Oblique Seville sprints to world 100-metre title, beating Jamaican teammate Kishane Thompson
Oblique Seville won the men’s 100-metre final at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, edging Jamaican teammate Kishane Thompson with world record holder Usain Bolt in attendance at Japan National Stadium in Tokyo.
The diminutive Seville clocked a personal-best 9.77 seconds, with Thompson, the reigning Olympic silver medallist, following in 9.82. He entered the race with a season world-leading time of 9.75.
Noah Lyles, who won 2023 world gold in Budapest, Hungary, was third on Sunday in a season-best 9.89 while his American teammate, Kenny Bednarek, was fourth (9.92).
“Oblique has been the guy that we’ve all wanted to do something significant,” said CBC Sports analyst Donovan Bailey, the 1996 Olympic 100 champion. “He is the athlete that Usain Bolt, technically, is mentoring [as he’s training under Bolt’s longtime coach, Glen Mills]. He’s following the exact path. To see [Seville] on top of the world is incredible.”
Added Trackside co-host Perdita Felicien: “I’ve never been able to bet on Oblique Seville. Every time he comes to major championships, he [messes] it up. But now, I’m eating crow pie because I was wrong. Hats off, the right Oblique Seville showed up today.”
WATCH | Seville runs 9.77-second personal best to his 1st world title:
9.77 was Jamaica’s Oblique Seville’s winning time in the men’s 100-metre final Sunday the world championships in Tokyo.
Canadians Andre De Grasse (10.09 SB), Jerome Blake (10.03) and Eliezer Adjibi (10.27) didn’t advance from their respective semifinal heats.
Seville, the world’s No. 4-ranked men’s 100 runner, is the first Jamaican to medal at worlds in the men’s 100 since Bolt in 2017. He won his semifinal in 9.86 earlier Sunday after going 9.93 in his Saturday heat.
WATCH | Seville tells CBC Sports’ Devin Heroux ‘there’s more to come’ after world title:
9.77 was Jamaica’s Oblique Seville’s winning time Sunday in the men’s 100-metre final at the world championships in Tokyo.
On Aug. 20, Seville stopped the clock in 9.87 for the win, defeating Lyles at the Diamond League stop in Lausanne, Switzerland. He also beat him at the London Diamond League on July 19 and has taken four of the past six meetings.
“He has owned Noah Lyles this year,” Bailey said.
Sunday was billed as the most anticipated race of these world championships, with Lyles trying to win his second consecutive world title.
Lyles, who had a delayed start to this season by an ankle injury, beat Thompson in a photo finish to win Olympic gold in Paris last summer, and nearly came to blows with Bednarek at the recent U.S. trials.
Lyles passed Bednarek for the win in a hotly contested 200 on Aug. 3 in Eugene, Ore., then looked his way to talk some trash.
Bednarek’s answer was a two-handed shove in the back after the finish line at Hayward Field, some more heated words and a challenge for a rematch.
WATCH | Trackside: Bailey and Felcien react to Day 2 action in Tokyo:
Hosts Perdita Felicien and Devin Heroux break down all the action from Day 2 of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. From the high-stakes 100m finals to standout Canadian performances, they analyze the key storylines, biggest results, and what it all means moving forward.
DeBues-Stafford set Canadian mark in 2019 world final
It was a bittersweet Sunday on the track for other Canadian athletes in Tokyo, with runner Gabriela DeBues-Stafford clinching a spot in the women’s 1,500 final on Tuesday at 9:05 a.m. ET.
However, Christopher Morales Williams didn’t advance to the men’s 400 semifinals after running 45.26 seconds, Audrey Leduc failed to qualify for the women’s 100 final (11.34) and distance runner Moh Ahmed has now gone five consecutive world championships without a medal in the men’s 10,000.
He also aggravated his left calf that was strained in the 5,000 at the recent Canadian championships and forced him out of Sunday’s 10,000 with a couple of laps remaining.
