World Championships in Athletics

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Lukas Weißhaidinger(Bild: AFP/KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV)

Discus star Lukas Weißhaidinger had hoped for rain for the World Championships final in Tokyo - but the storm was so strong and lasted so long that the World Championships decision was even postponed by two hours! And things did not go well for Austria's record holder. With 62.26 m he finished in ninth place. Luki: "I've never experienced such chaos!"

The "Krone" reports from Tokyo!

The rain had started just as the final was due to begin. And then chaos broke out. A long wait. Back and forth. Finally, the discus throwers were allowed to go to the decathletes' rest room. Then three suggestions from World Athletics: cancel the competition, postpone it to Monday morning or wait until the conditions allowed a final. The last point was accepted by all finalists.

In the meantime, additional shoes had been fetched for Weißhaidinger so that he actually wore different shoe variants for each of his four runs. The first round was still promising for Austria's record holder, when he threw 62.26m. But then he was unlucky from attempt to attempt. "I was always running behind in my decisions with the shoes." Because sometimes it rained, then it was dry. Just darn it. It was really bad in the third round, when Weißhaidinger slipped and fell into the ring, apparently hurting his left elbow. As the fourth attempt did not produce a greater distance either, he was eliminated in ninth place.

"I'm disappointed!"
 "Of course I was expecting more, we had speculated on places four to seven. That's why I'm disappointed," said the 33-year-old. But the Upper Austrian, equipped with a dry sense of humor, also said: "It was quite good to have experienced such chaos. So I've experienced that too." His conclusion: "That's just how 9th place turned out. But I knew I had more to offer." The World Championship record of his great career is nevertheless impressive. He has reached the final in five of his six World Championships appearances, taking bronze in 2019, seventh in 2023, ninth twice in 2017 and 2025 and tenth in 2022.

Stahl takes third World Championship gold
Sweden's Daniel Stahl finally won the gold medal as Weißhaidinger was already giving interviews. Despite the poor conditions, he threw a sensational 70.47 m! The Olympic champion from Tokyo 2021 thus won his third World Championship title after 2019 and 2023. Silver went to world record holder Mykolas Alekna (Lithuania) with 67.84 m ahead of Alex Rose (Samoa/66.96). Interestingly, the top 5 threw with Nike shoes, Weißhaidinger with Adidas. Whether this had a decisive influence on the outcome of the medal fight remains to be seen ...

Three top ten places
Austria finished the 20th World Athletics Championships with three top places. Like Weißhaidinger, triple jumper Endiorass Kingley also took ninth place, which was admittedly a sensation. In the qualification he had set the only ÖLV record at these championships with 16.85 m and followed this up with 16.71 m in the final.

Enzo Diessl (110 m hurdles) and Raphael Pallitsch (1500 m) both reached the semi-finals. Diessl, which speaks for him, was hard on himself after his 13.64 (20th overall), Pallitsch only just missed out on the final in 21st place, but he also criticized himself. From the preliminary heats, Caroline Bredlinger in the 800 m (26th) and Karin Strametz in the 100 m hurdles (27th) only just missed out on the semi-finals. However, 400 m record holder Susanne Gogl-Walli (45th) had no chance after her disastrous season with injuries and illnesses.

On the first weekend of the World Championships, the Austrian marathon record holders held their own in the heat and high humidity. The performances of Julia Mayer (33rd) and Aaron Gruen (52nd) deserve the highest respect.

Performance of the Austrians in Tokyo:

• 9th Endiorass Kingley (triple jump) - 16.71/+0.9 m

• 9th Lukas Weißhaidinger (discus) - 62.26 m

• 10th Victoria Hudson (javelin) - 59.52 m

• 20th Enzo Diessl (110 m hurdles) - 13.64/-0.5 (7s2) sec.

• 21st Raphael Pallitsch (1500 m) - 3:36.94 (7s2) min.

• 26. Caroline Bredlinger (800 m) - 2:00.25 (5h1) min.

• 27 . Karin Strametz (100 m hurdles) - 13.02/0.0 (4h2) sec.

• 33rd Julia Mayer (marathon) - 2:36:20 hrs.

• 45th Susanne Gogl-Walli (400 m) - 52.92 (8h5) sec.

• 52nd Aaron Gruen (marathon) - 2:22:07 hrs.