World Athletics Championships live: Updates as Josh Kerr aims for 1500m final and Mondo Duplantis targets pole vault world record – UK Times

Ludicrous, ludicrous scenes in the men’s marathon in Tokyo this morning. It was more 100m than 26.2 miles as we had a false start and then a photo finish!

Alphonce Felix Simbu snatched gold in the first photo finish at a major championship marathon, edging out German Amanal Petros in a dramatic race to the line to give Tanzania a maiden world title.

The photo finish showed the 42.195km race was decided by three-hundredths of a second as Simbu surged past the diving Petros at the line, closer than the 0.05s gap between the gold and silver medallists in the men’s 100m final on Sunday.

“When we entered the stadium, I was not sure if I would win,” the 33-year-old Simbu said. “I did not know if I had won. But when I saw the video screens and me on the top of the results, I felt relieved. I made history today – the first Tanzanian gold medal at a world championships.”

Eritrean-born Petros looked set to take the title back to Europe until Simbu found a late kick and ran him down at the line.

“It’s like the 100 metres,” said Petros. “Coming into the finish I was thinking about winning so a bit of me is feeling very sad. But I have to accept it. As an athlete you have to learn for tomorrow, train hard, keep going and be thankful for the silver.”

Here are some iconic shots from this morning’s action in Tokyo

Last night, Oblique Seville was crowned the first Jamaican men’s 100m world champion since Usain Bolt after blazing to a personal-best 9.77 seconds in Tokyo.

World record holder Bolt, who last won gold at a World Championships a decade ago, was the guest of honour at the Japan National Stadium and he was treated to a Jamaican one-two after Kishane Thompson claimed silver in 9.82s.

Olympic and defending world champion Noah Lyles collected bronze in a season’s best 9.89s, in a race that required a restart after the Olympic 200m champion, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, was disqualified for a false start.

“Through the years that I’ve been performing, injury is always the thing that stops me,” said Seville, 24, who trains with Bolt’s former coach Glen Mills.

“This year I showed my dominance straight through the season, and I said, ‘OK, this is my year, I’m going to take this one, and no-one is going to take it away from me’.”

Great Britain were dealt a double blow on the third morning of the World Athletics Championships after medal hopes Molly Caudery and Emile Cairess were forced out of their respective events.

Caudery sustained an ankle injury in the warm-up ahead of pole vault qualifying, while Cairess – who finished fourth in the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon – battled through heat and humidity in the Japanese capital before bowing out in the 38th kilometre as a result of the muggy conditions.

Caudery, the 2024 world indoor champion and ranked fourth heading to Japan, was seeking redemption after a disastrous Olympic debut in Paris, when she crashed out of the qualification session with a no mark.

A British Athletics statement read: “Unfortunately, Molly Caudery has been forced to withdraw from pole vault qualifying following an ankle injury sustained in warm-up.”

It will come as particularly devastating news for the 25-year-old, who vowed to learn from her Olympic mistakes.

Chief among the stars in action this afternoon is Sweden’s vaulting supremo Mondo Duplantis, who is in action this afternoon in the pole vault finals.

Duplantis, who is targeting a hat-trick of world titles after victory in Eugene in 2022 and Budapest in 2023, moved smoothly through qualifying, requiring just two jumps as he cleared 5.55m and 5.75m. He will be trying to break the world record for a 14th time this afternoon.

Silver medallist from two years ago, EJ Obiena, and three-time world medallist Piotr Lisek both failed to make the cut, but two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and former world record holder Renaud Lavillenie advanced and will both aim to deny Duplantis yet more success.

Here’s what you need to know:

It’s been a fascinating opening two days of action in Tokyo and we’ve still got seven more to go.

Click below to catch up with all the results and medal winners so far, as well as the full schedule to come

Here’s what we’ve got to look forward to this afternoon. As mentioned, four gold medals will be won and all eyes will be on the men’s pole vault to see if the implacable Mondo Duplantis can break the world record for a 14th time.

Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and Neil Gourley will also go for GB in the men’s 1500m semi-finals from 1.30pm but Jakob Ingebrigtsen won’t after stunningly crashing out in the heats.

11:35 Men’s 400m Hurdles – Heats

11:40 Men’s Long Jump – Qualification

12:10 Men’s Pole Vault – Final

12:20 Men’s 110m Hurdles – Heats

13:00 Women’s Hammer Throw – Final

13:05 Women’s 100m Hurdles – Semi-Final

13:30 Men’s 1500m – Semi-Final

13:55 Men’s 3000m Steeplechase – Final

14:20 Women’s 100m Hurdles – Final

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s coverage of day three of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

It’s another stacked day of action with four more gold medals up for grabs, so let’s get to it