Meanwhile, the last time DeBues-Stafford appeared in the 1,500 world championship final was Oct. 5, 2019 in Doha, Qatar, where she placed sixth in 3:56.12 that stands as the Canadian record.
A lot has happened in the 30-year-old Toronto native’s track career since, including an appearance in the 2021 Olympic final at National Stadium in Tokyo — she was fifth in 3:58.93 — and several injuries that nearly pushed her to retirement last summer.
But DeBues-Stafford persevered along with her husband and coach, Rowan DeBues, and she returned to competition this season with a goal to race the 1,500 and 5,000 at worlds. The latter event begins Sept 18 with the heats.
On Sunday, DeBues-Stafford reached the finish fifth in her semifinal heat (top six advanced) with a time of 4:08.29 with the temperature hovering around 35 C. She said she was tripped about 200 metres from the finish but made up ground on the outside over the final 100.
“There was lots of pushing, lots of shoving,” DeBues-Stafford, who holds a combined seven national records outdoors and indoors, told Devin Heroux of CBC Sports. “I did well to stay on my feet.
“It’s been a really, really hard last three years. Just making the semis, this morning I was crying. To go from 4:15 [last year] to whatever shape I’m in right now, [it’s] great to be a world finalist. I’m so happy. Rowan has put so much into my career and it feels good to do this together.”
WATCH | Full replay coverage of Sunday evening action in Tokyo:
Watch the day two evening session from the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Injury-marred season for Ahmed
It was a ‘frustrated’ Ahmed who reflected on a 2025 season ravaged by injury following the men’s 10,000 final on Sunday.
The 34-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., spoke of an Achilles tendon injury and an adductor issue that, along with back spasms, prevented Ahmed from making his debut in the half marathon in New York City this past March. Adductors are a group of muscles that bring the leg inward towards the body.
He was also hampered by hamstring ailments and an illness that knocked him out of training for the month of June.
Ahmed returned to competition July 31 in the men’s 5,000 at the Canadian track and field championships, but pulled up 400 metres from the finish in Ottawa with a calf injury later diagnosed as a strain.
“I didn’t feel good out there. I couldn’t push off on the calf,” Ahmed told Heroux after Sunday’s race during which he ran conservatively, sitting near the back of the field. “Everything felt like [such an effort]. I gave it a crack.”
Ahmed told Canadian Running he felt no calf pain during warmup and in pre-race drills but there was discomfort midway through the race.
“I’m definitely proud of myself. This is the first year in my career where I’ve had any sort of setbacks. It literally felt like it was one setback after another.”
Ahmed, who was making his seventh appearance at worlds, lives in Oregon and trains with Nike’s Swoosh Track Club (formerly Bowerman Track Club) in Eugene. He was also scheduled to race the 5,000 in Tokyo and has yet to divulge if he will run the heats on Sept. 19.
His recent treatment included manual therapy, dry needling and massage three or four times per week. It has also featured progressive loading protocol that involves gradually increasing the physical demand on the injured tissues through pain-free exercise.
Ahmed also supported his fitness with cross-training for the first time in his career and a Boost microgravity treadmill to run more miles with less impact.
“That might be the most proud I’ve ever been of myself because of everything I’ve gone through this year,” said. “I don’t make any excuses. All that’s on me. You’ve gotta make better decisions in training.”
On Aug. 6, 2021, Ahmed won his first Olympic track medal, posting a time of 12 minutes 58.61 seconds for silver in the men’s 5,000 on a hot and humid evening at National Stadium in Tokyo. It was the first Olympic podium finish in the distance by a Canadian.
“I’m frustrated. This is a track I hold very, very near and dear to my heart and I was hoping I’d come here to have another moment like that but … hopefully I’ll find something in the next three years [at the 2027 worlds in Beijing or 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles].”
WATCH | Aaron Brown & Perdita Felicien give their podium predictions for Tokyo:
The Trackside hosts pick their podium favourites for some of the biggest matchups heading into the world athletics championships in Tokyo.
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