TOKYO (AP) — America’s two big-name sprinters, Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, both walked off the track Saturday with reason to think they might have found what’s been missing over a less-than-perfect 2025.
What a place to find it — at the world championships in Tokyo, a metropolis that’s been waiting four long years for a chance to cheer on the world’s fastest stars.
Both defending world champions won their preliminary heats in the 100 meters. Those results should surprise nobody but they still brought bursts of joy — both from the runners and from the loud sellout crowd that was absent four years ago, when Japan National Stadium was the centerpiece of a COVID-tainted Olympics.
“Last one, I could hear my own thoughts echoing off the wall,” Lyles said of the Tokyo Games. “So, completely different.”
Lyles won his heat in 9.95 seconds — the same time posted by Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who only ran hard for about the first 60 meters of his race.
Lyles beat Thompson by .005 seconds at the Paris Olympics last year, and though the American comes in as an underdog this time, he feels he unlocked something in practice over the last week.
“I was tightening my muscles and every time I tighten my muscles, my stride get shorter, and that’s why I wasn’t getting the results I wanted,” said Lyles, who still hasn’t cracked 9.9 this year.
He loosened up and, suddenly, he said, “it’s working.”
Richardson has been in even rougher shape, slowed by an injury for most of the year.
She was slow out of the starting blocks in this one — a typical problem of hers — but when she gets things into top gear, still elite. Her winning time of 11.03 seconds was her best of the year — not great by any means, but trending upward.
“I know that this year is not what I ideally saw as being my golden year,” she said. “But when I think of ‘golden’ now, I think of buried treasure and sometimes you’ve got to dig through the dirt to get to the gold.”
The semifinals and finals for both 100s are set for Sunday, with all the top contenders — including U.S. champ Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Olympic champ Julien Alfred, Lyles’ frenemy Kenny Bednarek and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville — still in the mix.
Also advancing to the final — this one for long jump — was Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall, who only needed one jump to move through. She finished sixth here four years ago in front of empty seats. On this trip, she noticed that when she waved to the fans, they didn’t hoot and holler, but simply waved back.
“It’s like silent applause,” she said. “The fans are amazing.”
Ryan Crouser wins again, this time it’s a surprise
America’s Ryan Crouser made it three world championships in a row to go with his three straight Olympic golds.
This one, though, was a surprise.
All of Crouser’s six official throws of 2025 came Saturday night — one in qualifying and five in finals. He has been nursing an elbow injury all season and hadn’t competed in a global or national event all year.
His throw of 22.34 meters (73 feet, 3 1/2 inches) was good for the most unlikely gold medal of his remarkable career. He joins Switzerland’s Werner Günthör as the second man to win three straight shot put titles.
Chebet adds another title in women’s 10,000
There might not have been a bigger favorite in a race over the entire meet than Beatrice Chebet in the women’s 10,000.
The world-record holder and Olympic champion came through, as expected, bursting past defending champion Gudaf Tsegay with about a half-lap left, then fending off a game challenge from Italy’s Nadia Battocletti down the stretch.
Chebet’s time of 30 minutes, 37.61 seconds was pedestrian by her standards, but the gold medal will look just as good. Last year, she became the first woman to crack 29 minutes over the 25-lap race.
There’s a possibility of a tantalizing showdown in the 5,000 next weekend between Chebet and Faith Kipyegon, the 1,500-meter world-record holder who advanced easily through her 1,500 heat.
US holds off Femke Bol for mixed relay win
The American 4×400 mixed relay team built a lead that not even comeback artist Femke Bol of the Netherlands could overcome.
Bol, who has rallied her relay teams to amazing wins in 2023 and 2024, couldn’t close a massive gap on the anchor lap in this one.
Alexis Holmes crossed the line 1.16 seconds ahead of Bol to give the U.S. the gold. Bol still gets credit from moving from fifth to second over her final lap. She’ll be the favorite in the 400 hurdles next week and will likely get another shot at the relay in the women’s 4×400.
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