Failure or
Success ?
The jury is out whether the 2022 World Athletics Championships , recently held in the USA for the first time , were a success of failure , and it has raised several questions about the sport . – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
The 18th edition of the World Athletics Track & Field Championships , held in Eugene , Oregon , came to an end on Sunday 24 July . It was the first time the World Championships were held in the USA , and those in the sport are now debating whether these Championships were a success for the organisers and for World Athletics ( WA ) or not . What these Championships did show was that there are some big questions to be asked by WA and the sport ( see my column on page 70 ), but from a performance perspective , there is no doubt the Championships were incredible .
The success , or failure , of any Championships is measured with a number of statistics : Performances , attendance and TV ratings . In terms of the TV Ratings , it seems to have been a success , with WA recording 13.7 million viewers more than in any previous World Championships . The attendance , though , was not quite what was expected , with only the final day sold out , most likely due to ticket prices being drastically lowered .
However , in terms of performances , there can be no doubt that the 2022 World Championships did more than deliver :
• 29 countries won gold medals – a new record total
• 81 countries had athletes reach finals – another new record
• Three World Records
• One U20 World Record
• 13 Championship Records
• 19 Continental / Area Records
• 92 National Records
• 30 World Leading Performances
• Team USA won 33 medals – the most ever by a country
• The US Team also recorded podium clean-sweeps in the men ’ s 100m , 200m and shot put .
• Jamaica swept the medals in the women ’ s 100m , and won gold and silver in the 200m .
• US sprinter Allyson Felix extended her record World Champs medal tally to 20 – what a way to retire from the sport !
There was so much drama to keep athletics fans glued to the television set , that it is difficult to cover them all , but amongst the standout performances were the three World Records by Sydney McLaughlin ( women ’ s 400m hurdles ), Tobi Amusan ( women ’ s 100m hurdles ) and Mondo Duplantis ( men ’ s pole vault ). However , there were upsets too , notably Jacob Ingebrigtsen , arguably the best metric miler over the last three years , having to settle for silver in the men ’ s 1500m , but then winning gold in the men ’ s 5000m . Here are some of the stories that will be spoken about for a long time to come .
Women ’ s 400m Hurdles : # GoSydGo
Sydney McLaughlin is definitely from another planet . In the last two years , the 22-year-old American has lowered the women ’ s 400m hurdles World Record four times , taking a staggering 1.48 seconds off the former fastest time , but what she did at the World Championships was simply jaw-dropping . In the final , she clocked 50.68 seconds and finished a second and a half ahead of Dutchwoman Femke Bol ( 52.27 ). To put that time into perspective , had she run 50.68 in the 400m flat final , she would have finished seventh !
64 ISSUE 152 | www . modernathlete . co . za