World Athletics Championships in Tokyo - Day 1 (13-09-2025)

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 I arrive in Tokyo, which shows few signs of the World Championship. I don't know if there were others on my flight travelling for this reason, but I don't think so. At the airport, I only see a couple of volunteers with signs offering information. I don't stop because I assume they are only for those involved in the event. I don't see any posters on the street either. But above all, at the underground station, there are no signs about the direction to the stadium and all the writing is in Japanese. The underground stops and doesn't start again: there are announcements, but they are always in Japanese. When Google also tells me “no service”, I resign myself to taking another line.

At the arrival stop, you start seeing signs of the World Championships: posters featuring the top athletes of the Japanese team and some of their successes in the from previous Championships. You meet a few people heading to the stadium, but not many—they’re already all there. The stadium is right next to the exit, but it’s Entrance A, mine is E, which is exactly halfway round. Fortunately, the walk is short because you can pass right underneath the stands: the “pre-filtering” is completely absent; I’ve never seen a large stadium where you can walk under the stands without showing your ticket. There’s no queue at the entrance, everyone’s already in, and you get through both the bag check and ticket check immediately (manual, the turnstiles are switched off).

To reach my section, there are three escalator ramps, taking you up to section 320, mine is 335. On the way, you see another crowded stadium, which I assume is for baseball, later I’ll have confirmation. 

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The stadium is wonderful: entering gives the impression of being in an indoor arena and the view is excellent. Above all, I’ve never seen shot put so well in such a big stadium. To think that four years ago it was empty… I had planned to miss the heats for the 3000m steeplechase—I needed to rest after the journey and jet lag. After the travel mishaps, though, I arrive just as the long jump qualifiers are ending their second attempt, the pole vault qualifiers have started, and three heats of the women’s 100m (out of seven) have already been run: luckily, Dosso is in the sixth heat. For a while, I don’t even know how the long jump and pole vault are going—the website isn’t working. I saw that Iapichino’s first jump went poorly, and the scoreboard shows the second wasn’t any better. I get there in time for her third: on the screen, it’s clear she’s out, and in the end, it’s even worse than it looked—6.32! And 6.60 would have been enough to go through.

My section, like almost all the rest of the stadium, is almost completely full; in my row, there are a couple of empty seats. Only on the opposite side, in the first and second deck (I’m in the third), are some sections half-empty. Next to me are two non-Asian girls: from their painted cheeks, I discover they’re New Zealanders. After a while, I remember we’ll be rivals in the shot put. In the row in front, there’s a group I’ll later find out to be Irish; everyone else nearby seems local.

The first track event I see is the fourth heat of the women’s 100m, with Alfred already pulling away halfway and finishing in 10.94, easing up at the end. Then comes the sixth heat, which Dosso (mentioned first by the announcer as the world silver medallist in the 60m) wins, beating athletes like Britain’s Hunt and America’s White. Meanwhile, in the pole vault, I see two of Oliveri’s three misses at 5.40; he finishes with no measure, while Bertelli clears 5.40 on first attempt, 5.55 on second, but at 5.70 doesn’t even attempt the first jump, and I don’t see the others. At 5.75, twelve remain and it ends there (they’d also scheduled 5.80).

Track events continue with the women’s 1500m heats, with only the top six qualifying. First Sabatini and then Zenoni control their heats, always among the leaders, while Cavalli loses contact on the last lap. Then come the men’s 100m heats, starting with a bang: in the first, the third runs 9.93 and the fourth 10.00 (top three and fastest losers go through). Those three will remain the fastest of the round, only Lyles will get close with 9.95. Jacobs starts poorly in his heat but manages to come third—he’ll be one of the slowest qualifiers.

And then it’s the first final of the day: men’s shot put. Walsh throws second and gets 21.58, followed by Crouser who looks better but only gets 21.41, then Fabbri seems slightly off and, indeed, after the first five he’s third, which already seems promising since all the throwers were favourites, and after the first round, he’s still third. In the second, Crouser takes the lead with 21.99, then Fabbri throws very long, right on the sector line, but it’s in: 21.83. His third attempt is even further, seems over 22, but this time it’s out of bounds. On the fourth throw, the surprise: instead of eight, ten athletes continue, dropping to eight at the fifth and six at the sixth. I knew they did this at the indoor Worlds but thought it was just for that occasion. On the fifth, Walsh throws 21.94—the New Zealanders next to me cheer, but Fabbri immediately ties it and stays second due to countback. Then Crouser improves with 22.34, avoiding winning the title with a mark that wouldn’t have enough to qualify at the US trials. The biggest surprise comes in the sixth round: Mexican Munoz, the only finalist I’d never heard of, after 21.29 and 21.50, improves again with 21.97 and moves into second place. The others don’t improve, so Fabbri gets bronze and Walsh fourth on countback. Disappointment for the New Zealanders: for a moment, I think of telling them a medal could arrive years later, with this athlete who came out of nowhere, but then I’m ashamed to think it.

Meanwhile, the women’s 10,000m had also taken place. Battocletti always among the leaders, usually in third: after a fast fourth and fifth kilometre, the leading group shrinks from seven to six, then five, with Battocletti the only non-African. From the seventh kilometre, the pace slows but the others don’t catch up. On the last lap, there are four left, at the final bend Chebet goes and Battocletti is the only one to follow: for a moment I'm illuded she might even overtake, but on the final straight the gap widens. Nadia takes silver, with yet another Italian record. Meanwhile, the crowd cheers for the home athlete who moved up positions, finishing sixth.

For 20 years, from 2003 to 2023, we hadn’t won three medals in one edition: today we won them in a single day! In the three worst editions, from 2013 to 2017, when every time we thought “I thought last time went badly until I saw this,” we won only two medals in total. The last event remains, the mixed relay: this time they introduce it normally, with the athletes already on the track and no light shows. Italy loses ground in the first leg and stays seventh, the USA maintain a lead over the group. In the final leg, the Netherlands have Bol and so become favourites for silver, which they win, with Belgium third in a sprint over Poland.

On the way out, there’s a queue because you can only go down a narrow staircase. I try another sector, but they’re all the same. Even at the metro there’s a crowd, but luckily more people are heading the other way. And tomorrow we set off at dawn for the Marathon.