Australian sprinter Torrie Lewis has broken her own national record to race into the 100m semifinals on night one of the 2025 World Athletics Championships.
The 20-year-old ran 11.08 a superb, finishing third in her heat to qualify automatically for Sunday’s semifinal.
“I’m really happy. I’m very satisfied with this and excited for tomorrow,” Lewis told ABC Sport in Tokyo.
“I know it probably sounds a bit cocky … but my times in training indicated that I could [break the national record].
“I just needed to come out here and get rid of the nerves and do what I’ve been doing in training.”
There was heartbreak for Rohan Browning though, who missed out on a spot in the men’s semis by just 0.008 seconds.
Elsewhere, Jess Hull and Linden Hall both did enough to comfortably qualify for the women’s 1,500m semifinal, also set to take place on Sunday, but Sarah Billings narrowly missed out.
Jess Hull comfortably qualified for the semifinals. (Getty Images: Michael Steele)
Lauren Ryan, meanwhile, finished in ninth place in the women’s 10,000m, the best result for an Australian in that event since Benita Willis finished in 8th in 2003 at the Stade de France in Paris.
Her compatriot Izzi Batt-Doyle came home in 17th.
Kurtis Marschall had to battle to qualify for the men’s pole vault final, knocking the bar off at his first attempt at 5.70m before clearing that and the subsequent height of 5.75m.
“Making the final is such a relief,” Marschall told ABC Sport.
“The qualifying is the final. You have to go out there and have to jump every bar and be your best self just to be the final.”
Chaos and heartbreak for New Zealand
Geordie Beamish fell with just over a lap to go in the race, but still finished second. (Getty Images: Emilee Chinn)
Earlier, New Zealand runner Geordie Beamish had a fortunate escape when he qualified for the 3,000m steeple chase despite falling heavily on the penultimate lap.
The 28-year-old world indoor champion rolled, picked himself up and finished second in his heat, bowing to the crowd as he finished.
“I took a good roll,” Beamish told World Athletics.
“I couldn’t think for about 20 seconds and then I got up and said to myself that I need to keep going.
“The rest of the field didn’t get far away and to be honest, I was pretty confident that I could catch them.”
There was heartbreak though for Kiwi shot putter Tom Walsh, who missed a medal on countback.
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
Key Events
Day one summary
Day one results:
- Torrie Lewis broke her own Australian record to qualify for the Women’s 100m semifinal.
- Jess Hull and Linden Hall qualify comfortably for women’s 1,500m semifinal but Sarah Billings misses out.
- Rohan Browning misses men’s 100m semifinal spot by 0.008 seconds. Josh Azzopardi also fails to progress.
- Lauren Ryan finishes in ninth in 10,000m, Australia’s best finishing position in the event since 2003. Izzi Batt-Doyle was 17th.
- Kurtis Marschall qualifies for the pole vault final.
- Bree Rizzo and Ella Connolly failed to qualify for the women’s 100m semis.
- Delta Amidzovski and Sam Dale both came up short in the women’s long jump qualification round.
- Ed Trippas missed out of qualifying for the Men’s 3,000m steeplechase final.
Thanks for being with us
We’ll wrap things up here.
Thanks so much for being with us, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow for the evening session from around 7:00pm AEDT.
What Aussies are in action tomorrow?
There is plenty going on tomorrow on the road, track and in the field.
Morning
- Women’s Marathon (9:00am AEST): Sarah Klein, Tara Palm, Vanessa Wilson
- Women’s Hammer qualification (10:00am AEST): Stephanie Ratcliffe, Lara Roberts
- Men’s 1,500m heats (10:35am AEST): Cam Myers, Adam Spencer, Jude Thomas
- Women’s 100m hurdles heats (12:20pm AEST): Liz Clay
Evening
- Men’s 400m heats (7:35pm AEST): Reece Holder, Cooper Sherman
- Men’s high jump qualification (7:40pm AEST): Roman Anastasios Yual Reath, Brandon Starc
- Women’s 400m heats (8:25pm AEST): Ellie Beer
- Women’s 100m semifinals (9:20pm AEST): Torrie Lewis
- Women’s 1,500m semifinals (10:05pm AEST): Linden Hall, Jessica Hull
4X400m MIXED RELAY: USA win gold
No surprise really, but the USA win the mixed 4x400m relay at a canter.
Femke Bol managed to get second for the Dutch, with the Belgians in third.
SHOT PUT: Ryan Crouser wins shot put, heartbreak for New Zealand’s Tom Walsh
Heartbreak for Kiwi putter Tom Walsh.
