The World Athletics Championships Oregon22 have provided ideal conditions for the best track and field athletes in the world to shine on a global stage, with exhilarating and record-breaking performances by both individual athletes and national teams.

More than 1700 athletes from 179 countries (plus the Athlete Refugee Team) have competed in Oregon, watched by almost 150,000 ticketed spectators, and producing three world records.

In terms of performance, this will go down as the most universal edition in the history of the global event.

The record for the number of countries winning gold medals at one championships has been broken, with 29 countries taking turns on the top step of the podium, compared with 26 in 2017.

More countries than ever before have had athletes reach the finals of events in Oregon. The list of 81 countries is up from 76 countries in Doha in 2019, with Liberia, Niger, Pakistan, Samoa, Philippines and Guatemala reaching a final for the first time in World Championships history.

Underlying the diversity and global reach of track and field, every continental area features at least two world champions, while Peru, Kazakhstan and Nigeria won their first ever gold medals, and India and Burkina Faso also had their best ever medal performances (silver).

The USA team broke the record for the most medals at a single championships, earning 33 in total, 13 of them gold.

That tally was strengthened by medal sweeps in the men’s 100m, 200m and shot put. Jamaica, meanwhile, achieved a medal sweep of its own, taking all three medals in the women’s 100m.

Peru’s Kimberly Garcia has been the top individual performer of the championships, landing double gold in the women’s race walks. Had she been entered as a separate team, she would place seventh on the medals table.

Beyond the dominant performers, there have also been many close finishes and competitive finals. Just two hundredths of a second separated the medalists in the men’s 100m. The women’s 10,000m also produced a close and thrilling finish, and the men’s shot put once again provided an exciting crescendo. Even the men’s 35km race walk went down to the wire, with just one second separating gold from silver.

“Tonight we had a spectacular ending to a ground-breaking championships – with two world records and stunning racing in a passionate sold-out stadium to add the final flourish to the first world outdoor championships held in the USA,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “We have had more countries win gold than ever before and more countries reach finals than ever before. This wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our Local Organizing Committee, the commitment of the state of Oregon and the local authorities, and the dedication of our Member Federations, officials and volunteers. I thank them all for making this an unforgettable world championships, but most of all I thank the athletes, who have once again put on the greatest show on earth.”

Other performance milestones achieved in Oregon include:

• world records from Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m hurdles (50.68), Tobi Amusan in the 100m hurdles (12.12) and Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault (6.21m)
• 13 championship records and 30 world-leading performances
• 3 world records, 19 area records, 92 national records, 1 world U20 record
• The fastest ever marathons at a major championships
• The first time that three women have broken nine minutes for the 3000m steeplechase
• Allyson Felix extended her record medal total to 20 after gold in the women’s 4x400m and bronze in the mixed 4x400m

Broadcast and social media

Our US broadcast partner NBC reports that this championship has already reached more viewers (13.7 million) than any previous World Athletics Championships with three days of ratings still to be reported (Friday-Sunday).

Coverage on the NBC broadcast network for the first weekend (average of 2.0 million viewers) ranked as the most-watched World Athletics Championships since Osaka 2007 and represented a 159% gain compared to NBC’s coverage of the 2019 edition. These numbers are expected to be even more impressive when the final three days of competition are reported early this week.

The World Championships has also spurred substantial growth and interaction across World Athletics’ social media platforms, attracting 400 thousand new followers, more than seven million engagements and more than 41 million video views, bringing the total following for our official social channels to more than 9.1 million across five platforms.

Legacy

World Athletics and parkrun have combined to help the Eugene and Springfield communities in Oregon open parkrun events, as a legacy of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.With one existing parkrun event already in Oregon, this will increase the number of opportunities for citizens and visitors of the state to be active and social in the great outdoors.

The first event from this collaboration is planned to launch in the coming months, paving the way for many more across the state and beyond.

There are currently 53 parkrun locations in the United States. More than seven million people have participated

The nine-time Olympic champ and supreme anchorman—watching from home—has publicly flipped out as four more of the fastest men in the world just blew it again for Team USA.

Carl Lewis called it a “clown show.” Michael Johnson said it was “embarrassing and ridiculous.” And they were right.

The U.S. men’s 4 x 100 relay team failed even to qualify for the final at the Tokyo Games on Thursday after trailing in a distant sixth in their heat. The result means that, in an event they once dominated, Team USA has not even medalled in five consecutive Olympics.

Ostensibly, the team’s failure was blamed on a bungled baton exchange between Fred Kerley and Ronnie Baker at the second to third leg handoff, with Baker needing three attempts to grab the baton, but the truth is the team never really looked much of a threat. The first leg was run by Trayvon Bromell, who arrived in Tokyo as the fastest man in the world but failed even to qualify for the 100m final. After a disappointing display on Thursday, he admitted: “I didn’t do my job.”

