Budapest 2023: Team Ghana flops at World Athletica Championships

The World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023 came to a close on Sunday, after nine days of thrilling action with Team Ghana coming home empty handed.

Before the championships took off in the Hungarian capital, there were hopes that Rose Yeboah, James Dadzie, Joe Paul Amoah and Deborah Acquah would shine, but it was a disaster as they got injured and could not perform.

The last hope was the 4x100m relay which Ghana can make a finals berth, but they could not raise a squad due the the injury of Amoah and Dadzie, so they others went just a tourists.

Before the team went to France for training and then to Budapest, there were hiccups and denial of visas to some athletes and officials,

Those who had the opportunity to travel to represent Ghana were Joseph Paul Amoah, Deborah Acquah, James Dadzie, Isaac Botsio, Aziz Mohammed, Solomon Diafo, and Edwin Gadayi.

Female high jumper, Rose Yeboah was left because her passport was due to expire.

James Dadzie and Joseph Paul Amoah could qualify in the men’s 200m race, same as Deborah Acquah in the women’s long jump due to injuries.

Team Ghana could not take part in the 4x100m race, dening Edwin Gadayi, Isaac Botsio the chance to show the world what they can do.

Long-distance runner Aziz Mohammed and Florence Agyeman were not seen in the 1500m and 400m races.

For Rose Yeboah, who is the current national record holder in women’s high jump, it was just sad she did not feature at the championship despite securing qualification due to visa denial, as well as Sarfo Ansah, who was also denied.

A total of 23 countries won gold medals in Budapest; five of them from Africa won nine gold medals, 26 countries won silver medals and 24 won bronze medals.

In all 46 of the 195 countries that participated in the championships won medals but Ghana is not one of them.

The championship saw superstars of the sport added to their legacy and new stars emerged as global champions.

A record total of 2100 athletes from 195 countries (plus the Athlete Refugee Team) have competed in the Hungarian capital, watched by more than 400,000 ticketed spectators from 120 countries, and producing one world record, one world U20 record, seven championship records, 11 area records, and 73 national records.

The heightened competitiveness provided enormous drama in the field events in particular, where 13 athletes across eight events recorded their best mark in the final round of competition to improve their positions, five of them clinching the gold medal.

Meanwhile, US sprinters Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, Kenyan middle distance diva Faith Kipyegon, Dutch 400m hurdles specialist Femke Bol, and dominant Spanish walkers Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez emerged as multiple title winners.

Lyles claimed the 100m and 200m double and anchored the USA men’s 4x100m relay team to victory, while Richardson set a championship record of 10.65 to win her first global title in the 100m, then anchored the USA team to a second championship record in the women’s 4x100m relay.

Kipyegon clinched a historic double, becoming the first woman to win both the 1500m and 5000m at the World Athletics Championships after breaking the world records over both distances this year.

Martin (20km and 35km race walk) and Perez (20km and 35km race walk) completed the first gold medal sweep of the race walks programme by one country, Spain.

Bol completed a drama-filled nine days by anchoring the Dutch women’s 4x400m team to a last-gasp victory in the final event, having fallen within meters

of the finish line in the 4x400m mixed relay on the first night and won her first individual world title in the 400m hurdles in between.

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas won her fourth world triple jump title, while Lyles (200m), Kipyegon (1500m), Joshua Cheptegei (10,000m), Grant Holloway (110m hurdles) and Karsten Warholm (400m hurdles) have each won three titles in their core event.

Budapest 2023 statistics

Records

1 world record (United States in the 4x400m mixed relay – 3:08.80)

1 world U20 record (Roshawn Clarke, Jamaica, in the 400m hurdles – 47.34)

7 championship records (Ryan Crouser, USA, in the shot put – 23.51; Daniel Stahl, Sweden, in the discus – 71.46; United States in the 4x400m mixed relay – 3:08.80; Sha’Carri Richardson, USA, in the 100m – 10.65; Shericka Jackson, Jamaica, in the 200m – 21.41; María Perez, Spain, in the 35km race walk – 2:38:40; United States in the 4x100m relay – 41.03)

11 area records :Africa: Cote d’Ivoire,  in the 4x100m relay – 41.90

Asia: Ernest John Obiena, Philipines, in the pole vault – 6.00; India in the 4x400m relay – 2:59.05; Kemi Adekoya, Bahrain, in the 400 meters hurdles – 53.56, 53.39 & 53.09

Europe: Matthew Hudson-Smith, Britain, in the 400m – 44.26

NACAC: United States in the 4x400m mixed relay – 3:08.80

Oceania: Jemima Montag, Australia, in the 20km race walk – 1:27:16

South America: Brian Daniel Pintadol, Ecuador, in the 35km race walk – 2:24:34; Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, Colombia, in the javelin – 65.47

73 national records

22 world-leading performances

Medals and placing

23 countries won gold medals

26 countries won silver medals

24 countries won bronze medals

46 countries won medals

71 countries finished in the top 8

Countries from all six areas won gold medals:

Africa – 9 gold from 5 countries

Asia – 3 gold from 3 countries

Europe – 16 gold from 9 countries

NACAC – 20 gold from 4 countries

Oceania – 1 gold from 1 country

South America – 1 gold from 1 country

Other firsts

Neeraj Chopra won India’s first gold medal, in the men’s javelin.

Hugues Fabrice Zango won Burkina Faso’s first gold medal, in the men’s triple jump.

Ivana Vuleta won Serbia’s first gold medal, in the women’s long jump.

Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (bronze) became the first African man to win a medal in the 100m.

Haruka Kitaguchi became the first Japanese athlete to win the women’s javelin and has the opportunity to defend her title before her home crowd in Tokyo in 2025.

Canada won both hammer throw titles, and four gold medals in total, for the first time.

Ernest Obiena’s silver in the men’s pole vault is the best result for the Philippines at the World Championships.

First medals for Pakistan (Arshad Nadeem’s silver in the men’s javelin) and the British Virgin Islands (Kyron McMaster’s silver in the men’s 400m hurdles).

Highest ever placing (first top eight) for Lesotho (Tebello Ramakongoana’s fourth in the men’s marathon) and St Lucia (Julien Alfred’s fourth in the women’s 200m and fifth in the 100m).

First shared gold at the World Athletics Championships – Katie Moon (USA) and Nina Kennedy (AUS) in the women’s pole vault (also shared bronze medal in the men’s pole vault – Chris Nilsen (USA) and Kurtis Marschall (AUS)).

From Sammy Heywood Okine