World Athletics Championships in Tokyo - Day 5 (17-09-2025)

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It's one of those days where it's better to start from the end: Mattia Furlani is the long jump world champion Days like this make up not only for the many bitter pills of the past, the many “why don't I go and watch fencing?” (to see Italians win), but also for Howe's defeat in the last jump in Osaka. This is his sixth consecutive medal in as many major events (admittedly, he was favoured by having them in quick succession): I believe that while today we can debate who is the greatest Italian athlete of all time between Tamberi, Mennea and Jacobs (I say the former), in 10 years' time there will be no doubt.

I'm in a great position to follow the competition: first deck, right at the level of the pit. Tentoglu jumps first: 7.83, though it looked like even less. Gayle follows: you’d say a little more than 8 metres, but actually it’s 8.33. I realise that, from my spot, looking at the metric bar underestimates the measures: this was already evident earlier, during the triple jump qualifiers. It's Furlani's turn: it's immediately obvious that it's a foul. After him comes Ehammer, who jumps 7.95 (this time I would have said even more) and closes the first round in second place. I only see the mark from Furlani’s second jump, as I was watching a 400mh semi-final, but you can tell it’s at least decent: 8.13. However, here they come first the Bulgarian (forgive me for not writing his name) with 8.19, and then the Chinese aShi with 8.33: you realise the road to medals is getting complicated, especially as you always think Tentoglu will get involved. Instead, in the third jump, the Greek doesn’t improve and remains ninth: I think that if he pulls off a great fourth jump and wins a medal, there’ll be a lot of talk about the new rule of doing the fourth round with ten athletes, but there is no problem because first the Chinese Zhang and then the Spaniard Lescay (last to jump and who had two fouls) put him in eleventh position and his competition ends. Furlani’s jump doesn’t look bad, but it’s a foul: I wasn’t sure, and I read later it was by 11 cm. Immediately after, Ehammer jumps 8.30, to the delight of the Swiss fans behind me, then Zhang 8.18 and Montler 8.13 (but with a second measure): Furlani is seventh, although closer to first than to eighth (this will remain so until Lescay’s jump).

In the fourth round, Furlani jumps fourth, after the first three fail to improve. I cheer because the jump is valid, but doesn’t seem exceptional. Instead, it’s 8.22, he moves up to fourth place and at least no longer risks missing out on the sixth jump. Only Gayle improves in this round, by 1 cm. So we reach the fifth round: eight remain and the order doesn’t change, so Furlani jumps second. You can see it’s clearly better than the previous one, and if that was 8.22… In fact, this is 8.39: he takes the lead! For the first time in this stadium, I see Italian flags waving, besides mine. We get to the last jump with the situation unchanged: six jump, and this time the order is based on the standings, so Furlani jumps last. The first athlete passes, then there are two jumps, from the Bulgarian and Ehammer, which are clearly good, but not enough to trouble him: in fact, both are 8.06: it’s a medal. Shi jumps and immediately knows he hasn’t improved: he waves and celebrates his bronze. In fact, it’s a foul. Only Gayle remains: everyone claps for him, including Furlani, but it’s 8.07, the same mark Furlani will do. The celebrations begin: someone throws him a flag, then a bigger one, the loudspeaker plays “Sarà perché ti amo”, just like with Tamberi in Budapest. At first he parades only with Shi, then Gayle joins in.

Even today I arrived just in time for the start of the events: my goal was to see Diaz’s first jump, who was second to jump, and I managed to catch it just as I walked in, before finding my seat. From what I saw, it didn’t look bad, but it was a foul. As I said, I chose my spot with the long jump in mind, and this time I chose well. Like yesterday, the first deck on my side is full, the opposite side not so much, and neither are the upper tiers. Behind me there’s a group of Swiss fans in two rows, on my right an "occidental" from an unspecified country. There are still groups of Jamaicans, both on my side and the other, and when Gout Gout is announced in the 200m, you realise there are also lots of Australians. In the neighbouring block there are lots of accredited people, and many pass by on the aisle: Levorato, two Cuban triple jumpers, Koala and someone wearing a Kenya shirt who didn’t look like a Kenyan, evidently a coach.