Watching the race from his home in Houston was Carl Lewis, whose nine Olympic gold medals include two from the relay. Lewis, now 60, anchored the American team as they set world records at both the Los Angeles Games in 1984 and in Barcelona eight years later.

Never one to mince his words, America’s greatest Olympian took to Twitter after the race: “The USA team did everything wrong in the men’s relay. The passing system is wrong, athletes running the wrong legs, and it was clear that there was no leadership.

“It was a total embarrassment, and completely unacceptable for a USA team to look worse than the AAU kids I saw.”

In a subsequent interview with USA Today, Lewis picked apart the performance. He asked why, for example, Baker, a straight-line 100m specialist, had been asked to run the third leg, around the bend. “I’ve never seen Ronnie Baker run a turn in my life,” he said. “Go back and watch the third leg. Look at him. He looks like he’s running on ice because he’s never run a turn.”

“It’s totally avoidable,” he added. “And America is sitting there rooting for the United States and then they have this clown show. I can’t take it anymore… It is not hard to do the relay.”

“This was a football coach taking a team to the Super Bowl and losing 99-0 because they were completely ill-prepared.”

It’s easy, of course, to talk about some sort of U.S. relay “curse.” The American men last claimed the 4 x 100 title at the 2000 Sydney Games, anchored by Maurice Greene. The closest they have come since then was a second-place finish to Usain Bolt’s Jamaican quartet in 2012, only to have to return their silver medals after Tyson Gay failed a drugs test.

But it’s clear that the runners were pretty much all in the wrong slots in Tokyo. Apart from Baker being asked to run the turn, Bromell had not run the opening leg of a relay since 2015. Kerley had never run No. 2 at a major championship—and as the fastest American in the 100m in Tokyo, he should have been anchoring the team.

Talking to reporters in the mixed zone after the race, Baker admitted the team had “not much” practice in the run-up. Cravon Gillespie, who was asked to anchor the team despite not even qualifying for the 100m in Tokyo, told NBC Sports the team didn’t even get together until two days ago. “We definitely have to get more practice in,” he said.

It was that lack of preparation that irked another great American runner, the four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson, who tweeted: “This isn’t rocket science.”

“Trying to get two people running full speed to exchange a baton within a 20-meter zone requires practice! Especially when you haven’t won this event since Sydney 2000 due to drops and zone violations! Embarrassing and ridiculous.”

The relay quartet should not take all the blame after what is looking like a disastrous Game on the track for Team USA. There were upsets in the 100 and 200 finals and, on Thursday, in the 110m hurdles, where the hot favourite Grant Holloway, who seemed to begin his gold-medal celebration before the race was run, was beaten to the line by Hansle Parchment of Jamaica.

And in the later 400m final, another event traditionally dominated by American runners—including Johnson—Team USA once again finished outside the medals as the elegant Bahamian Steven Gardiner cruised to victory.

This could end up being the first Olympic Games the United States has ever competed in with no American man bringing home a gold from the track.

‘UNACCEPTABLE’

“Just because it’s not an American WR doesn’t mean the times were incorrect,” one critic tweeted.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson says he was “accused of racism” after publicly questioning the accuracy of times recorded at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.

Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan looked visibly stunned when she saw her winning time of 12.12 seconds in the 100m hurdles semi-final on Sunday. Her run at Hayward Field had obliterated the existing world record—set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016—by 0.08 seconds. World Athletics awarded her a $100,000 prize for breaking the record.

But in his analysis for the BBC, sprint legend Johnson questioned the accuracy of the timings in the event. He highlighted the fact that out of the 24 athletes who had competed in the three semi-final events, 12 recorded new personal bests. The recorded level of competition was so high that a time of 12.52 meant competitors wouldn’t even make the final, despite it being a time that would have won the world title at six previous world championships.

Amusan went on to win the final with an even faster time of 12.06, but it did not count as an official world record due to a +2.5m/s tailwind blowing during the event. What made Amusan’s runs even more astounding was her unusual choice of footwear: She was spotted wearing Adizero Avanti Tyo Tinman Elite shoes designed for distance running rather than sprinting. The spiked cleats have a soft sole containing a high-tech layer of carbon rods and foam, which led some to wonder if the super shoes—which Amusan said she wore after suffering tendonitis in the arch of her foot—had given her an unfair advantage.

“I don’t believe 100h times are correct,” Johnson tweeted after the event. “World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set. And Cindy Sember quote after her PB/NR ‘I thoroughly I was running slow!’ All athletes looked shocked,” he added.

