Hall golden in heptathlon for Team USATF on day 8 of World Athletics Championships

Hall golden in heptathlon for Team USATF on day 8 of World Athletics Championships
 
TOKYO – A 32-year gold drought in the women's heptathlon came to an end Saturday night for Team USATF on the penultimate day of the World Athletics Championships at National Stadium, and the Americans stayed atop the medal table with 20, 12 of them gold.
 
After a monster lifetime best in the javelin, all that was left for Anna Hall was to safely navigate the 800 to win the first heptathlon gold by an American at the World Championships since legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1993. Hall, the world leader and the world's all-time No. 2 performer at 7,032 from earlier this year, did all that was required, winning in 2:06.08 to total 6,888 points and finish atop the podium for the first time in her international senior career.
 
Hall had a sizable lead after scoring 4,154 on day one, but a relatively subpar long jump of 6.12/20-1 cut into that lead a bit. Putting that behind her Hall flailed the spear out to a PB 48.13/157-11 on her final attempt and virtually assured herself of victory barring a disaster in her best event. The gold completed Hall's collection of World Championships medals after earning bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023.
 
Facing a monumental task in holding off Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the 800, Taliyah Brooks needed to stay within six seconds of the Briton to keep alive any hope of a medal. While Johnson-Thompson came in as a 2:04.90 lifetime runner in the event, Brooks' PB was only 2:13.22. Throw all those numbers out the window, though, because Brooks gutted out a magnificent PB of 2:13.17 and Johnson-Thompson clocked "only" 2:07.38 behind Hall.
 
That confluence of events left the two women tied with 6,581 points, a big PB for Brooks, and gave the U.S. two medals for the first time at the World Championships since 1987 when JJK won and Jane Frederick earned bronze. It was the first tie for a medal in the event in meet history. Michelle Atherley placed 11th with 6,287 points, and Timara Chapman did not finish. Brooks had set herself up to contend for the podium with a big 6.79/22-3.5 PB in the long jump and helped her cause with another PB in the javelin at 43.37/142-3.
 
A three-peat was in the cards for two-time defending champion Chase Jackson in the women's shot put, but her final round blast of 20.21/66-3.75 was not quite enough to overtake Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands, and she ended up with silver. Schilder also saved her best for last, rocketing to the top of the podium with a 20.29/66-7 in round six to grab gold. New Zealand's Maddison-Lee Wesche took the lead on her first throw at 20.06/65-9.75 but couldn't improve on that in the next five attempts and settled for bronze. Jaida Ross placed eighth with a best of 19.01/62-4.5 on her opening attempt. Jessica Ramsey's best of 18.28/59-11.75 in the morning qualifying round left her out of the final in 14th overall, and Maggie Ewen was 26th at 17.31/56-9.5.
 
USATF champion Shelby Houlihan and Josette Andrews went to the lead in the women's 5000 final, pacing the field through the first kilometer in a shade over 3:17 as the tempo dragged. Those two continued to make the running through 2K in 6:20 and 3K in 9:18.66, but a looming threat in the shape of 10,000 medalist Nadia Battocletti of Italy and Kenya's Agnes Ngetich threatened the two Americans.
 
Everyone in the field was still in with a chance with three laps to go, including 1500 champion and world record holder Faith Kipyegon of Kenya, who was seeking a second straight 1500/5000 double. The penultimate circuit was quicker, but the placings didn't change much as Andrews and Houlihan maintained the lead, if just barely. Kipyegon made her move with Battocletti coming to the bell and the American duo was swallowed up, also passed by world record holder Beatrice Chebet.
 
Chebet outkicked Kipyegon with a 57.6 second final lap to seal a 5000/10,000 double in 14:54.36, leaving Kipyegon to earn silver in 14:55.07 and Battocletti bronze in 14:55.42. Houlihan sprinted past a flagging Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia to take fourth in 14:57.42, the best finish ever by an American, while Andrews was sixth in 15:00.25. The previous highest U.S. finish was sixth by Molly Huddle in 2013.
 
Putting together the fifth best first day score ever in the men's decathlon, USATF champion Kyle Garland finished with 4,707 points and held a lead of 164 over Norway's Sander Skotheim. Garland started his quest for gold with a 10.51 in the 100 and then gave his coaches and fans a touch of heartburn with two fouls in the long jump before calmly leaping 7.92/26-0 on his final try.
 
Winning the shot put with a huge 17.02/55-10.25 Garland increased his lead, and he then went over 2.11/6-11 in the high jump. Polishing off a good day, Garland clocked 48.73 in the 400 to give him a decent pad of points over his competitors. Heath Baldwin scored 4,310 to sit in sixth, with Harrison Williams ninth at 4,153. Budapest champion Pierce Lepage of Canada withdrew after the high jump
 
Avoiding trouble in the second heat of the women's 4x400, Team USATF won in a world-leading 3:22.53 to lock up a spot in the final. Alexis Holmes moved to leadoff for the Americans after anchoring the mixed 4x400 to gold on day one and passed to Rosey Effiong a smidge behind France and ahead of the Netherlands with a 50.90 split. Effiong's 50.39 carry had the U.S. neck and neck with the Dutch at the next exchange, where Quanera Hayes busted the race wide open with a 50.59 to give them a lead of more than a second. Britton Wilson did the remainder of the work on anchor, cruising to a 50.65 to help her team to victory with the fastest time overall.
 
