WITH BLISTERING CLOSE, CHEBET WINS WORLD 10,000M TITLE
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

TOKYO (13-Sep) -- Kenya's Beatrice Chebet backed up her 2024 Olympic 10,000m title by winning the gold medal in the same discipline here tonight on the opening day of the 20th World Athletics Championships at National Stadium.  Chebet, 25, who is also the world record holder for the distance, put in some strong mid-race laps capped by a blistering final 800m split of 2:07.5 to hold off Italy's Nadia Battocletti, 30:37.61 to 30:38.23.  Battocletti also won the silver medal at the Paris Olympics last summer.  Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay won the bronze in 30:39.65.

"The last 800 was really, really tough," Chebet told reporters in the mixed zone after the race.  "When you are running... anything can happen, and you have to know the last 200, 300, 400, 800, 600, is a very strong lap.  You have to be at the point of, I'm ready, so when they change the gear you have to be there."

Chebet was content to let Ririka Hironaka of Japan lead for the early laps (the crowd roared in approval).  Hironaka took the field through 3000m in an honest 9:19.88.  Kenya's Agnes Ngetich, Battocletti, Chebet, Ethiopia's Fotyen Tesfaye and Australia's Lauren Ryan were all close behind.  

The next two kilometers got a little faster, 3:02.33 and 2:54.10, respectively, and that increase in tempo was enough to whittle the lead pack down to six at halfway (15:16.31): Chebet, Ngetich, Battocletti, Tesfaye, Tsegay, and Ejgayehu Taye.  Tesfaye got dropped in the sixth kilometer, and the remaining group of five would stay together until the final 800 meters.

"It was insane," Battocletti told reporters about the final laps of the race.  "I know that all of the athletes will have a very strong race."  She told herself, "Just be behind them and we have to... open the nozzle."

Ngetich, who had shared the lead with Chebet in the middle laps, was in third place at the bell, but did not have the speed to match the other women in the final circuit (she would finish fourth in 30:42.66).  Tsegay was the leader at the bell, but when Chebet made her final push with 200 meters to go, Tsegay fell back and had to settle for third in 30:39.65.  Battocletti responded immediately to Chebet's move and seemed to be closing in on the tiny Kenyan, but the Olympic champion had one more gear and got the win.

"For me, I just want to say, I'm ready," Chebet continued.  "I can say it was really my day and I'm so happy for myself."

Down the finish order, Taye got fifth in 30:55.52 and Hironaka finished sixth in 31:09.62 (she bowed to the crowd as she left the field of play).  Elise Cranny was the top American in 12th place in 31:40.07.

"I feel a little bit at a loss on how to bridge the gap," Cranny said.  "I want to be up there and it's super-frustrating."


FAVORITES ADVANCE IN WOMEN'S 1500M QUALIFYING

In the first round of the women's 1500m most of the favorites advanced to tomorrow's semi-finals.  In the first of four heats Olympic silver medalist Jessica Hull of Australia and 2022 USA 1500m champion Sinclaire Johnson controlled the race and finished one-two in 4:04.40 and 4:04.59, respectively.

"You don't get to win too often, and to do it at the World Championships is pretty special even if it's a heat," Hull told reporters.  "I felt really strong; ready to come back tomorrow."

Johnson said that she hadn't planned to lead.

"I found myself in the front," Johnson said.  "That wasn't really the game plan.  It was where I ended up and I kind of enjoyed controlling it from the front.  I felt pretty comfortable throughout the whole thing."

Also advancing out of the fourth and final heat was three-time Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya.  Like Hull and Johnson in heat one, Kipyegon and Britain's Laura Muir ran at the front for most of the race.  Kipyegon cruised to the win in the final sprint in 4:02.55, but Muir --who struggled to get to these championships due to injury-- went backward in the homestretch.  The two-time European 1500m champion finished eighth and did not advance.

"I worked so hard to get back here," Muir told reporters.  She continued: "At least I finished the race in one piece."

Other athletes who advanced who have realistic hopes for a podium finish included Kenyans Dorcus Ewoi, Susan Ejore-Sanders, and Nelly Jepchirchir; Ethiopian Freweyni Hailu; American Nikki Hiltz; and Ireland's Sarah Healy.  Hiltz, who finished second in the third heat behind Hailu in 4:01.73, felt strong.

"You think you're in a good spot and then I looked at the Jumbotron and the whole field is right behind me," Hiltz explained of her final 100 meters.  "You've got to run through the line.  It's not worth it to ease up and look cool at these things."

Diribe Welteji of Ethiopia did not start.  The 2023 World Athletics Championships silver medalist in the 1500m had been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) only yesterday.  The 23 year-old had been charged by AIU with refusal or failure to submit a test sample, but the Ethiopian Anti-Doping Authority threw out that charge, ruling in favor of the athlete.  AIU appealed that decision to the Court For Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and CAS upheld the AIU ruling. 


ROOKS OUT OF STEEPLECHASE

Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks failed to advance to the final of the men's 3000m steeplechase, finishing second to last in the second of three heats.  Rooks, 25, fell behind the pace early.  He was running in tenth position through the first kilometer, then continued to progressively slide back.  By the finish he was 19 seconds behind heat winner Salaheddine Ben Yazide of Morocco.  Rooks was timed in 8:45.57, his slowest performance in three years.

"My fitness was not indicative of what happened today," Rooks told reporters after the race.  He said that he had been dealing with both sacroiliac joint pain since the USATF Championships last month and some chest congestion which arose after his arrival in Tokyo.  But he said those were not the main reasons he did not run well.

"I don't think it was just that today," Rooks continued.  "There's more that I have to process.  I think I want to take some time to reflect on it to make sure that I pinpoint what the issue is.  I have some ideas of what it might be, but I just want to do some reflection on everything and get a clearer answer rather than responding with my emotions right now."

Rooks's training partner, Daniel Michalski, had better luck.  Running in his first major championships he stayed up with the leaders for the entire heat and was actually leading into the homestretch when he was passed by Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and world record holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia.  They were timed in 8:26.99, 8:27.79, and 8:28.76, respectively.

"I could not believe that guys wanted to jog around as much as they were, stuttering into the barriers the first lap or two," Michalski said.  He continued: "I just decided to put myself up there and press for a 'K' out, just so I could feel the wind-up.  When you're going so slow for so long sometimes it can really put you to sleep."

Besides El Bakkali, Ben Yazide and Girma, other medal favorites who advanced to the final included New Zealand's Geordie Beamish, Ethiopia's Samuel Firewu, and Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot.  Beamish finished second in the second heat despite dropping back to eighth place with just 300 meters to go after suffering a dangerous fall. Canada's Jean-Simon Desgagnes also fell and was advanced to the final by meet officials.

"I'm happy to come through after being on the ground," said Beamish.

PHOTO: Beatrice Chebet and Nadia Battocletti finishing first and second, respectively, in the 10,000m at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

PHOTO: Beatrice Chebet celebrating her victory in the 10,000m at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)

PHOTO: Nadia Battocletti of Italy after her silver medal performance in the 10,000m at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)