Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa successfully defended her BMW Berlin Marathon title in style, smashing the world record with 2:11:53. Assefa took more than two minutes off the women’s world record of 2:14:04, which had been set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei at the 2019 Chicago Marathon. Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui held on to second place in 2:17:49, while Tanzania’s Magdalena Shauri made a remarkable breakthrough to take third place in 2:18:41, a huge national record.

The world records set by Gudaf Tsegay and Mondo Duplantis have contributed to the fact that the Wanda Diamond League final – which took place in Eugene on Saturday (Sept 16) and Sunday (sept 17) – was the meeting outside the championships of the highest quality ever based on the scores of the competition’s performance ranking.  

After 13 meetings from May to September, the final fields are now set as the Wanda Diamond League gets ready to crown its 2023 champions at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend (16-17).

World 3000m steeplechase record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech now also has the world 2000m steeplechase best to her name as she clocked 5:47.42 to ensure that the Boris Hanzekovic Memorial – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – ended on a high in Zagreb on Sunday (10).

Five world record-holders in the six championship events are among the entries for the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 on 1 October.

African athletics was shaken by sad news on April 9, 2023, with the death of Ivorian coach Anthony Koffi following an illness. Coach Anthony Koffi has coached many Ivorian athletes including Marie-José Ta Lou and Arthur Cissé. Coach then Technical Director of the HIGH Performance Training Center of the IAAF in Dakar from 2003 to 2017, he participated in the emergence of several young Africans at the world level. Apart from her compatriots, we can mention Amantle Montsho (Botswana), world champion 400m Ladies 2011, Isac Makwala (Botswana), Adama Jammeh (Gambia), Gina Bass (Gambia), Matthieu Gnialigo (Benin) who were boarders from the Center of Dakar.

World Athletics is delighted to announce the six finalists for the Member Federation Award.

The Member Federation Award honours a national governing body that has gone above and beyond to serve its athletes, fans and greater community. The shortlisted federations were nominated by each of the six area associations.

The winner will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.

The six nominees, listed alphabetically, are: Brazil (South America), Guam (Oceania), Jamaica (NACAC), Kenya (Africa), Korea (Asia), Spain (Europe)

Wilson Chuma Kiprugut, Kenya's first Olympic medalist thanks to his third place finish in the 800 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, has died at the age of 84. He paved the way for all these champions who are the pride of Kenyan athletics today. Four years after his performance in Tokyo, the Kenyan athlete won silver at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, still in the 800m, ahead of Australian Ralph Doubell, who broke the world record that day.

 “Chuma was one of those athletes who put Kenya on the world map. It is a sad day for the country and for the world of athletics. He was an extraordinary man,” said Jackson Tuwei, president of the Kenyan federation.

The conflict within the Sierra Leone Athletics Association (SLAA) has had a happy end thanks to a reconciliation mission sent by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) and which stayed in Freetown from 17 to 20 October 2022. The CAA delegation was led by the senior Vice-President, General Jackson Tuwei (Kenya) who was assisted by the Director General, Lamine FATY (Senegal).