Some social media users criticized Johnson, labeling the American athlete “bitter.” One tweeted: “Just because it’s not an American WR doesn’t mean the times were incorrect.” Another fumed: “Michael Johnson are you naturally this dumb or do you have to put in effort? Why don’t you channel your energy to recovering from your stroke you Black racist! Toby Amusan is a world record holder and there’s nothing you can do about that.”

Johnson later addressed the backlash, tweeting: “In questioning the times of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) by wondering if the timing system malfunctioned, I was attacked, accused of racism, and of questioning the talent of an athlete I respect and predicted to win. Unacceptable. I move on.”

The new world champion and world record-holder in the women’s 100m hurdles only got into hurdling through a quirk of fate.

Tobi Amusan started out as a sprinter and long jumper as a youngster in her native Nigeria.

At 13, she turned up to compete in a local athletics meet, only to find that just one event remained on the programme: the hurdles.

Amusan’s coach encouraged her to enter. She ended up winning the race and the rest, as they say, is history.

The switch to the sprint hurdles paid off in sensational fashion on Sunday (24) when the 25-year-old Amusan smashed the world record, clocking 12.12 in the semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. She shaved 0.08 off the previous mark set by Kendra Harrison of the US in 2016.

Less than two hours later, Amusan came back for the final and ran another spectacular race to secure her first global gold medal and the first ever for Nigeria at a World Championships.

Amusan was clocked in 12.06, but the time won’t be recognized as a world record due to a tail wind of +2.5 m/s.

After fourth-place finishes at the 2019 World Championships in Doha and last year’s Tokyo Olympics, Amusan finally made it — not just onto the podium, but to the top of the medal stand.

“I was the ‘almost girl,’” she said. “I got fourth, fourth, fourth. Now I finally did it.”

And with a world record for good measure.

“The goal was to come out and to win this gold,” Amusan said. “I just did it. Honestly, I believe in my abilities but I was not expecting a world record at these championships. You know, the goal is always just to execute well and get the win. So the world record is a bonus. I knew I had it in me but I could not believe it when I saw it on the screen after the semis. But it was just a matter of time.”

Looking back on how she made it here, Amusan said: “It has been a long journey.”

Born in the town of Ijebu Ode in the western Nigerian state of Ogun, Amusan gradually made the transition to hurdles as a teenager.

She continued competing in sprints and long jump but managed to squeeze in one hurdles session a week. She put cones and tires on the track to jump over because there were no hurdles in her town.

When she was replaced as a member of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay squad at the trials for the 2014 African Youth Games, she figured she had nothing to lose and entered the hurdles. She won that and went on to earn silver at the African Youth Games in Botswana.

Then followed a trip to Ethiopia in 2015, where she won African U20 gold, followed by a breakthrough victory at the All-African Games in Brazzaville, Congo.

“It was one of the biggest milestones of my career; winning that championship set me up for who I am today,” she said.

There was no looking back; she was now a full-time hurdler.

In 2016, Amusan received a scholarship to attend the University of Texas, El Paso, where hard training brought her personal best down from 13.10 to 12.83.

At UTEP, she worked with new coach Lacena Golding-Clarke, a three-time Olympian from Jamacia and the 2002 Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles champion.

There were setbacks along the way, of course. At the U20 world championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2016, Amusan struggled with her technique and finished in fifth place. She was so devastated that she thought about quitting the sport.

But she regrouped and, after reaching the semi-finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Amusan went unbeaten in the 2017 outdoor US collegiate season and won the NCAA title in a PB of 12.57.

She went into the 2017 world championships in London as the season’s fourth-fastest hurdler, but cramped up in the cold conditions and failed to make the final.

“After London,” she said, “I learned that the fact that I was in the mix, knowing I was capable of doing stuff at this age – I was just 20 – and being ranked in the top eight makes me confident that when I get my technique right, my speed right, and get a bit stronger, I’ll be fine.”

Indeed.

Amusan turned pro at the end of that year and went on to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, at the age of 20. She also triumphed at the African Championships later that year.

In 2019, she finished just 0.02 shy of a bronze in Doha. Last year, she came 0.45 from a medal at the delayed Tokyo Games.

“I don’t think there is a track and field event which can teach humility quite like the sprint hurdles,” Amusan said. “You can be the fastest in the field but one mistake can spell the end for your race. A hurdler should never go into any race with any level of complacency or arrogance. It teaches you to be humble.”

For now, at least, Amusan can afford to be a little less humble.

After all, she’s simply the fastest of all time and the best in the world.

Not bad for someone who became a hurdler by chance.

Steve Wilson for World Athletics