He has launched the shot to a season’s best of 21.94, but he’s fourth on count back after Italian Leonardo Fabbri managed the same distance.
America’s Ryan Crouser won with 22.34, while Uziel Muñoz put a Mexican National Record in the books to secure silver with 21.97.
POLE VAULT: ‘Now we can just be balls to the wall’
Here is Kurtis Marschall, who admits that qualifying is pretty stressful.
“Making the final is such a relief,” he tells ABC Sport.
“I had a little miss at 5:70 but I didn’t let it throw me.
“The qualifying is the final. You have to go out there and have to jump every bar and be your best self just to be the final.”
Now, it’s time to relax.
“Pressure’s off, now we can just be balls to the wall,” Marschall says,
“Just let it rip. Send it, full send and just go as hard as I can.”
He says that although he is level’s below Mondo Duplantis, he says he’s still going out to jump as high as he can.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: Lauren Ryan finishes ninth
Superb from Lauren Ryan.
That’s the second-best finishing performance by an Australian woman in this event in world championship history.
Benita Willis is the only person to finish in a better position, when she finished in 8th in 2003 at the Stade de France.
Ryan crosses the line in 31:27.78.
Izzi Batt-Doyle was 17th with 31:53.41.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: CHEBET WINS THE SPRINT!
Beatrice Chebet made the move and pushed away to win!
The Olympic champion adds the World crown to her CV.
Nadia Battocletti pushed her all the way and finished in second with a national record of 30:38.23.
Gudaf Tsegay finished with the bronze.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: Four women to contest three medals
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: Two laps to go
Beatrice Chebet and Gudaf Tsegay make the move.
It’s this pair leading things out, Agnes Jebet Ngetich and Nadia Battocletti have gone with them.
Ejgayehy Taye is off the back.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: Three laps to go
It’s still this fantastic five who are in the lead.
Agnes Jebet Ngetich, Beatrice Chebet, Ejgayehy Taye, Gudaf Tsegay and Nadia Battocletti.
They are all watching each other now.
Who will make the first move?
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: We have a lead five
Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich and Beatrice Chebet.
Ethiopia’s Ejgayehy Taye and Gudaf Tsegay.
And Italy’s Nadia Battocletti are well ahead of the rest now.
At 7,200m Ryan is in 10th, 29 seconds back, Batt-Doyle 25th, 45 seconds off the leaders.
POLE VAULT: Kurtis Marschall is in the final
We’ve reached the point of no return for most of the pole vault field.
Just 12 men were able to clear 5.75m so it is they who will leap in the final on Monday from 9:10pm.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: The big move at half race distance
We’re at half distance and there has been a major move in the race.
Beatrice Chebet decided she’d had enough of the slow-ish pace and just put the pedal to the floor and stretched the field.
There is a leading pack of seven women leading the field, two Kenyans, three Ethiopians and an Italian.
Lauren Ryan is 20-odd seconds back and falling.
Izzi Batt-Doyle is another 10 seconds or so behind.
POLE VAULT: Kurtis Marschall clears 5.75
He clears it very comfortably too.
So does Armand Duplantis, Sam Kendricks and Emmanouil Karalis.
It’s hotting up in qualification.
Remember, automatic qualification awaits anyone who clears 4.80m,
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL
The longest race on the track is underway.
The two Aussies will do very, very well to medal in this, with a top 10 a phenomenal achievement in itself.
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: So is Izzi Batt-Doyle
Loading Instagram content
WOMEN’S 10,000m FINAL: Lauren Ryan is ready
Loading Instagram content
MEN’S 100m HEATS: Browning misses semifinal by 0.008 seconds
Oh that is desperate for Browning.
He has missed out by a fraction of a second.
Elvis Afrifa ran 10.15 in finishing fourth in that seventh and final heat, pushing Browning out of the final qualification spot.
It was 0.008 seconds that he missed out by.
Puripol Boonson just got past Browning on the line in his heat and that is what has cost him a chance at the semis.
MEN’S 100m HEATS: ‘That’s the sport’: Browning disappointed
Rohan Browning spoke to ABC Sport’s David Mark.
He sounded pretty disappointed.
“I think I got out well. I was happy with that. The top end went a little bit missing, maybe I rushed through the acceleration a little bit,” he says.
“Today’s result isn’t definitive for my year, I’ve had my best year. It’s hard to put it all together for one competition at the end of the year, but that’s what we signed up for, that’s the sport.”
He may, of course, still have a race to run tomorrow if he’s very lucky with the timings in his last heat…
Discussion about this post