- Record reach for the sport’s flagship championships
- Most widely covered and impactful World Athletics Championships in history
A record number of nations won medals at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 from 13-21 September, during the most impactful edition of the sport’s flagship event in history.
A total of 53 nations made it on to the medal table after nine action-packed days of competition at the 20th running of the World Championships. This surpasses the previous record of 46 that was set at Osaka 2007 and equalled at Budapest 2023.
One world record, nine championship records and nine area records were set or equalled, and there were a series of historic firsts, including the first ever World Championships medals for Samoa, Saint Lucia and Uruguay, and a first ever World Championships gold for Tanzania.
The world record was set by Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, as he improved his pole vault mark to 6.30m. As well as the historic firsts by Alex Rose (SAM), Julien Alfred (LCA), Julia Paternain (URU) and Alphonce Felix Simbu (TAN), other highlights include:
• US sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completing a sprint treble in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m
• Two other athletes achieving double gold in individual events: Kenyan distance runner Beatrice Chebet and Spanish race walker Maria Perez
• Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone winning the 400m in a championship record of 47.78 – the second-fastest time in history – to become the only athlete in World Championships history to win gold medals in the 400m (2025) and 400m hurdles (2022)
• Ethan Katzberg winning the hammer with a championship record of 84.70m – the farthest throw in the world for 20 years
A total of 1992 athletes took part from 193 different countries and the Athlete Refugee Team.
Away from the many magnificent performances on the track, field and road, the championships achieved record reach as the most widely covered and impactful World Championships in history.
“What we have seen over the past nine days here in Tokyo is an indelible and compelling celebration of human sporting endeavour,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “Tokyo has set the stage for some of our sport’s most extraordinary performances.
“This has been a championships for the ages and we are profoundly grateful to the people of Japan for hosting our showcase championships for the third time.
“Following the Olympic Games in 2021, I made a promise to the people of Tokyo that we would bring our sport back to the National Stadium as soon as we could. I am delighted that we kept our promise and that Tokyo kept its promise to fill the stadium with noisy fans.”
President of the Local Organising Committee Mitsugi Ogata also reflected on the great performances – by national and international athletes – and the emotion of seeing the stadium full, four years on from a Tokyo Games devoid of crowds.
“Over the past nine days, we have witnessed so many unforgettable moments,” he said. “There was never a quiet moment in the stadium. As we said: ‘Every second, SUGOI’, which was the slogan for this event. We delivered on that promise.”
Ogata also highlighted the various initiatives that formed part of the championships programme, including those related to Kids’ Athletics and sustainability.
“One of the greatest achievements of this championship, I believe, is reaching new audiences,” he added.
Record reach
A total of 619,288 fans attended the World Championships in Tokyo – more than the 581,462 who were there for the Tokyo 1991 World Championships – with sell out evening sessions across the week.
TBS saw huge TV audiences as the championships captured the nation’s attention. There was a peak of more than 12 million viewers in Japan on the opening day, and audiences were well over 10 million for each evening session. The vast majority of evening sessions surpassed both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games TV audiences for athletics.
Audiences were also engaged around the world, and in Sweden SVT 1 saw 75% of the total Swedish TV audience tune in to their broadcast to watch Duplantis break the world pole vault record for the 14th time – the highest share ever reported for World Athletics Championships coverage in Sweden.
The popularity of the World Athletics website continues to grow, with around 13 million fans visiting the website across the nine days of competition. This translates into a traffic increase of 50% over the already very successful 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
World Athletics has continued to develop AI athlete tracking for field events covering horizontal jumps, long throws and pole vault events. More than 2000 attempts were tracked and over 14 million data points were collected.
The World Athletics social media channels have grown by 700,000 followers during the championships, with 700 million video views on these channels.
Over the last month, more than 125,000 news articles about the championships have been published in international media, with a potential reach of more than 180 billion.
Never has a World Championships had so many commercial partners, with 17 sponsors for World Athletics and 14 for the Local Organising Committee in Tokyo completing a sold-out commercial programme.
Ultimate Championship
As well as witnessing the sport’s current stars making history, the championships welcomed a series of athletics legends, including Usain Bolt, the face of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in 2026 – the next major global outdoor track and field championships after Tokyo.
Some 300 VIPs, athletes and media attended the Ultimate Media Party on 11 September to mark the one-year-to-go milestone to this new and unmissable championship in Budapest.
