Two new global 100 metre champions were crowned as America’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Jamaica’s Oblique Seville claimed stunning breakthrough victories at the 2025 World Athletics Championships (WAC) in Tokyo, Japan.
Jefferson-Wooden, 24, sealed gold in the women’s final in emphatic fashion, proving a class above her rivals in a championship record 10.61 seconds.
Less than 10 minutes later inside Japan’s electric National Stadium, Seville, also 24, became the first Jamaican man to win a global 100metre title since athletics icon Usain Bolt, who watched from his stand.
With a winning time of 9.77, Seville led a Jamaican one-two ahead of Kishane Thompson, while defending champion Noah Lyles of the United States was forced to settle for bronze.
Jamaica also celebrated silver for Tina Clayton in the women’s final, in which Olympic champion Julien Alfred, from Saint Lucia, took bronze, and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith finished eighth.
Fuelled by her desire to stand on the top of the podium after winning 100metre bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Jefferson-Wooden arrived in Tokyo as favourite following a stellar season.
Jefferson-Wooden, who has enjoyed success as part of the USA’s 4x100m relay team, had run the fastest three times of 2025 and remained unbeaten over the distance.
She dispelled any suggestions that the subsequent increased expectations might weigh heavy as she cruised through the rounds, before producing a devastating, record-breaking final performance.
Not only did it deliver the gold she desired, but she hinted at where she might yet go from here by clocking the fourth fastest time in history.
