Here is a look at some of the stats from Hungary and the events overall success

If the aim of athletics organisers in Budapest this month was to stage the greatest ever World Championships, I think they have succeeded.

This was my 13th World Championships I have attended as a journalist and my favourite and I cant see Tokyo topping it in 2025.

The athletics was superb with a fine mixture of great dominating champions, shock new winners and final round on the field or last 10-metre changes on the track.

The stadium was excellent just the right size and splendid beside the Danube and the crowds and atmosphere were helped by the Fan Zones while the city itself was magnificent. It was too hot, but the Hungarians did a magnificent job. Getting out of Budapest, however, proved harder for many.

The British performance
This exceeded all expectations 10 medals equalled Britains best in Stuttgart 1993 and it could have been more with some near misses in fourth and the usually dependable Laura Muir and Dina Asher-Smith not quite at their very best.

It wont be easy to repeat the same medal success in Paris. Josh Kerr was superb but Jakob Ingebrigtsen was not at his very best and even though he won the 5000m he was not in his world two miles record form. Nafi Thiam and a few other missing heptathletes should be back next year but KJTs second day form does reconfirm what a competitor she is and could be even better in 2024.

Matt Hudson-Smith could have Steven Gardiner and Michael Norman to contend with in the 400m and USAs women are unlikely to be disqualifed from the 4x400m in France.

The 100m field could be boosted by past championships winners Fred Kerley and Marcell Jacobs.

Gold
Katarina Johnson-Thompson heptathlon
Josh Kerr 1500m

Silver
Keely Hodgkinson 800m
Matthew Hudson-Smith 400m
Mixed 4x400m

Bronze
Womens 4x100m
Womens 4x400m
Mens 4x400m
Zharnel Hughes 100m
Ben Pattison 800m

Fourth
Mens 4x100m
Zharnel Hughes 200m
Morgan Lake high jump

Fifth
Daryll Neita 200m
Jemma Reekie 800m
Molly Caudery pole vault

Sixth
Laura Muir 1500m

Seventh
Dina Asher-Smith 200m

Eighth
Jess Warner-Judd 10,000m
Katie Snowden 1500m
Dina Asher-Smith 100m

Others who made final
Neil Gourley 1500m 9th
Anna Purchase hammer 11th
Melissa Courtney-Bryant 1500m 12th

USA easily top the world

The United States are the worlds top nation with 12 golds, 8 silvers, 9 bronzes (29 in total) and they had 55 top eight placings.

On the points system which determines a nations strength (8 for first place down to one point for eighth) the USA scored twice as many points as any other nation.

Only Jamaica with their sprints and jumps strength and Kenya with their distance prowess also outscore Britain who had almost twice as any points as the next best European nation Spain for whom 32 of their points came from their walks golds.

Britains traditional European rivals, Germany, scored 36 points and had no medals. Poland had just 31 points and only two medals. Despite the Paris Olympics approaching, France got just 29 points and a single medal.

Points table
1 USA 277
2 Jamaica 139
3 Kenya 112
4 GBR 102
5 Ethiopia 96
6 Canada 70
7 Spain 55
8 Australia 51
8 Italy 51
8 Netherlands 51

Who was the top athlete?
Noah Lyles was the star male performer with three golds and provided more than just fast sprinting with his persona. Mondo Duplantis was the most dominant winner and is the other big male star.

Femke Bol won two womens golds and came close to three as her finish to Budapest proved much better than her day one and her last gasp relay win where she made an astonishing amount up in her final strides was possibly the moment of the championships. However the female athlete of the championships and the year is undoubtedly Faith Kipyegon with her world records and dominance.

The womens sprint stardom was shared by ShaCarri Richardson (100m and 4x100m gold and 200m bronze) and Shericka Jackson (200m gold, 4x100m silver and 100m bronze).
The latter produced what was the performance of the championships with the second fastest 200m of all-time with 21.41.

There was one world record but that was in the mixed relay which has no history and because of its position in the timetable does not include the worlds best 400m runners which is ludicrous.

Ingebrigtsen repeated his 1500m silver and 5000m gold from Eugene despite a sore throat even though Norwegians dislike of Scots increased. Is it Neil Gourleys turn in 2024?

You could have probably got long odds that Britains only multiple medallists would be relay runners Rio Mitcham, Lewis Davey and Laviai Nielsen rather than the likes of Hudson-Smith, Hughes and Asher-Smith.

