Nigeria placed 27th overall and took home a silver medal from the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which proved to be the most globally significant event to date.
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According to reports, Tobi Amusan won Nigeria’s only medal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, solidifying her place as the country’s most reliable athlete on the global scene. She continued her incredible run of elite consistency by winning silver in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.
When Ezekiel Nathaniel ran the 400-meter hurdle race of his life, the happiness was nearly greater.
In a thrilling competition that saw him temporarily rise to bronze after American Rai Benjamin was disqualified, only to have the decision overturned on appeal, he finished fourth with a timing of 47.11 seconds, breaking his own national record.
Kanyinsola Ajayi made an impression as well, finishing sixth in the men’s 100-meter final.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi finished in fifth place in the men’s long jump, just missing the podium, while Udodi Onwuzurike advanced to the men’s 200-meter semifinals.
Others on the Nigerian squad of 15 found things more difficult. Chidi Okezie and Samuel Ogazi lost the men’s 400m, Rosemary Chukwuma lost the women’s 100m heats, while Israel Okon was unable to duplicate his heat-winning performance in the men’s 100m semifinal.
In the field, Sade Olatoye bowed out in the hammer, Chioma Onyekwere-Lyons and Obiageri Amaechi failed to make progress in the discus, and Prestina Ochonogor and Ese Brume both dropped out in the women’s long jump. In the men’s long jump qualifiers, Charles Godfred also lost.
Nigeria finished tied for 27th place with 12 other countries, including Algeria, Greece, Ireland, Morocco, and Poland, after winning just one silver medal.
With 26 total medals and 16 golds, the United States dominated the medal standings. Botswana, the Netherlands, Canada, and Kenya completed the top five. A record 53 nations made it to the medal table overall, surpassing the previous high of 46 established in Osaka in 2007 and Budapest in 2023.
Tokyo 2025 was full of landmark events. Mondo Duplantis of Sweden broke the world record for pole vaulting once more with a 6.30-meter clearance. In total, nine championship records, nine continental records, and one world record were set. Tanzania celebrated their first world gold, while Uruguay, Samoa, and Saint Lucia received their first-ever medals from the competition.
US sprinter Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was one of the most impressive athletes, winning gold in the 100-, 200-, and 4×100-meter relays.
Beatrice Chebet of Kenya and Maria Perez of Spain both won two titles, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the women’s 400-meter gold with the second-fastest time ever, 47.78 seconds. Ethan Katzberg of Canada also made history by setting a championship record in the hammer throw of 84.70 meters.
The championships set a new standard outside of the racetrack. Over 619,000 people came over nine days, surpassing the attendance figures from Tokyo 1991. TV viewers also reached all-time highs; on the first day, almost 12 million people watched in Japan, and three-quarters of Sweden watched Duplantis’ world record vault live.
While over 125,000 articles were written globally with an estimated 180 billion views, World Athletics recorded 700 million video views on social media.
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, praised the host city for providing “the noisy, full stadiums that we missed during the pandemic-hit Tokyo Olympics in 2021,” calling the Tokyo event “a championships for the ages.”
The Athlete Refugee Team and 1,992 athletes from 193 countries competed in the championships. Twenty nations took home gold, and seventy-four finished in the top eight.