Three veterans and a youngster carried the U.S. men to the final in the 4x100 with a second place finish in heat one at 37.98. Christian Coleman, the world record holder in the indoor 60, again blitzed the opening leg with the fastest first split of the prelims to pass to Ronnie Baker. After a squeezed exchange, Baker ran a solid second leg to give Trayvon Bromell the baton firmly in the mix. Their exchange was textbook, and Bromell dashed around the curve to put the team in contention at the final exchange with collegian T'Mars McCallum. McCallum brought it home securely to place second behind Canada's winning 37.85. Jamaica, with two individual 100 medalists on the squad, failed to complete the final pass and crashed out.
 
Matching Coleman's excellence on the lead leg for the American women's 4x100 in the second heat, Jacious Sears also had the fastest split of all 16 countries contesting the event and cleanly pushed the stick to TeeTee Terry. Terry sped down the backstretch to blow it open and put the U.S. into firm control of the lead. Terry's exchange with Kayla White was efficient and when White neared the last pass to Sha'Carri Richardson, it was all over but the sprinting. Richardson made no mistakes and crossed the line in a world-leading 41.60 to put Team USATF into the final.
 
A shocking first heat in the men's 4x400 relay left the U.S. on the sideline as spectators for the final after the foursome of Chris Bailey, Demarius Smith, Bryce Deadmon and Jenoah Mckiver finished only sixth in 3:01.06 and apparently failed to advance for the first time in meet history. The Zambian team was subsequently disqualified for starting outside the takeoff zone, and they also muddled the second exchange by cutting across the Americans and impeding Kenya. Team USATF officials filed a protest that was upheld, setting up a race between the U.S. and Kenya for a spot in a nine team final.
 
Bailey handled leadoff duties efficiently to pass the stick to Smith in second behind South Africa, but Smith couldn't hold off a herd of challengers and got obstructed at the exchange with Zambia. Fighting to get the baton to Deadmon, Smith finally completed the pass over the top of the Zambian, but it left Deadmon with too much to do. With only the first three in each heat and the next two fastest teams to advance, Deadmon handed off to Mckiver near the back of the field. Mckiver, whose sizzling carry helped the mixed 4x400 to gold earlier this week, gave it a good try to get into the qualifying spots but it wasn't to be.
 
Winner of the 35K on the opening day of the meet, Spain's Maria Perez completed the race walk double with a clear victory in the women's 20 kilometer event, setting a season best of 1:25:54. Perez also became the first woman to have a double double, having won the same two titles at Budapest in 2023. Mexico's Alegna Gonzalez set an area record of 1:26:06 for silver, and Japan's Nanako Fujii delighted the home crowd by holding off a fast-closing Paula Milena Torres of Ecuador for bronze. Fujii set a national record of 1:26:18 and Torres matched that for a lifetime best. Lauren Harris, who twice this year set American records on the track for 20,000 meters, polished off a stellar 2025 with a 1:32:50 in 27th, her fastest time ever on the roads and a time that only she and four others have bettered on the U.S. women's all-time performer list.
 
None of the three U.S. men in the discus advanced to the final. USATF champion Reggie Jagers was the best of the trio, finishing 14th overall at 63.59/208-7. The No. 2 all-time American performer, Sam Mattis, was 20th with a best of 62.86/206-3, and Marcus Gustaveson placed 31st overall with a toss of 59.12/193-11.
 
TEAM USATF MEDALS (20)
 
GOLD (12)
Ryan Crouser, men's shot put (22.34/73-3.5)
Mixed 4x400 relay (Bryce Deadmon, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Jenoah Mckiver, Alexis Holmes) (3:08.80, =meet record)
Valarie Allman, women's discus (69.48/227-11)
Tara Davis-Woodhall, women's long jump (7.13/23-4.75)
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 100 (10.61, meet record)
Cordell Tinch, men's 110 hurdles (12.99)
Katie Moon, women's pole vault (4.90/16-0.75)
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400 (47.78)
Rai Benjamin, men's 400 hurdles (46.52)
Noah Lyles, men's 200 (19.52)
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 200 (21.69)
Anna Hall, women's heptathlon (6,888)
 
SILVER (4)
Sandi Morris, women's pole vault (4.85/15-11)
Jasmine Jones, women's 400 hurdles (52.08)
Kenny Bednarek, men's 200 (19.58)
Chase Jackson, women's shot put (20.21/66-3.75)
 
BRONZE (4)
Noah Lyles, men's 100 (9.89)
Grace Stark, women's 100 hurdles (12.34)
Curtis Thompson, men's javelin (86.67/284-4)
Taliyah Brooks, women's heptathlon (6,581 - tie)
 
RECORDS SET BY TEAM USATF
 
World
American
48.29 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400
47.78 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400
 
World Championships
=3:08.80 – Mixed 4x400 relay  (Bryce Deadmon, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Jenoah Mckiver, Alexis Holmes)
10.61 – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, women's 100
47.78 – Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, women's 400