By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
TOKYO (15-Sep) — In front of some 50,000 fans at National Stadium here tonight, New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish upset two-time world and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and won the 3000m steeplechase with an explosive sprint from over 100 meters out. Beamish, 28, who won the world indoor 1500m in Glasgow in 2024, caught the tall Moroccan just before the line. His margin of victory was just 7/100ths of a second, 8:33.88 to 8:33.95.
“A bit of deja vu,” Beamish told reporters with a laugh when asked if his win tonight felt similar to his victory in Glasgow where he swept past the field in the final 50 meters. “Special to do it on the outdoor track. I never thought I was going to be a world champion once; to be one twice is totally surreal.”
Beamish, who lives in Boulder, Colo., and trains with the On Athletics Club, benefited from the race’s unusually slow pace. None of the athletes wanted to take it out, and the first kilometer was passed in an improbably slow 3:04.78, almost identical to the 3:04.90 Faith Cherotich ran in the first heat of the women’s steeplechase preliminary round this morning. Kenya’s Edmund Serem was the leader, and Beamish was back in tenth place and El Bakkali was even further back in 16th and last place.
“I just couldn’t believe it, that it was left this late and as slow as it was,” said Daniel Michalski, the only USA athlete in the final.
Remarkably, the pace barely picked up in the second kilometer (2:56.6). Both Beamish and El Bakkali remained well back from the front, running in 11th and 16th place, respectively.
Moments later, Michalski made a move to break up the race. He surged ahead with about two laps to go. The three Ethiopians in the race –Samuel Firewu, Lamecha Girma and Getnet Wale– all gave chase along with Serem, Germany’s Frederik Ruppert, and Canada’s Jean-Simon Desgagnes. Beamish did not react and was back in 15th place. He was waiting for the right moment to make his move.
“By 150 (meters to go) I had found a bit of clear air,” Beamish said. “The backstraight got hectic; I was dodging and weaving a bit. I’ve been in that position several times over the years and I’d back myself against anyone else in the world.”
With 300 meters to go, Girma passed Michalski. Wale and El Bakkali were very close behind, while Beamish was running in 11th. The Kiwi continued to work his way up, and coming out of the final water jump he was in fourth position. Just like in Glasgow, he swung wide and began his final sprint. El Bakkali was running urgently to the line, hoping to wrap up yet another title. Beamish had other ideas.
“The water jump wasn’t great, but I found some clear air with 100 to go,” Beamish recounted. “Yeah, just foot on the gas.”
Beamish did not pass El Bakkali until the two rivals were inside of the last 10 meters. It was unclear whether Beamish surprised the Moroccan, but El Bakkali looked shocked when he realized that he had lost. He wept openly in the mixed zone under the stadium and did not stop to speak with the media.
Beamish’s victory was made even sweeter because of the injury troubles he had since last summer when he failed to get out of the preliminary round at the Paris Olympics, and because he fell in his preliminary heat here and got his nose stepped on by another athlete. Indeed, he had only raced the steeplechase twice this year prior to these championships.
“It’s been a tough kind of 14, 15 months,” Beamish said. He added: “I wouldn’t say there were dark moments in the last year, but I would say there were really hard moments.”
Serem ended up with the bronze medal just edging Firewu, 8:34.56 to 8:34.68. Michalski, who broke the race open, finished ninth.
HOCKER DISQUALIFIED IN 1500M SEMI-FINALS
Reigning Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker was disqualified in the second of two semi-final heats after appearing to advance. The former Oregon Duck sliced his way between Germany’s Robert Farken and the Netherland’s Stefan Nillessen in the final 20 meters after finding himself trapped on the inside. Hocker twisted his torso to slip through, clipped Farken (who lost momentum and fell back), then resumed running to the finish. When he spoke to the media he didn’t seem worried about the contact.
“Obviously, I’m not trying to affect anyone else’s race,” Hocker said. “I was trying to get to the line in a top-six position, obviously like everyone else was. I would have liked to have had it a little bit cleaner; it was what it was.”
Although Farken told Race Results Weekly that he did not initiate a protest, the German federation did and Hocker was disqualified. USA Track & Field appealed on Hocker’s behalf, but the appeal was rejected. Farken was allowed to advance to the final.
“We are disappointed by the decision to disqualify Olympic Champion Cole Hocker from the Men’s 1500m Final,” read a brief statement from USATF. “We believed we had grounds for an appeal and unfortunately, that appeal was denied.”
All of the other key favorites advanced including reigning champion Josh Kerr of Great Britain, Bowerman Mile champion Niels Laros of the Netherlands, 2022 world champion Jake Wightman of Great Britain, and 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya.
“Each championships bring their own kind of challenges and fun,” Kerr told reporters after finishing just behind Laros in the first heat. “I’ll keep doing what I can to show up and medal. It’s my title. It will be a real battle for whoever wants to come and take it off me.”
THREE USA WOMEN QUALIFY FOR STEEPLECHASE FINAL
Qualifying in the women’s 3000m steeplechase went mostly to form, although NCAA record-holder Pamela Kosgei of Kenya (and the University of New Mexico) only finished tenth in the second heat in 9:28.21 and did not advance. Kosgei’s Kenyan teammates Faith Cherotich (first, heat one), and Doris Lemngole (second, heat three) both advanced. Also qualifying for Wednesday’s final were Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, the 2021 Olympic champion (first, heat three); Germany’s Gesa Krause, a two-time European champion (fourth, heat two); and Kazakstan’s Norah Jeruto, the 2022 world champion (second, heat two).
For the American team of Lexy Halladay, Angelina Napoleon, and Kaylee Mitchell it was an exciting morning. All three women finished fifth in their respective heats (the last qualifying position) and advanced to the final. The last time three USA women made a world steeplechase final was in 2022 when Courtney Frerichs, Emma Coburn, and Courtney Wayment finished sixth, eighth, and twelfth, respectively.
Halladay competed in the first heat and clocked 9:15.06, just 22/100ths of a second ahead of Germany’s Olivia Gürth. She really had to push in the final meters to defend her position.
“I was just trying to stay within myself, just expend as little energy as possible,” said the former Brigham Young University athlete. “Honestly, most of the energy is mental trying to make it into the final.”
Napoleon, who is only 20 years-old and still competes for North Carolina State, ran 9:18.03. She was clearly working hard in the steamy conditions, but had a reasonably comfortable gap over Israel’s Adva Cohen who ran a national record 9:19.90 in sixth place.
“It was tough, I mean as tough as I thought it was going to be,” said Napoleon, her entire face beaded with sweat. “We’re at a World Championship; nothing is going to be easy here. We’re running with the best women in the world, so I’m proud that I came out top-five.”
Mitchell ran 9:15.52 in the third heat and had a very comfortable nine-second margin over the next athlete, Japan’s Miu Saito. Like her two teammates, this is also her first global championships and she’s still getting used to being far from home.
“Normally my huge races I’m staying at my house in Eugene because it’s either the Pre Classic, USA’s, Trials, whatever it is,” Mitchell told reporters. “So, just having to get used to thinking about it a little bit more, having things be a little bit more out of my control, and being in a prelim that went out really hot, and it was kind of like you either had to go with it or risk not making it. So, I definitely hurt longer that first couple of laps.”
PHOTO: Geordie Beamish of New Zealand winning the world steeplechase title in Tokyo (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Niels Laros of the Netherlands, Josh Kerr of Great Britain, and Jake Wightman (also of Great Britain) finishing one-two-three in their semi-final heat of the men’s 1500m (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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