The 2023 World Athletics Championships started two days ago in Budapest, Hungary, and it has already been an eventful event.
We’ve seen some dramatic and entertaining moments, including Noah Lyles winning the men’s 100-metre final after reigning champion, Fred Kerley, was knocked out.
Ryan Crouser also won the shot put world title after competing with blood clots in his legs.
Unfortunately, it was a forgettable day for the Netherlands women.
On Day 1, the competition started out slowly due to mother nature, but things picked up as the day went on.
Day 2 brought us some memorable moments, making it a total of nine days of championships filled with excitement.
The Americans are currently on top of the medal table with three golds, two silvers, and a bronze medal.
Noah Lyles stunned everyone as he won his first medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The American clocked 9.83 seconds, narrowly winning the race that was without defending champion, Kerley, who was knocked out in the semi-final.
Lyles is the reigning 200m champion and will also look to bag that one.
Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, aged 20, took silver,
while Britain’s Zharnel Hughes took bronze.
The race was decided by four-thousandths of a second, with Tebogo, Hughes, and Oblique Seville all clocking 9.88 seconds. It was a race of fine margins.
However, 2019 world champion Coleman faded in the closing metres, with Lyles, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain, and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville all overtaking him.
“I came here for three golds, ticked off one, others are coming,” Lyles said. “[The] 100m was the hardest one…. I will have fun with the event I love now (200m).”
Lyles’ documentary series is set to come out soon on the World Athletics YouTube channel, and he talked about doing the individual double.
“The reason I really wanted to do it is because nobody else deserves it than me,” he said. It was a three-way photo finish for second, third, and fourth all on 9.88, with Tebogo the first over the line. His silver medal marked the first time Africa had put a man on the senior world 100m podium and is his third world-level medal at just 20 years old (in addition to titles at under-18 and under-20 levels).
“This medal isn’t for me, it’s for Botswana, for Africa, because Africa has been short of medals in men’s sprints,” he said in the mixed zone.
“It’s really amazing for Africa; we have been thirsting for a medal.”
Hughes, who had run the world’s fastest time until Lyles equaled the world lead on Saturday, was just one one-thousandth behind Tebogo. Seville was only another three one-thousandths outside the medals.
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“All these years, all these years of lessons, tribulations, of patience, I stuck to it,” Hughes said.
“I had self-belief and trust in speed, my coach, and it’s all come together at last in the 100m at a world championships: I am a bronze medallist.”
The Anguilla-born Hughes, who trains in Jamaica, also dedicated his medal to that country.
“This one is also to the Jamaicans. Even though I’m not running for Jamaica, they allow me to train there, they support me as well. Without their help, I wouldn’t have been here.”
