Bolt would have run 100m in 9.42 seconds in super spikes

Data showed Bolt would have knocked 0.16sec off recordLegend backs Jamaicans to beat Lyles in Tokyo 100mA new scientific study has predicted that Usain Bolt would have run the 100m in 9.42 seconds in super spikes – an astonishing 0.16 faster than his current world record set in 2009. But one man who isn’t arguing is the legendary Jamaican himself.Bolt, who is in Tokyo to present the medals for the 100m final at the world athletics championships on Sunday, said he wasn’t surprised with the findings. “I fully agree with it,” he said. “Because one athlete that continued after I retired was Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and she got faster with the new spikes. I probably would have run way faster with them too.” Continue reading...

Politics

60 h. ago Study predicts Usain Bolt would have run 100m in 9.42sec in super spikes

Data suggests Bolt would have knocked 0.16sec off recordLegend backs Jamaicans to beat Lyles in Tokyo 100mA new scientific study has predicted that Usain Bolt would have run the 100m in 9.42sec in super spikes – an astonishing 0.16sec faster than his current world record set in 2009. But one man who isn’t arguing is the legendary Jamaican himself.Bolt, who is in Tokyo to present the medals for the 100m final at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, said he was not surprised with the findings. “I fully agree with it,” he said. “Because one athlete that continued after I retired was Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and she got faster with the new spikes. I probably would have run way faster with them too.” Continue reading...

Politics

62 h. ago Neil Gourley makes honest admission ahead of World Athletics Championships in Tokyo

The Glasgow 1500m runner is a regular finalist at the biggest events but arrives in Tokyo at a loss to explain a patch of poor form that has him fearing a first-round exit

Events

62 h. ago Usain Bolt issues warning to teen sensation Gout Gout about step up to seniors

Gout makes his World Championships debut in Tokyo next week

Events

63 h. ago World Athletics Championships: Hunt, Kerr and Lake among Britons to watch

The action gets under way in Tokyo this weekend.

Politics