Tokyo Worlds sparkle brightly, doping storm still lingers
Tokyo’s 20th World Athletics Championships lit up 2025, but new bans and open cases meant doping talk never left the stands. Medals were shared across 53 nations; Mondo Duplantis raised his 14th pole-vault world record and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone broke a 42-year-old 400m mark, yet names like Ruth Chepngetich and Erriyon Knighton were linked to sanctions.
“You don’t remove decades of damage overnight,” said World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, adding the sport is “moving in the right direction.” AIU chair David Howman countered: “We are not catching enough of them.” Kenya remains a hotspot, with 149 athletes sanctioned since 2017.
Anti-doping authorities pointed to increased testing and intelligence-led investigations during the build-up to the championships. “The net is tighter than it has ever been,” a senior official said, noting a rise in out-of-competition controls compared to previous years.
However, critics argue progress is uneven. “Fans want certainty, not assurances,” said a former Olympic coach, reflecting wider scepticism. Despite the sporting highs, the championships highlighted a familiar tension: breathtaking performances on the track, and persistent questions off it that athletics has yet to fully outrun.