Athletics fans erupt over shock scenes at world championships

Athletics fans have been left in a state of shock after a pair of stunning upsets at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Norway's Olympic gold medallists from Tokyo Karsten Warholm and Jakob Ingebrigtsen were both expected to bring home gold for the Scandinavian nation in their respective events.

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Before Tuesday's action in United States, one newspaper headline in Norway translated to 'Hunting Two Gold Tonight', however booth runners failed to deliver.

Perhaps the biggest shock came in the 1500m where Ingebrigtsen had to settle for the silver medal after Great Britain’s Jake Wightman claimed gold in thrilling fashion.

The 28-year-old won in three minutes 29.23 seconds to just edge the Olympic champion, with Spain’s Mohamed Katir finishing in third.

Wightman was already the fastest man this year and went for the win with 200m to go.

Ingebrigtsen was unable to react and the Nottingham-born athlete held on to take the biggest win of his career.

In the 400m hurdles, Warholm would have been expected to add a worlds title to his career haul after breaking his own world record to claim Olympic gold in Tokyo.

However, in his first meet since suffering a hamstring tear on June 5, Warholm was upstaged by Brazil's Alison dos Santos who claimed gold courtesy of the third-fastest time in history.

Dos Santos, who took bronze in Tokyo, set a new world championships record by winning in 46.29 seconds to take gold ahead of American pair Rai Benjamin and Trevor Bassitt.

Warholm had not lost a 400m hurdles event that he'd finished since his last race of 2018, but the Norwegian ran out of steam after a blistering opening half of the race.

Athletics fans took to social media in droves to express their shock over the two big upsets.

Jake Wightman's victory oh so sweet for dad

Wightman's win was all the more incredible because his father and coach Geoff has the honour of calling it as the stadium announcer at Oregon's Hayward Field.

He said: “Running is coming home. Wow. That is my son, I coach him and he is the world champion.”

Wightman has previously won European and Commonwealth bronze and only came 10th at last year’s Olympics in Tokyo.

Following his victory, Wightman said he was still trying to wrap his head around the achievement.

“It probably won’t sink in until I have retired I don’t think,” he said.

“It’s mad. I had such a disappointing year in Tokyo last year. I don’t think people realise how crushing it was to go in with such high expectations and come away hoping for a medal but end up tenth.

“I just knew coming here I had to take the pressure off and the only thing that could happen was that it was a better run than last year.

“I got a whiff of it on the last lap. I knew if I was there with 200m to go I could put myself in a position to win it and I was running for my life on that home straight.

“I have given up so much to get to this point and it makes everything worth it.”

with agencies

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