My highlights of Tokyo 2025, by Doug Steedman, special correspondent for RunBlogRun

My highlights of Tokyo 2025

by Doug Steedman

I have known Larry Eder since the mid-90s when he helped time my running club’s track workouts. In Tokyo he was kind enough to let me gatecrash his pressbox area here in Tokyo. To maintain my pretense of being a writer, I am documenting my highlights of the meet.

I am a lifelong fan of track and field. Thus I enjoy virtually all of the events that make up our sport. My parents met in Scotland through their mutual interest and participation in “athletics”, and as a child there I attended “meetings” almost every summer weekend. I have now lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 35 years, and avidly follow the US track scene. My father was a New Zealander. My wife is from Japan. In following the sport, I thus have a special interest in athletes from many countries.

I especially love the distance races: I compete in age-group road and cross-country races, so I can appreciate just how mind-boggling fast the top performances are.

My highlights

#1 – George Beamish (NZ) takes steeplechase gold. I have been a fan of Geordie for several years, and follow him and his mates on their Coffee Club podcast. I am in awe of his kick, which is unbeatable when he is in a position to use it. I think it’s even better than Cole Hocker’s. He had not raced for months prior to Tokyo, but when I saw him in the first round I was sure he was going to medal. In the final, he took down one of the steeplechase GOATs, El Bakkali (Morocco) with an immaculately timed finish. After the race, those two had a long conversation during their lap of honor. Looking forward to hearing more about Geordie’s race and its aftermath on the podcast.

#2 – Jake Wightman (who’s from Edinburgh, my hometown) takes silver in the 1500m. Like Beamish, Wightman has had a tough time with injuries over the last year, but I could tell from the rounds that he was ready. I was in Eugene in 2022 when he launched his winning kick, so I was very excited when history repeated itself. Only an even better kick by Nader pushed him down to silver in the last strides.

#3 – Sydney…