(Reuters) -A record number of nations won medals at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, with a total of 53 countries making it on to the medal table at the 20th edition of the event which concluded on Sunday.
The previous record of 46 was set in Osaka in 2007 and equalled in Budapest two years ago, with Samoa, Saint Lucia and Uruguay winning their first ever World Championships medals at this year’s competition.
There was one world record set in Tokyo, with Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis breaking the pole vault world record for the 14th time with a leap of 6.30 metres.
American sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden completed a sprint treble in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay while two other athletes won double gold in individual events, Kenyan distance runner Beatrice Chebet and Spanish race walker Maria Perez.
“What we have seen over the past nine days here in Tokyo is an indelible and compelling celebration of human sporting endeavour,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.
“Tokyo has set the stage for some of our sport’s most extraordinary performances.”
A total of 619,288 fans attended the World Championships in Tokyo, four years on from the Olympic Games at the same venue was held without crowds due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over the past nine days, we have witnessed so many unforgettable moments,” President of the Local Organising Committee Mitsugi Ogata said.
“There was never a quiet moment in the stadium.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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