Portugal's Nader claims shock world gold in men's 1500 metres

TOKYO :Portugal's Isaac Nader was a shock winner of the world 1,500 metres title when he thrillingly out-dipped Briton Jake Wightman on the line after defending champion and race favourite Josh Kerr suffered an injury mid-race on Wednesday.

Wightman, who has suffered terribly from injuries after winning the title in 2022, looked set for victory in a charge for the line but the race proved a metre too long for him as Nader snatched it by two hundredths of a second in 3 minutes 34.10 seconds.

Wightman took silver in 3:34.12 - Britain's first medal of the championships - with Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot edging compatriot and namesake Timothy for bronze in 3:34.25.

With the last two Olympic champions Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Cole Hocker absent – the Norwegian going out in the heats and the American disqualified after his semi-final - the path had looked clear for Kerr to secure back-to-back world titles.

Kerr missed out agonisingly to Hocker in Paris but appeared to pull a muscle mid-race here and jogged in miles adrift.