Coe acclaims championship for the ages

TOKYO :World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said the 20th edition of the World Athletics Championships, which ends on Sunday evening, had been "extraordinary" and praised the people of Tokyo for creating such a great stadium atmosphere.

The third world championships in four years has certainly delivered, with a series incredible finishes on the track and last-round drama in many of the field events.

One statistic doing the rounds in Tokyo is that the combined winning margin of the men's 1,500 metres, 3,000m steeplechase, 10,000m and marathon was an astonishing 0.18 seconds.

"It's nine days of just outstanding athletics, and actually in a way so much more," Coe told a press conference in the Olympic Stadium.

"This has been a championship for the ages, there have been many, many outstanding memories for me and pretty much every discipline, track and field, has thrown them up.

"I thought, there was probably not much that was going to surpass the finish to the women's marathon and then the next day I'm there with the men's marathon (when Tanzania's Alphonce Simbo pipped Germany's Amanol Petros by three hundredths of a second). It's just been extraordinary."

TOP FORM AT RIGHT TIME

Coe believes that having the world championships as the finale of the season, rather than a return for one or two Diamond League meetings as is usually the case, contributed to athletes being able to fine-tune their preparation to be in top form for when it really matters.

He was also delighted to have a full house of around 58,000 for most nights, with more than 600,000 spectators attending overall. Those numbers were particularly significant coming after the COIVD-delayed Olympics held in the same stadium in 2021 with no fans allowed in.

"My memory is