There’s some curiosity to see Dallavalle, and I was actually surprised to see him in the team, having not competed all year. The first jump looks good, but it’s beyond all expectations: 17.08. The qualifying mark would be 17.10, so I imagine he’ll stop, and indeed he does. Same goes for Diaz and Pichardo, after jumping 16.94 and 17.09 respectively (with a real sense of ease) on their second attempts. At one point, I realise I haven’t seen Diaz Fortun, then the announcer says he’s withdrawn after a foul. Claye is out, who after the third jump realises he hasn’t made it and waves goodbye, and so are two of the three Cubans. The men's javelin qualifiers were also underway: in the first group, Chopra qualifies directly on his first throw, Weber on his second and, surprisingly, the Pole Wegner, who was twelfth in the group, on his third. In the second group, Yego qualifies on his first, Peters shoots 89 metres on his second and Olympic champion Nadeem, after two disastrous throws, qualifies on his third. In the final, only three Europeans and no Finns.

The other field event final was the women’s pole vault. I was well placed for that too, it was on my side. It starts at 4.45: eight clear it on the first attempt, four on the second, including Bruni; one goes out and McCartney withdraws after a miss. On to 4.65: five clear it on first attempt, four on second. After the first attempt where she doesn’t even try, Bruni seems to signal “that’s enough”: I miss her second attempt so I really think she’s withdrawn. Instead, she takes the third and misses badly. Others go out too, leaving nine. On to 4.75, and it’s clear this is a very steep progression: Morris and Moon clear it first time, Sutej and Svabikova on the third. So, clearing two heights is enough to finish fifth, just like Trost did in Rio. On to 4.80: Moon clears first time, Morris and Sutej on the second, Svabikova misses twice and saves her third attempt. At 4.85, Morris clears first time while Moon misses and saves her remaining attempts, with the others going out. The competition is decided on the second attempt at 4.90, when Moon’s bar wobbles for ages but stays up. Morris misses twice, saves an attempt at 4.95 and misses that too. Moon asks for 5.01, but makes a half-hearted attempt and calls it a day. Competition ended half an hour before the track events finished.

Meanwhile, on the track, the 200m heats had started, first women’s, then men’s. Disappointment for the Italians: Kaddari gets left behind, recovers a bit and I think she’s finished fourth. Actually she’s fifth with 23.11, no chance of qualifying. Fontana does even worse, never in the race. Among the men, Desalu fights hard in a very tough heat, stays with the leaders for a long time, then fades a little. I can’t see the placings well, they all look close (though looking at the result, not really): I find out he’s fifth with 20.43 and won’t go through to the next round by thousandths. Tortu, considering the expectations, doesn’t do that badly, but he also comes fifth in 20.49 and is out.

Next are the 400m hurdles semi-finals, again women’s first, then men’s. The Italian women do their best, but it’s not enough: Folorunso would have needed to take 0.25 off the Italian record, Muraro 0.30 off her personal best from yesterday. Among the men, this time Warholm looks confident, though he’s second again, clearly easing off at the end. Dos Santos seems a bit in trouble, but keeps second not by much.

On to the two finals. First, the women’s 3000m steeplechase, which I follow distractedly as the long jump finale is unfolding. The pace is furious, close to world record; seven remain immediately, then four, then one of those four, Chemutei, falls at a barrier just before the second kilometre (right in front of me) and doesn’t get up, having to be carried off the track. Another fall at the last water hazard, but without consequences. Cherotich wins, with a championship record.

It ends with the 1500m. Here, the start is tactical. Everyone stays together until almost the end, and even Riva, up to 100-150 metres from the finish, seems to be in the medal fight. On the final straight, Wightman seems to pull away, someone closes in, but I think he’s won anyway. Instead, he’s overtaken by the one I discover after the finish is the Portuguese athlete Nader.

Riva is seventh. That makes five medals, which we hadn’t reached for thirty years, and eleven top-eight finishes, which until two editions ago would have been considered an excellent result for an entire World Championships. And there are still four days to go.