By JESS WHITTINGTON, World Athletics

Four more titles will be decided and a host of qualification action will take place on day five of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

First up on Wednesday (17) is men’s triple jump qualifying and the session will conclude with the men’s 1500m final.

Clash of champions

The past three world champions will clash in the men’s 1500m as Great Britain’s defending champion Josh Kerr takes on his compatriot Jake Wightman, who won in 2022, and the 2019 winner Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya.

But they will face some formidable opposition, in a year that has seen a record 14 men dip under 3:30.

That list includes 20-year-old Dutch athlete Niels Laros, who is unbeaten in the 1500m this year, his wins including at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Brussels and the Diamond League Final in Zurich.

The race will not feature the past two Olympic champions, however, as the Olympic champion from Tokyo in 2021, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, was unable to progress from the heats as he competed for the first time since March, and Paris champion Cole Hocker was disqualified during the semifinals.

Moon defends

Two years on from sharing women’s pole vault gold, USA’s Katie Moon will aim for a second successive title, but her rivals will not include the joint winner last time, Australia’s Nina Kennedy.

Just days before she was due to fly to Japan, Kennedy – who won the Olympic title in Paris last year – announced her withdrawal due to a muscle tear suffered during a final training session.

Her main challengers look to be her compatriot Sandi Morris, who beat her at the US Championships, plus France’s world indoor champion Marie-Julie Bonnin.

Katie Moon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 (© Getty Images)

Paris medallists resume rivalry

Three of the four fastest women in history will battle for gold in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.

All three won medals at the Paris Olympics – Winfred Yavi of Bahrain getting gold, Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai securing silver, and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich bagging bronze.

Yavi is the defending champion, while Chemutai returns to the track on which she won the Olympic title four years ago.

Tentoglou aims to retain

Two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou will aim to become a two-time world champion when he takes to the men’s long jump runway on day five.

The Greek athlete set the world lead of 8.46m in June but finished sixth in his last competition before Tokyo, jumping 7.66m in a Wanda Diamond League Final won by Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer.

Ehammer, the 2024 world indoor heptathlon champion, clinched the title in Zurich ahead of Italy’s world indoor champion Mattia Furlani and they clash again, joined by Jamaica’s 2019 world champion Tajay Gayle.

Time for the 200m

The 200m sprinters will open their campaigns on day five.

The women’s 200m heats will feature the recently crowned world 100m champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, but she won’t face Olympic 100m champion and world 200m leader Julien Alfred, as she injured her hamstring in the 100m final, from which she clinched bronze.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, fourth in the 100m final, begins her 200m title defence.

In the men’s 200m heats, USA’s Noah Lyles will start his title defence and he will be joined by the Olympic champion, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.

Results for the pair were mixed in the 100m as Lyles clinched bronze, while Tebogo was disqualified for a false start.

They will be joined by athletes including two-time Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, who finished fourth in the 100m final on Sunday.

–World Athletics

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By KUNLE SOLAJA.

As the World Athletics Championships enter a decisive stage in Tokyo, Sports Village Square has discovered that Nigeria’s colours are being carried with pride by world-record hurdler Tobi Amusan and her teammates.

Yet, in stadiums across the Japanese capital, many familiar Nigerian names are also turning heads — only this time in foreign jerseys.

From Britain to Belgium, Italy to South Africa, and even Turkey, at least seven athletes of Nigerian heritage are competing under other national flags.

 For a country renowned as Africa’s sprint factory, it is both a mark of pride and a sobering reminder of how much talent Nigeria has lost to the global stage.

In the men’s hurdles, Belgium’s Michael Obasuyi — son of a Nigerian father — and Britain’s Tade Ojora, a four-time UK champion from Lagos’ Ojora royal lineage, are flying high.

Obasuyi featuring for Bellgium

Ojora has been a regular presence in British sprint hurdles, clinching national medals and showing remarkable consistency in recent years.

Omotade Ojora is from the Ojora Royal Family in Lagos.

Also in Britain’s squad is Chijindu “CJ” Ujah, a sprinter of Nigerian descent, back on the global circuit in the 100m and 4x100m relay.

Chijindu “CJ” Ujah

Italy’s roster is no different. Daisy Osakue, daughter of Nigerian migrants, carries the discus record for her adopted country, while Chituru Ali, whose mother is Nigerian, has emerged as Italy’s new sprint sensation.

