The 18th edition of World Athletics Championships (WCH) 2022 was held at the Hayward Field, University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Oregon, United States (US). It is for the first time that the Championship was held in the US and for only the second time in North America.
- It was organized by USA Track & Field (USATF) and World Athletics.
- The mascot of WCH Oregon22: Legend the Bigfoot.
- The US won the most gold medals, with 13, and the most overall, with 33 (a record for a single edition).
- India ranked at 33rd place with one Silver medal at this championship, and 4th best in Asia only behind China, Japan and Kazakhstan.
- Algeria, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Greece, and South Korea have tied with India in 33rd position on the medal tally with 1 silver medal each.
Overall Medal Tally: Top 3 and India:
| Rank | Country | Total Medals |
|---|---|---|
| 33 | India | 1 |
| 1 | United States | 33 |
| 2 | Ethiopia | 10 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 10 |
Key Facts:
i.Eugene, Oregon is largely considered the capital of athletics in the USA or ‘TrackTown USA’.
ii.TDK, an electronic components and devices company, was the official partner of the World Athletics Championships.
iii.For the first time ever, the Championships ended with the women’s 4x400m, in line with World Athletics’ ledge to greater gender equality.
iv.The World Athletics Championships, a biennial multi-nation competition for track and field events that also includes marathon running and race walking, was originally scheduled for August 6–15, 2021; but was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
v.Due to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, World Athletics banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from participating at the championships.
Participants:
The event featured approximately 2,000 athletes from about 200 nations in 49 events.
- India is represented by 22 athletes viz. 18 men and four women
Highlights from Championship:
i.A record 29 countries won at least one gold medal during the championships. Peru, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria won their first-ever gold medals, while India and Burkina Faso had their best medal performances, with silver.
ii.The WCH Oregon22 become the first to feature team trophies that honours the top 3 nations in the all-around point table.
The United States team which won the most points in the event won the World Team Champions Oregon22. The teams of Ethiopia and Jamaica, which finished 2nd & 3rd, also received trophies.
iii.The event was the most watched edition in US television history
India Finishes 33rd in World Athletics Championship Oregon 22; Neeraj Chopra won Silver
i.India’s Neeraj Chopra won silver medal in the men’s javelin throw which reached at 88.13m. This was the only medal won by India at this Championship.
- He became the first Indian to win Silver Medal in World Athletics Championship (WCH).
- It was India’s second medal after 19-years when Anju Bobby George won bronze in the women’s long jump at 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris, France.
- Neeraj Chopra was lost by Anderson Peters of Grenada who’s throw hit at 90.54 m.
ii.Annu Rani (women’s javelin) and Murali Sreeshankar (men’s long jump) finished 7th.
- Eldhose Paul in Men’s triple jump finishes 9th. With this, he became the first Indian to qualify for the triple jump final.
- Rohit Yadav in Men’s javelin throw ranked 10th.
iii.World athletics for the first time introduced a team points table for the first time where India finished with a total of 11 points (7 for Neeraj Chopra’s silver + two points each for Annu and Sreeshankar’s seventh place finishes).
Athletes who won two Gold Medals:
i.Kimberly García from Peru in the 20 and the 35 kilometres walk
ii.Michael Norman from US in the 400 metres and the 4 x 400 metres relay
iii.Sydney McLaughlin from US in the 400 m hurdles and the 4 x 400 metres relay
iv.Abigail Kathryn Steiner from US in the 4 x 100 metres and 4 x 400 metres relays.
Three World Records were Broken:
During the Championship, 3 world records, and 13 championship records were broken.
The world records were set by the following:
i.Sydney McLaughlin, who ran 50.68 seconds in the women’s 400 metres hurdles final;
ii.Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, who won the women’s 100 metres hurdles semifinal in 12.12 seconds
iii.Armand Duplantis of Sweden, reached 6.21 metres in the Men’s Pole Vault Final.
Important Championship Records:
i.Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the men’s marathon and set a new world championship record of 2:05:36.
ii.Jamaica’s Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce made history as she bagged a fifth world 100m title. Previously won the blue riband event in 2009, 2013, 2015 and and 2019, won in a championship record of 10.67 seconds.
Tokyo chosen to host 2025 track world championships
World Athletics has selected Tokyo, Japan as the host city for the 2025 World Athletics Championships after beating rival bids from Nairobi, Singapore and Silesia.
- World Athletics also awarded its cross country championships to Medulin, Croatia in 2024 and Tallahassee, Florida in 2026.
Note:
The 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships, WCH 2023 will be hosted by Budapest, Hungary.
Recent Related News:
i.The 12th edition of the ICC (International Cricket Council) Women’s Cricket World Cup was held in New Zealand from March to April 2022 in which the Australian women’s cricket team was crowned as the champions of the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket by defeating England women’s cricket team in the finals by 71 runs in Hagley Oval, Christchurch, New Zealand.
ii.Iga Natalia Swiatek of Poland wins Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Masters 1000 – Miami Open 2022, held in Miami Gardens, Florida, United States, from Mar 21 to Apr 3, 2022.
About World Athletics:
President– Sebastian Coe
Headquarters– Monaco, Europe