Twenty-six athletes at the Tokyo World Championships won their place at next year’s Ultimate Championship, joining the 26 athletes who automatically qualified after becoming Olympic champions at last year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Accredited media
A record number of more than 1500 accredited broadcast personnel from 46 broadcasters, including more than 850 from media partner TBS, as well as 860 accredited media and photographers from 79 countries, covered the championships.
World Athletics Media Academy
New for the World Championships this year was the introduction of the World Athletics Media Academy, which saw 26 participants from 17 countries covering journalism in cooperation with AIPS, photography in collaboration with Sony, and TV commentary.
Sustainability
The LOC had Platinum-level achievement ambitions against the Athletics for a Better World Standard, the certification system implemented by World Athletics in 2024 that evaluates an event’s achievement in sustainable delivery. While the audit is not yet complete, it is evident that WCH Tokyo 25 will set a high bar with numerous initiatives and awareness campaigns aimed at athletes and fans.
Medical
The Global Summit on Athletics Science & Medicine had 185 registered participants from all over the world, representing teams and local universities. The LOC medical team comprised 285 medical staff members, 221 medical volunteers and 11 LOC medical staff across all venues.
Conferences
Seventy Member Federations committed to specific actions and targets to advance gender equity during the Gender Leadership Conference ‘Lead the Track: Breaking Limits in Global Sport Leadership’. A total of 172 participants attended.
Across three days, 123 Member Federations joined the series of Member Federation info sessions. The Coaches’ Club offered a two-day on-site symposium, which was attended by 150 people, plus online panel analysis on each competition day, joined by 506.
Kids’ Athletics
A series of initiatives were organised, focusing on the legacy of WCH Tokyo 25 for children and future generations.
Some 40,000 children were invited to spectate, 14,000 batons were donated to local schools and 3500 kids joined mass participation activations, behind the scenes or operational opportunities, and school visits throughout the World Championships. This included a visit by Olympic 200m champion and Kids’ Athletics ambassador Letsile Tebogo.
MOWA
By the close of the Museum of World Athletics Heritage Exhibition Tokyo 25, the exhibits and displays will have been viewed by a total of more than 206,000 visitors since 6 July.
Athlete Zone
The championships also hosted an Athlete Zone, visited by more than 1400 athletes. Early reaction data indicates an average rating of 5 out of 5, with 96% giving the zone five hearts.
Other World Championships statistics
RECORDS
1 world record:
Mondo Duplantis (SWE) men’s pole vault, 6.30m
9 championship records:
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA) women’s 100m, 10.61
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) women’s 400m, 47.78
Lilian Odira (KEN) women’s 800m, 1:54.62
Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) men’s 800m, 1:41.86
Faith Cherotich (KEN) women’s 3000m steeplechase, 8:51.59
Mondo Duplantis (SWE) men’s pole vault, 6.30m
Ethan Katzberg (CAN) men’s hammer, 84.70m
United States (USA) women’s 4x400m, 3:16.61
United States (USA) mixed 4x400m, 3:08.80
9 area records:
Africa
South Africa (RSA) mixed 4x400m, 3:11.16
Europe
Mondo Duplantis (SWE) men’s pole vault, 6.30m
North America, Central America and Caribbean
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) women’s 400m, 47.78
Camryn Rogers (CAN) women’s hammer, 80.51m
Ethan Katzberg (CAN) men’s hammer, 84.70m
Alegna Gonzalez (MEX) women’s 20km race walk, 1:26:06
Oceania
Jessica Hull (AUS) women’s 800m, 1:57.15
Hamish Kerr (NZL) men’s high jump, 2.36m=
South America
Gianna Woodruff (PAN) women’s 400m hurdles, 52.66
1 championship decathlon best:
Leo Neugebauer (GER) decathlon discus, 56.15m
62 national records
22 world-leading performances
210 personal bests
20 countries won gold medals
28 countries won silver medals
34 countries won bronze medals
53 countries won medals
74 countries finished in top 8
Countries from 5 areas won gold medals:
Africa – 10 golds from 3 countries
Europe – 12 golds from 8 countries
NACAC – 22 golds from 5 countries
Oceania – 3 golds from 2 countries
South America – 2 golds from 2 countries
1992 athletes took part from 193 different countries and the Athlete Refugee Team (1034 male and 958 female athletes)
Competition performance rankings:
197279 Tokyo 2025
196796 Eugene 2022
196643 Budapest 2023
196457 Doha 2019
194547 Beijing 2015
193426 London 2017
192664 Moskva 2013
191168 Berlin 2009
190322 Paris-St-Denis 2003
190095 Osaka 2007
World Athletics