Daisy Osakwe competing for Italy

Chituru Ali is another Italian athlete with Nigerian blood in his veins

South Africa too draws on Nigerian blood, with hurdler John Adesola representing the rainbow nation.

Nigeria’s John Adesola is competing for South Africa.

Most striking, however, is the reported switch of Favour Ofili — Nigeria’s 200m record holder — to Turkey. Her decision, if confirmed, would deprive Nigeria of one of its brightest track stars just as she hits her prime.

Favour Ofilli is Nigeria;s latest ‘donation’ to foreign land.

The presence of athletes like Obasuyi and Ojora highlights a recurring trend in international athletics — where Nigerian-born or Nigeria-descended athletes go on to represent other nations, often due to migration, dual nationality, or development opportunities abroad.

For Nigeria, it is both a point of pride and reflection: while the nation continues to produce raw talent, many end up contributing to the medal hauls of other countries.

Behold! Nigerian Heritage Athletes in Tokyo 2025

Athlete	Country	Event	Nigerian Connection
Michael Obasuyi	Belgium	110m hurdles	Nigerian father
Tade Ojora	Great Britain	110m hurdles	Lagos Ojora royal family
Chinjidu ‘CJ’ Ujah	Great Britain	100m, 4x100m	Nigerian parentage
Daisy Osakue	Italy	Discus throw	Nigerian parents
Chituru Ali	Italy	100m	Nigerian mother
John Adesola	South Africa	110m hurdles	Nigerian descent
Favour Ofili*	Turkey (switch)	100m/200m	Nigerian 200m record holder

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Prior to Monday night, Ditaji Kambundji was not even the biggest athletics name in her family, let alone the field for the final of the women’s 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

And yet the Swiss athlete upstaged a series of more heavily fancied rivals to seal a shock gold, shattering her personal best in the process.

Kambundji, whose sister Mujinga is a double world champion indoors and a global medallist outdoors, had struggled to translate her own indoor form in 2025 to the outdoors.

But when it mattered, she produced the race of her lifetime to win in a time of 12.24, which was just shy of Yordanka Donkova’s 27-year-old European record but well below the 12.40 Ditaji had run in Rome last year and Zurich this year.

While the 23-year-old had not been tipped as one of the favourites, the final still appeared to be wide open.

There was the Olympic champion Masai Russell, who had fallen at the last World Championships but was the fastest woman in the world this year with a 12.17 to put her second on the world all-time list.

And there was the one woman faster than her, the Nigerian Tobi Amusan as well as Russell’s US teammate Grace Stark, who has been arguably the most consistent sprint hurdler this season with three Diamond League victories prior to Tokyo.

But Kambundji had a great start and was never bettered as she took the line ahead of Amusan in second with Stark rounding off the podium.

Following the win, she had a look of utter disbelief at the result amid emotional celebrations.

Meanwhile, Russell, was thrown off her rhythm by hitting a number of hurdles and missed out on the medals in fourth place.

There was a shock in the semifinals earlier in the evening when Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent missed out on a place in the final, narrowly edged out of the second of the two non-automatic qualifying spots.

The 23-year-old has been one of the more consistent athletes on the world stage this season after taking out a series of the Tokyo finalists in Eugene and Zurich, the latter resulting in her winning the first Diamond League title of her career.

Stark, in the same semifinal, won that ahead of Kambundji. Semifinal two followed the form book as Amusan edged out Nadine Visser to be the fastest into the final.

The world record-holder’s time of 12.36 was just a one hundredth of a second quicker than Stark whose teammate Russell had to work hard to get through the field to win the third semi-final.

Come the final, Kambundji turned the world order on its head for comfortably the biggest win of her nascent career.

Kambundji said following her gold: “It’s crazy. I knew I had it in me. You could see on my face how happy I was when I realised I won.

“I thought that I was able to do it but I was surprised because I knew all the competitors were able to win.

“This is something I have been working for and to run it in the way I wanted to is special. Getting a personal best is nice but all that mattered today was the title. It’s amazing to be world champion.”

It was on the same track that her older sister, who is due to give birth to her first child at the end of November, had competed in a trio of Olympic finals. And her younger sibling said: “We definitely have a good relationship with this track.

“I am sure my sister is excited for me. It’s exciting to have her support. I was thinking about her a lot during these days. Our bond is really special. I know she will be thrilled. I am bringing home something really incredible.”

-World Athletics

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