Sometimes you have to take a step back to make two steps forward. That adage succinctly sums up the 2025 World Championships, at least, from a Jamaican standpoint.
The 20th edition of the World Championships in Athletics, held at Olympic Stadium, in Tokyo, Japan in the unusual period of mid-September, was atypical in several ways. On the one hand, these championships would normally be held about a month or so earlier in the summer; on the other hand, and for another reason, this edition was special and the volume of unbelievable performances from start to finish, no pun intended.
Championships History
By way of history, the first edition of the World Championships was held in Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland in 1983, where Jamaica’s first gold medal was won by former schoolboy sensation Bertrand Cameron, who was also favored to win the Olympic title in Los Angeles in 1984 but was unfortunately felled by injury after making the final at the LA Games.
It is interesting to note that the World Championships started like the Olympics, held every four years. That schedule held true for the first two renewals in Rome, Italy in 1987 and in Tokyo Japan in 1991. Japan has hosted the Games more than any other country – three times.
In 1983 during the inaugural staging, Jamaica was represented by a team chocked with youth and experience. Among the up-and-coming Jamaicans at the time were Jacqueline Pusey, Grace Jackson, and Merlene Ottey, who would soon become one of the greatest sprinters of all time. Enter 2025 and, purely from a Jamaican standpoint, youth was served, sprinkled in-between with fine performances by some of our veteran stars who are still close to or at the top of their game. Take a bow long jump silver medalist Tajay Gayle.
Young Guns Step Up
For the sake of time and space, I chose to highlight the best performances, in my opinion, and the athletes who, in no particular order, will be around for an incredibly long time.
The unbelievable Navasky Anderson gave an 800-meter performance in the final, which was a run for the ages, gun to tape. Anderson, only 25-yr-old, pushed and clawed his way into the men’s final thus cementing himself as one of the best middle-distance runners in the world. His time of 1:42.76secs was a brave run, which will ensure a respectable Top Ten world ranking. With the right conditions and continued hard work, the sky is the limit.
The 100m sprinter Oblique Seville came up trumps in the men’s final. Cheered on by his idol Usain Bolt who was present during the event, Seville seemed to have won the race at the gun. He might not have had the fastest start but the first 30 meters of the race left very little doubt of his gold medal success. A disappointing down-the-track finalist in the last two Worlds and at last year’s Olympics, the relatively diminutive sprinter left nothing to chance and stormed to victory in a personal best (PB) of 9.77secs, the second fastest time in the world in 2025, and he is only 24 years old.
On the women’s side, Tina Clayton posted a lifetime best of 10.76secs in the 100-meter final. Buoyed by her twin sister Tia’s Olympic-final performance last year, the back-to-back double World Under20 champion turned in a scintillating performance to hit the tape and claim the silver medal behind the unbeaten Melissa Jefferson-Wooden. The Claytons are on top of the track world at the moment. The 21-yr-old should be fighting for the top spot in 2027. Tia’s best time stands at 10.82secs.
Inarguably some of the best performances were through 21-yr-old Bryan Levell in the men’s 200m. The World Championships debutant was impressive through the rounds with times of 19.86 and 19.78, hardly sweating. In this final were then three-time champion Noah Lyles, Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo and Lyles’ teammate Kenny Bednarek (Kung Fu Kenny). Despite the heavy odds stacked against him, but because of his enormous upside, the young Jamaican came around the bend clear of the field and held on for a bronze medal in an impressive PB of 19.64secs, edging the Olympic champion for the third spot as the Americans finished 1-2. With a personal best of 9.82 in the 100m, I expect him to be almost as dominant as Usain Bolt in another season or two.
Fraser-Pryce’s Exit
These championships also saw the final performances of the great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Blessed with an unfair amount of charm, poise and speed, the 38-yr-old bowed out with a silver medal in the women’s sprint relay. Interestingly, she started her career by winning a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships in Japan and ended just as she started, with a medal of the same color in the sprint relay. The single difference is she was on anchor duty then, but in 2025 she was lead-off.
Fans, competitors, and foes alike, sang her praises as she exited the stage she held for almost 20 years. She is a 26-time major medal winner. Jamaica won ten medals and made an inordinate number of other finals overall. This young team should be given every chance to compete at the highest level, especially considered that most are under 25 years old. Hence, Jamaica’s future in track and field is bright, point proven in Tokyo in 2025, despite the rains and in spite of top-flight competition from everyone in the world. Jamaica will soon be known for more than just being the Sprint Factory.