By David Melly
August 25, 2023
What a night for the greatest sprint nation on Earth.
Anyone who’s been to a track meet with a significant contingent of Jamaican fans knows the energy and investment that they bring to any stadium, and when their athletes are on fire at the highest level, it’s infectious. At times last night, it felt like the National Athletics Center in Budapest was going to crumble to the ground as Team Jamaica racked up medal after medal and the cheers got louder and louder.
Over four finals last night, Jamaican athletes won five(!) medals: gold in the men’s 400m and women’s 100m hurdles, silver and bronze in the men’s long jump, and a second bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles thanks to a well-timed personal best of 52.81 for 30-year-old Rushell Clayton.
It’s awesome to see teammates across all events come together on one magical night to deliver for their country. When the combination of circumstance, talent, strategy, and the ineffable magic of a championship moment all come together in harmony, it can swing the rankings on the medal table dramatically. And there’s a good chance they’re not done celebrating as the final of the 200ms and the heats of the 4×100m happen tomorrow. Even though CITIUS is an American outlet and, by default, we tend to root for Team USA, we’re certainly hoping for a good fight.
Join us LIVE on the CITIUS MAG YouTube at 7:30am E.T. for the Worlds Live Show featuring all interviews with all the biggest athletes, coaches, and media personalities of Budapest 23 and 4:00pm E.T. for the daily Post-Race Show featuring Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber, David McCarthy, Jasmine Todd, and Katelyn Hutchison unpacking all the action.
Tomorrow, if you’re in the right time zone or awake early (or late) enough in the U.S., you can also join us for a World Championships Marathon Watch Party live on YouTube with the CITIUS crew. If you’ve joined us for the Boston Marathon in the past, you know the deal: throw the race on television and pull us up on YouTube for alternate commentary, analysis, and good old-fashioned banter to spice up your viewing experience. The marathon and our live show go off at 7am local which is 1am E.T. (but 10pm tonight if you’re on the West Coast!).
You can also catch up on Day 6’s Live from Worlds (Part 2) featuring U.S. 1500m champ Yared Nuguse, Irish record holder Ciara Mageean, discus silver medalist Valarie Allman, and 110m hurdles finalist Freddie Crittenden if you missed it yesterday!
And you can catch up on CHAMPS CHATS below with the CITIUS team to hear our recaps, analysis, and breakdowns of Day 6 below, on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
What to Watch on Day 7
Finals: Women’s Triple Jump, Women’s Javelin Throw, Women’s 200m, Men’s 200m
The big news from Day 7 of Worlds is the finals of the men’s and women’s 200m, where Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson will pursue their second respective gold medals of the championships and Erriyon Knighton, Letsile Tebogo, Shericka Jackson, Gabby Thomas, and more will attempt to stop them. It’s a busy day of sprints as the heats of the men’s and women’s 4×100ms are earlier in the evening session too.
In the morning, the decathlon kicks off at 4:05am E.T. with the 100 meters alongside the women’s high jump and men’s javelin qualifying rounds. Then in the afternoon/evening (depending on where you are), we’ll get a glimpse of Athing Mu vs. Mary Moraa in the semifinal of the women’s 800m, as last year’s gold and bronze medalist are both in the same heat. Then we wrap it up with the end of the multi men’s day 1 and the a whole bunch of sprinting fireworks. Savor it while you can because there’s only three days left!
@Johnny Zhang/@jzsnapz
Race of the Day: 100 Meter Hurdles
In most high-level 100m hurdles races this year, you could throw a blanket over the field from first to last and roll a dice to see what order they finish. Not only are today’s hurdlers assaulting the all-time lists with historic results, they’re so closely competitive with one another that every single championship race is thrilling.
Last night was no exception, as 2015 World champion Danielle Williams returned to the top of the podium with a 12.43 victory, her second gold medal and third global medal overall. How close was it? Only 0.09 seconds separated first from fourth and only 0.19 seconds separated first from last year’s champion Tobi Amusan in sixth. Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won silver only 1/100th of a second back in 12.44 and, after a blazing 12.24 in the prelims, American Keni Harrison had to settle with bronze.
Harrison has three medals in the last four global championships, but the former world record holder is still missing a World title. Here’s hoping she puts the pieces together next year in Paris because she’s one of the all-time great talents in the event.
Johnny Zhang/@jzsnapz
Athlete of the Day: Femke Bol
Femke Bol in the 400m hurdles was one of the heaviest favorites headed into this year’s championships, but she still was riding the goodwill of a comeback story after taking a nasty spill on the anchor leg of the mixed-gender 4×400m relay and missing out on a medal. Bol is also an incredible athlete whether there’s hurdles out on the track or not, but thanks to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dalilah Muhammad, she’d never won a gold medal at a global championships before last night.
Bol went out fairly conservative in the final, but still came home like a freight train with daylight behind her as she won her gold in 51.70 and a 1.10-second margin of victory. In a way, it’s a shame that the event has been elevated so much that a sub-52 second performance isn’t seen as earth-shattering, because the casual fan may not realize that, until two years ago, running one lap and 10 hurdles was unprecedented in the history of the sport.
It’s been an incredible year for the Dutch superstar, who began her season in January and picked up world indoor records in the 400m and 500m and is still going strong. She hasn’t lost a 400m hurdles all season and, at 23 years old, it seems like she’s only getting stronger as she develops as an athlete. If McLaughlin-Levrone does decide to return to the 400m hurdles in 2024, she’s going to have her work cut out for her to repeat as Olympic champion.
Justin Britton/@JustinBritton
Photo of the Day
Noah Lyles made his 19.76 in the men’s 200m look very, very casual and Justin Britton was there to capture his nonchalant celebration.
Social Moment to Remember
Geaux Tigers! Sha’Carri Richardson and Mondo Duplantis may be big-time World champions now, but in 2019 they were teammates at Louisiana State University. Catch this sweet moment of Sha’Carri cheering for Mondo while they were both on the track for the prelim of the 200m and the qualification round of the pole vault.
Report from the Mixed Zone
Flagstaff-based Guatemalan Luis Grijalva was in good spirits after the preliminary round of the men’s 5000m. After finishing 4th in 2022, the NAU grad has high hopes for a medal in a tactical final.
CITIUS MAG's coverage of the 2023 World Athletics Championships is powered by ASICS. You can follow the action on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube and check out ASICS on Instagram or their website.
David Melly
David began contributing to CITIUS in 2018, and quickly cemented himself as an integral part of the team thanks to his quick wit, hot takes, undying love for the sport and willingness to get yelled at online.
