Five African Highlights from the World Athletics Championships 2025

Across nine days of inspiring feats at the just-concluded World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan, dozens of African athletes gave us reason to applaud and cheer loudly. Beyond the 22 medals won by athletes representing African countries, there was a wide-range of accomplishments, from stunning firsts to new records set and multiple non-medal performances that provides an optimistic outlook for increased world championships success in the near future.

Here are five African highlights from the week-plus of action in Tokyo.

Kenya’s incredible showing

Kenyan athletes secured eleven medals, the second best performance of this year’s championship, snagging seven of the ten gold medals won by African athletes. Emmanuel Wanyonyi was the only Kenyan male athlete to snag a gold medal, reprising his Olympic champion feat from last year in the 800m event with a phenomenal race time of just under one minute and 42 seconds, that now stands as the world championship record.

Compatriots Lilian Odira and Faith Cherotich also set championship records en route to their gold medals in the women’s 800m and 3,000m steeplechase events respectively. Additionally, Peres Jepchirchir powered to her season’s best, winning gold in the women’s marathon, finishing just 0.02 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa. Wanyonyi and Cherotich are only 21 years old, while Odira is 26, meaning they could be headed for dominance in their respective track events for years to come.

The Faith Kipyegon-Beatrice Chebet speciale

Anticipation built up leading into the women’s 5,000 meters final on Saturday, September 20. The main agenda was a face-off between Kenyan athletes Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet, both with the chance to win two gold medals. Kipyegon continued her dominance of the 1,500 meters event a few days prior, winning her fourth gold medal in the event over the past five editions. Chebet, meanwhile, stormed into the lead in the final 200m of the 10,000 meters event to win her first world championship gold medal.

Looking to repeat last year’s double Olympic-winning feat, ahead of Kipyegon who was defending her championship title, Chebet dialled in her usual end-of-race magic and bolted through the finish line ahead of her compatriot. The competition feels more symbolic than its result, with two African athletes adding to their catalog of greatness.

Alphonce Simbu puts Tanzania on the golden board

A decade after his debut performance at the world championships, Alphonce Felix Simbu secured his first-ever gold medal in a major marathon event in Tokyo. Simbu ran a season best time of two hours, nine minutes and 48 seconds, only just beating Germany’s Amanal Petros by three-hundredths of a second in a photo-finish. Simbu’s win earned Tanzania its first world championship gold medal, and it marks his second championship medal, after his bronze-winning performance back in 2017. Earlier this year, the 33-year-old came second in the Boston Marathon, no doubt a solid confidence check heading into the championships.

Botswana continues track excellence emergence

Of course, Botswana’s government has declared a public holiday! The country’s 4x400m relay team won gold under the pouring rain on Sunday night, the first African team to achieve the feat in this event at the world championships. It’s the continuation of a rise dating back to last year’s gold-winning feat at the World Relays and its inspiring silver medal showing at the Paris summer Olympics.

Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, disqualified from the 100m finals and finishing just outside the podium of the 200m final at the championship, ran a team best 44.05 seconds in the second lap, building a momentum that was carried on by Bayapo Ndori and Collen Kebinatshipi to secure the top spot ahead of the U.S. team.

Both Ndori and Kebinatshipi were responsible for Botswana’s other two medals won in Tokyo; the former won bronze in the 400m event, while the latter ran a world leading 43.53 seconds in the final of the same event to claim gold. Kebinatshipi and his colleagues will be responsible for the light-hearted celebrations and no-work day scheduled for early next week.

More medals and a handful of morale victories

Botswana wasn’t the only African country deserving of applause in the men’s 4x400m. South Africa snagged bronze on the back of a strong third lap by 400m world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk, who ran a blistering 43.26 split that pulled his team up a couple of spots heading into the final frame. It was South Africa’s only medal at the championship, ending an 8-year podium finish drought at the world championships.

The only other African country aside Kenya and Botswana to snag multiple medals was Ethiopia, with Tigist Assefa and Yomif Kejelcha winning silver medals in the women’s marathon and men’s 10,000 meters respectively. Gudaf Tsegay and Sembo Almayew picked up bronze in the women’s 10,000 meters and women’s 3,000 meters steeplechase events.

Meanwhile, women’s 100m hurdles world record holder Tobi Amusan won Nigeria’s only medal with her silver, Djamel Sedjati put Algeria on the board by placing second in the men’s 800m final, and Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali won silver and was within a second of defending his 3,000 meters steeplechase title.

Strong African showing went beyond the medal table. For example, all finals for the three individual men’s sprint events featured multiple African athletes, including Kanyinsola Ajayi, who became the first Nigerian in eighteen years to reach the 100m final, while as many as four Africans took over half the spots in the 400m finals. Also, Ghana’s team finished just a bit over a second outside a podium finish in the men’s 4x100m event, while prolific Ivorian sprinter Marie Josée Ta Lou-Smith reached the womens’ 100m and 200m finals but finished outside the podium in both events.