O'Sullivan's magical run ends in semifinal round of world champs...
TOKYO--It probably wasn't the way that NCAA women's 1500 meter champion Sophie O'Sullivan (Paul Merca photo) expected to end her 2025 campaign.
Considering the amount of time training she missed after being diagnosed with a stress fracture on her tibia that caused her to miss racing in the Irish national championships, it was a miracle that she made it to the line for Saturday night's first round, much less running a season best
The lack of training caught up to O'Sullivan as she finished twelfth in her semifinal heat.
Despite a tumble by Ethiopia's Freweyni Hailu in the first 100 meters of the race that caused a small bit of chaos on the field, one could see that O'Sullivan had lost some of the fitness from the winter and spring, as she could not respond to any of the moves from the field, which included Kenya's Faith Kipyegon.
Kipyegon, the current world record holder in the 1500, won the race, running 4:00.34.
O'Sullivan crossed the line in 4:18.18.
Highlights of Sunday night included victories in the women's 100 meter dash by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the USA in a championship record 10.61; Jamaica's Oblique Seville winning the men's 100 in a personal best 9.77; and Stanford alum Valarie Allman winning the women's discus.
Monday morning in Tokyo will be a busy morning for athletes with Washington ties.
Starting at 9 am local time (5 pm Sunday afternoon in the Pacific time zone), Ridgefield native Trey Knight throws in flight 1 of the men's hammer qualifying.
Five minutes later in two separate pits, the women's pole vault qualifying begins. In one pit, defending world champion Katie Moon along with Washington's Hana Moll will try to advance to Wednesday night's final, while in the other pit, the Huskies' Amanda Moll will jump with US teammate Sandi Morris.
At 10:56 am, former Seattle Pacific All-American Kaylee Mitchell runs in the third heat of the women's 3000 steeplechase, where the top five finishers in each heat advance to Wednesday's finals.
Washington alum Gianna Woodruff, competing in her fifth straight world championships, will run in the first round of the 400 hurdles.
In Monday night's session, Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts continues his title defense in the semifinals of the men's 1500 at 9:30 pm local time (5:30 am Pacific time).
NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.
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