Top 5 athletics moments of 2025
After a series of performances that grabbed the headlines in 2025, these are the few that leave lasting memories in the minds of sports fans.
RunblogRun ranks its top 5 moments of 2025.
5. Colleen Kabinatship leads USA and South Africa to 4x400m world title in Tokyo
This race stands tall because it was bigger than medals or times. First, the context alone makes it unforgettable. Botswana lined up against a United States team that has dominated the event for more than a decade in conditions that normally favor experience and depth. Heavy rain, slippery track, story bent one way. These are not the moments where new champions should be born.
The drama itself was a box office hit. When Ry Benjamin hit a home run in direct daylight between himself and the outfield, the script was all written. Silver for Botswana, another gold for the Stars and Stripes. Except the track doesn’t always respect scripts. Threading the needle through the middle, Colleen Cabinetship went into another gear as the finish was brutally close. Two-thousandths of a second separates silver from bronze, the overall times the athletes collapse over the line. It made everyone watching hold their breath and look twice.
Then what did that mean? For Botswana, it was the release of years of failures, Olympic silver, youthful heartaches and unfinished business. Seeing Letsile Tebogo celebrate world relay gold after his own Olympic scars in the 100m and 200m gave emotional weight to the moment.
4. The men’s marathon of the World Championship ends with a photo shoot (Tokyo). Simbu vs. Peter
Finishing this marathon is among the best moments of 2025 because it reminded everyone why distance running still makes the world stop. The purity of the duel was one for the ages. After more than two hours of toiling through the heat and rhythm of Tokyo, the race came down to instinct, guts and one final decision. When Amanal Petros became clear, logic said it was all over. It is believed that marathons do not end with a blow. However, Alphonse Felix Simbu refused to accept the obvious.
At the end of the day, after 42.195 kilometers, a difference of 0.03 seconds was achieved. It was almost poetic. It was the closest men’s marathon finish in world championships history, a result so tight it required patience and disbelief before confirmation. Few races ever reward viewers with that level of tension.
Simbu handed Tanzania its first ever World Championship gold. Peter, moments away from Germany’s first world track title, felt the pain and honor of being part of history, even in defeat. Its visual memory is there too. Flash forward to the Japan National Stadium, the crowd goes up, Peter looks on from the sidelines, Simbu finds the last piece of gear that shouldn’t have existed. That image will live long after the watch is forgotten.
The race itself captured the soul of 2025 athletics. In one breath-taking moment, the marathon became theater and Simbu became immortal.
3. Beatrice Chebet becomes first woman under 14:00 in 5000m (13:58.06) at Eugene DL.
It was one of those nights where the sport quietly crossed a line we’ve been circling for years.
Breaking 14 minutes over the 5,000m was a psychological wall whispered about in locker rooms and discussed by fans, a barrier that people believed they might one day break but never felt imminent. When Beatrice Chebet came down the Prefontaine Classic on the backstretch and the clock refused to slow her down, belief turned to confidence.
What makes this moment stand is its audacity. Chebet went straight through history, taking more than two seconds off the world record held by one of the greats. There was no late swing, no survival mode. It was controlled and fearless by Kenyans.
A month ago, Rome had mocked the impossible and slipped away. This was fading in real time, proof that near misses do not define ceilings. They aggravate. Then there’s the bigger picture. The third world record in one year. Olympic double gold is already secured. Way and way won. Not Chebet
The record felt like a signal for the future. Women’s distance running is no longer asking what’s possible, it’s answering loudly. On that cool night in Eugene, the 14-minute barrier disappeared and the sport entered a new era.
2. Sydney McLaughlin-Levron wins 400m gold at World Championships in 47.78 (Tokyo)
This race will be remembered because it epitomized what greatness can be like in real time. Sydney McLaughlin Levron took part in the pro-defined championship event and walked away with a performance that blurred the boundaries of the event. Running against two of the most proven single-lap racers of this generation, he ran the fastest 400 meters ever.
This moment soars the audacity of the decision. The move from the hurdles, where he is already legendary, to the flat at the World Championships is no accident. It’s a risk few would take, and even fewer could survive. McLaughlin Levron has done more than survive. He dominated. The quality of the field raised everything. Marilydi Paulino set a national record. Salwa Aid Nasser delivered his fastest time of the year. Most nights, any performance wins gold. They were the story of the race tonight.
Then there’s the watch number. 47.78 seconds. Second fastest of all time. Only the fourth woman ever to reach the age of 48. Each final under 50. The event itself seems to have unfolded in one race. To become the first athlete to win world titles in both the 400m and 400m hurdles is about distance, courage and vision. No moment in 2025 captured the spirit of possibility in track and field like this one.
1. Mondo Duplantis broke the pole vault world record at home (Stockholm) -6.28m
Some moments feel inevitable. This one felt personal.
Mondo Duplantis has made a habit of pushing the boundaries in the pole vault, but clearing 6.28 meters in Stockholm brought a different kind of electricity. The Swede added another world record to his already ridiculous resume.
What elevates the moment is the setting. World records happen often for Duplantis, but never before in front of his own people. The roar that followed his cleanup was not a polite appreciation from the Diamond League crowd. Years of waiting, pride, and anticipation collapse into one perfect flight.
There is also the courage of choice. Effectively winning the contest, Duplantis bypassed safer heights and pushed the pad straight into uncharted territory. That confidence, waiting for the breeze to die down before the final run, turned the tension into theater.
Then came the image that lasts. Shirt off. Fists are pumping. A champion overwhelmed not by the jump, but by what it meant. Even for someone who credits records with alarming regularity, this one was important.
It symbolized where the sport stood in 2025. It was on that day that the pole vault touched perfection and everyone watching knew they had witnessed something timeless.
