An emotional Torrie Lewis was left ruing a slow start after she was eliminated in her 100m semi-final on Sunday at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, then frustrated Channel Nine and athletics officials by skipping media obligations.
Jess Hull, however, avoided a fall in a tense 1500m race to progress to the final on Tuesday, giving Australian supporters reason to cheer on a mixed night in a humid National Stadium.
Lewis was slow to accelerate in the third semi-final and found herself quickly out of contention, but still powered home to finish fifth in 11.14sec behind the winner, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who went on to win the final in a championship record time.
Despite recording her third fastest time, the Australian appeared close to tears when telling SBS afterwards that she felt “not the best” in an interview that lasted just 33 seconds.
She missed her slot with the championships’ other Australian broadcaster Channel Nine and hurried through the media area underneath the stadium without speaking to reporters. Australian Athletics officials were unable to contact her after the race. She is due to race in the 200m and 4x100m relay later in the meet.
Lewis’s elimination followed the women’s 400m, in which Ellie Beer finished last in her heat. “I was really confident going into today, but yeah really disappointed,” the 22-year-old athlete told SBS before breaking down. “Sorry, I shouldn’t cry.”
Later, Linden Hall had perhaps more reason than either to be despondent. She finished seventh in her 1500m semi-final, one place out of the final but with the fastest time of all eliminated athletes.
“Not having the time qualifiers has definitely changed how the races get run, and if we went back to that system, I think I’d probably have been through, so I’ll try not to look at that,” she said.
The 34-year-old has had an excellent year in 2025 and, despite appearing composed in the aftermath, her dismay was clear. “I’ll probably cry as soon as I get out of here,” she said. “But we’ll hold it together for the next five minutes.”
Reece Holder finished second in his 400m heat to reach the semi-finals. Photograph: Petr David Josek/AP
In the other, much slower, semi-final Hull was controlled in finishing second but she was twice involved in contact before coasting home behind Kenyan Nelly Chepchirchir and in front of American Nikki Hiltz. “[I was] just thinking about trying to get him through safely,” Hull said. “I think Nikki was right behind me and Nelly was next to me, and I think we all had a lot left for a pretty unnerving semi-final.”
The silver medallist from Paris said she might have preferred a faster pace in the past, but she is now equipped to respond to how the race plays out. “Running around yesterday and tonight just shows me I am ready for anything and that’s the best way to go into a final, with the toolbox for however it unfolds.”
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In the men’s 400m, Reece Holder started strong then dug deep in his heat to finish second and qualify for the semi-finals. His 44.54sec was just one hundredth of a second from a personal best and within two tenths of Darren Clark’s national record of 44.38sec set in 1988.
After establishing a large lead in the back straight, Holder only just hung on for one of the three direct qualifying places. He even glanced twice to the right towards his rivals in the final metres. “I looked up at the screen and then across which I probably shouldn’t have done either,” he said. “It was more of a ‘don’t slack off’ moment than a ‘jump scare’.”
After also reaching the semi-final stage last year at the Olympics, he feels better prepared in his bid to become the third Australian man to make a world championships 400m final. “I’ve really learnt that majors aren’t like a normal race,” he said.
“Everyone can run fast, but majors [are about] who can run through the rounds and has the legs to do the rounds because everyone can run 44.5, 44.4, it’s just who can run that three times in a row.”
Yual Reath progressed to the final of the men’s high jump with a season-best clearance of 2.25m, but neither Brandon Starc nor Roman Anastasios made the cut-off.
Monday night features the men’s pole vault final with the Swedish star Armand Duplantis and the Australian Kurtis Marschall, who is expected to compete for a medal.
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