The heptathlon is a grueling, two-day, seven-event competition. For Anna Hall, it has been a painful yearslong journey to become world champion in the discipline that crowns the world’s best female athlete.
Hall dominated to become the second American to win the heptathlon at the World Track and Field Championships after her mentor, the legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
She totaled 6,888 points in Tokyo, distancing runner-up Kate O’Connor of Ireland by 174 points.
Joyner-Kersee, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion in the event (1987, 1988, 1992, 1993), texted Hall before the competition, after the first day and again after Saturday’s long jump. She sat with Hall’s family near the finish line for the last event, the 800m.
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“Jackie and I have talked about it and were like, the USA does make great heptathletes,” Hall told Lewis Johnson on NBC Sports. “It really means the world to be able to bring the title back home where it belongs.”
American Taliyah Brooks recorded a personal best to share bronze with defending world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain. The U.S. won two medals in the heptathlon at an Olympics or worlds for the first time since 1987.
Hall’s margin of victory belied the pain and struggle of the last several years.
In the first event of the Olympic Trials in 2021, Hall hit the eighth hurdle, fell and needed to be helped off the track. She ultimately needed surgery on her left foot and ankle.
After winning bronze in her World Championships debut in 2022, Hall was slowed by knee problems in 2023 (silver in the closest worlds heptathlon in history) and in 2024 (surgery that January, then fifth at the Olympics).
But this season, Hall showed what she was capable of when fully healthy and with the experience of past global competition.
“I came back this year, and I felt like I really lost my love, almost, for the sport,” she said. “I was just sad all the time. I was doing all my workouts, but I didn’t want to be there. It took a while for my spark to come back.”
It came back before the famed Hypo Meeting in Götzis, Austria, from May 31-June 1. There, Hall scored 7,032 points, tying her for second on the all-time performers list with Swede Carolina Klüft, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist.
Joyner-Kersee holds the world record of 7,291 points and the top six scores in history overall.
Hall went into these worlds with the opportunity to not only win her first title, but also to defeat Johnson-Thompson and three-time Olympic gold medalist Nafi Thiam of Belgium.
Thiam, in her first heptathlon since Paris and after a public dispute with her federation, was in sixth place after day one Friday. She dropped to eighth after the first event of day two (long jump), then withdrew.
“I started this morning thinking I would fight until the end and not leave empty-handed,” Thiam said, according to a translation of Belgian reports. “Because I’ve worked hard this year and had some good long jump competitions. I knew I could do something good here and fight for my place in the standings. But that didn’t happen. So I’m disappointed, yes.”
Chebet bests Kipyegon in 5000m final at worlds
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet edged her compatriot Faith Kipyegon in the women’s 5000m final at the 2025 World Track and Field Championships despite a season best from Kipyegon. Italy’s Nadia Battocletti claimed bronze.
In Saturday’s 5000m, Beatrice Chebet, the Olympic and world 10,000m champion, sprinted past fellow Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, the Olympic and world 1500m champion, in the last 100 meters.
Chebet became the first woman to sweep the 5000m and 10,000m at worlds since Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot in 2011. She is the second woman to win all four of the Olympic and world 5000m and 10,000m titles after Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba and the first to hold them all at once.
Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi added a world 800m title to his Olympic gold from Paris, edging Djamel Sedjati of Algeria — 1:41.86 to 1:41.90.
Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands went from fifth to first on her last throw of the shot put.
Then American Chase Jackson, the two-time defending world champion, went from fourth to second on her last throw.
USA, Kenya set for men’s 4x400m re-run after DQ
U.S. suffers bad exchange during men’s 4×400 relay
The U.S. team of Christopher Bailey, Demarius Smith, Bryce Deadmon and Jenoah McKiver were impacted in their 4x400m relay heat after a Zambia crossover during their exchange, resulting in a 6th-place finish.
The World Championships continue later Saturday at 8:05 p.m. ET on Peacock with decathlon events.
The last finals session is Sunday at 6:30 a.m. ET on CNBC and Peacock with medals determined in nine events, including the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
The U.S. qualified for the finals of both 4x100m, plus the women’s 4x400m. The U.S. did not qualify for the men’s 4x400m outright due to being impeded by Zambia during the second exchange.
Zambia was disqualified. The U.S. and Kenya, which was also impeded by Zambia, will have a re-run on Saturday at 9:40 p.m. ET with the winning team becoming the ninth and final team in Sunday’s final.
Rai Benjamin outran rivals Karsten Warholm and Alison dos Santos at the World Championships.
