World Athletics Championships 2025: Ranking the 7 biggest moments as pole vault legend Armand Duplantis is pipped to top spot
Published 21/09/2025 at 22:38 GMT+1
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Records, upsets, photo finishes - the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo had it all. But which moment truly stood above the rest? We've ranked seven unforgettable highlights, from Noah Lyles digging deep to match Usain Bolt in the 200m to triple jumper Pedro Pichardo's ice-cold statement down the camera. Spoiler: Armand Duplantis broke another world record, but he doesn't take No. 1 spot here.
'He makes it look so easy!' - Duplantis breaks pole vault world record once again
Video credit: TNT Sports
From Armand Duplantis setting yet another pole vault world record to Melissa Jefferson-Wooden joining an exclusive sprinting club, the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo offered no shortage of drama.
But what was the standout moment? Well, we've picked out our seven highlights of the championship and put them in order. Of course, narrowing down our shortlist was brutal. Beatrice Chebet's long-distance double missed out. So too did Rai Benjamin's emphatic victory over Karsten Warholm in the 400m hurdles.
Still, a ranking demands sacrifice. So here it is: the definitive countdown from seven to one. And if you don't agree, shame on you, but you can of course vote for your favourite moment at the end. Let's get going.
7. A marathon finish for the ages
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'Who gets the gold?' - Simbu pips Petros to marathon victory in dramatic photo finish!
Video credit: TNT Sports
"Simbu is coming back for more, he's closing with every single stride! On the line... wow, we need a photograph after 26.2 miles!"
It may not have been the fastest marathon in history - in truth, it was rather pedestrian by today's supershoe standards - but the men's race produced one of the tightest finishes in history.
Germany's Amanal Petros, visibly fading, threw himself at the line as Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu surged alongside. The big screen confirmed it: Simbu had snatched gold by 0.03 seconds - a margin smaller than in the men's 100m final. It was Tanzania's first-ever World Championships medal, and a finish no one will forget.
6. Noah Lyles digs deep to stay king
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'Four straight 200m titles' - Lyles storms to gold in Tokyo
Video credit: TNT Sports
At the halfway point of the men's 200 metres final, Noah Lyles looked in big trouble. With 50 metres to go, three rivals still had a shot at his crown. But then he found another gear, storming home under pressure to add yet another gold to his collection.
After a humbling defeat in the 100m, some wondered if his dominance in the half-lap would also end. Instead, he equalled Usain Bolt's streak of four consecutive 200m titles. Lyles may not quite match Bolt's records or aura, but he remains the showman of men's sprinting. And in Gout Gout, the 17-year-old Australian prodigy who reached the semi-finals, a new rival may be rising.
5. Pedro Pichardo's clutch leap
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'Who the best, baby?' - Pichardo's 'monstrous leap' seals triple jump gold
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"Who is the best, baby?"
Italy's Andrea Dallavalle thought he had delivered the answer with a lifetime-best 17.64m in the men's triple jump final, sparking disbelief and delight. But Pedro Pichardo wasn't finished.
On his final attempt, the Portuguese star hit the board perfectly and flew out to 17.91m. Gold secured, he delivered his cocksure question down the camera. In a week of clutch moments, none were executed with more swagger.
4. Lilian Odira crushes British golden hopes
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Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell pipped late by Odira in 800m final
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Britain had waited all week for a gold. Surely Keely Hodgkinson, the 800m favourite, would deliver?
Not quite. Defending champion Mary Moraa went off at a ferocious pace, dragging Hodgkinson with her. By the final bend, Moraa faded, Hodgkinson took over... and then Lilian Odira appeared.
The Kenyan judged her race to perfection, charging past Hodgkinson and training partner Georgia Hunter Bell to snatch gold. For Britain, heartbreak. For Odira, the moment of a lifetime.
3. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden joins sprint royalty
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Jefferson-Wooden sets new championship record to take 100m win - 'A class apart'
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It was fitting that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's farewell coincided with a new track queen stepping up. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden became only the second woman after the Jamaican to complete a World Championships sprint treble.
A championship record in the 100m set the tone. She destroyed the field in the 200m by nearly half a second. And in the 4x100m relay, she laid the platform for victory with a lightning opening leg.
The question now: can she take aim at Florence Griffith-Joyner's long-standing world records?
2. Mondo Duplantis defies gravity again
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Armand Duplantis sets the world record
Image credit: Getty Images
Armand Duplantis' biggest rival isn’t another vaulter - it's gravity itself. Once he had wrapped up another gold with ease, he cranked the bar up to 6.30m.
The first two attempts saw gravity edge their duel. But on the third, the Swede soared. For the 14th time in his career, another world record was his.
It's almost routine now - Duplantis nudging the record up centimetre by centimetre - but that shouldn't make it any less remarkable. 6.40m one day? Honestly, you wouldn't bet against him.
So why not No. 1 in our list? Duplantis gave us the only world record of the week, but pole vault records come in bite-sized chunks. You can keep nudging the bar higher. On the track, it doesn’t work like that - you don't get to choose to be a hundredth quicker, then repeat it 13 times.
And while our top spot missed out on a world record, they still stole the show.
1. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone gambles big - and wins
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‘Into the pantheon of sprinting greats’ – McLaughlin-Levrone takes women’s 400m gold
Video credit: TNT Sports
Faced with a choice between a near-certain gold in the 400m hurdles and the prospect of missing the podium entirely over the 400m flat, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone chose to gamble. Big time.
It paid off spectacularly. Blasting round the track in 47.78s, she became the second-fastest woman ever over 400m, just shy of Marita Koch's controversial 1985 record, which was set in an era of East Germany systematically doping its athletes.
It wasn't just a regular win from McLaughlin-Levrone. She crushed the Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino, who went third on the all-time list, and former world champion Salwa Eid Naser. It was a statement that that she is no longer simply the best 400m hurdler in history, but also arguably the greatest 400m flat runner too.
She could potentially wipe Koch from the record books before the season is out, then thoughts will surely turn to doubling up at a future major championship. The 2028 Olympics on home soil, perhaps?
VOTE: What was your standout moment at the World Athletics Championships?
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