Performance levels in Budapest
The overall standard was incredibly high but there were probably fewer records than anticipated given the fast track and heat and even championships records were not that frequent.

What was notable though was the competition was fierce and there seemed to be an unusually high number of final round medal changes or change of leader in the last 20 metres.

The mixed relay, the womens 100m, 800m, 10,000m, 100m hurdles, triple jump, javelin and 4x400m, the mens 400m, 5000m, long jump, and discus all featured late changes.

At least the drama of day one for the Dutch with the 10,000m and mixed relays were not repeated though.

The standard in qualifying was exceptional and numerous records were set with the fastest heats and the fastest an athlete has ever failed to make the final.

The level of surprises can often be indicated by the success of the level of the predictions rather than just plain incompetence on my behalf though picking the likes of Jackson, Duplantis, Holloway, Rojas, Warholm and Bol etc is not entirely a difficult task requiring great athletics foresight.

We did not have winners Antonio Watson and Danielle Williams in our top eight in our online predictions and we also missed Perez from our 35km walk top eight although had her third in the 20km.

We only had Katzberg sixth in the hammer and likewise Tausaga in the discus and we only had Lyles fifth in the 100m and our chosen one Kerley did not make the final.

There were some minor successes such as the 200m order of Lyles, Knighton, Tebogo, Hughes, De Grasse and Bednarek being very close to what actually happened.

My favourite events in Budapest

My British bias comes out here but Kerr taking on Ingebrigtsen on the final bend and pulling clear and Johnson-Thompson chasing a superb Anna Hall in the 800m and tracking her close enough to smash her PB and take gold will live in my memory forever.

The biggest medal shock was Ben Pattison. He was beaten in the British Champs by Dan Rowden, only qualifying for the team by finishing second to Max Burgin at the very last chance at London and then barely sprinting through to a qualifier in his heat and then advancing from the semis as a fastest loser. He clearly had the talent but his application in the final was a shock to many and the fact it was Britains first medal in the event for 36 years added to its excitement.

Hodgkinsons 800m was more anticipated but it was great she finally was able to overtake Athing Mu although there was a tinge of disappointment with Zharnel Hughes and Matthew Hudson-Smith despite their magnificent performances as they had looked more impressive in qualifying.

Hudson-Smith could have won with a slightly slower first 200m than 21.1 following his European record in the semis and Hughes was not able to quite match his New York form but both had exceptional championships.

The final legs of all four medal winning relays where the British teams defied expectations without their best runners were also thrilling. The mixed team could have been stronger and the mens and womens team missed their fastest runners from the individual events but those who ran all rose to the occasion. The fighting spirit was best summed up by Rio Mitcham holding off and running away from individual champion Antonio Watson with a 43.89 split which defies all logic for someone with a 45.60 PB whose best 400m in July and August was 46.90. Britain also got a medal in the womens 4x100m without double finalist Asher-Smith.

Away from the Brits, Bol and Warholms well-judged 400m hurdles were impressive as they left the opposition behind in the straight and Kipyegons 56sec last circuits in the 1500m and 5000m were exceptional but my favourite race with an international winner was El Bakkalis battle with world record-holder Girma in the steeplechase. He ran a last 800m of 1:58.14 over eight barriers and two water jumps and he eased off to celebrate!

Cheptegeis control Mo-style in the 10,000m was also majestic as were the superb throws victories for Ryan Crouser and Daniel Stahl which were both the best world championship performances in history and Miltiadis Tentoglou fought magnificently in a final round long jump contest.

Defending a title is not easy.
Of the 49 champions from Eugene only 14 successfully defended (Cheptegei, El Bakkali, Holloway, Crouser, Kipyegon, Moon, Lyles, Jackson, Rojas, Duplantis, Ealey, USA (womens 4x100m and mens 4x400m) and Ingebrigtsen and eight did not compete for various reasons (Pichardo, Mihambo, Thiam, Dominican Republic (mixed 4x400m), Wightman, Norman, McLaughlin. Jeruto) and 27 who did compete were unable to add to their victories.

World Athletics performance

The World Athletics website had record numbers as did its social media postings but its not a sign that athletics is in full control of itself if it has to close down part of the World Athletics website every night as it couldnt cope with demand.

Its scheduling was still in poor in places (mixed relay etc) and I dont understand why Mahuchikhs final high jump attempt couldnt have come before the 4x400m relay rather than after so the event could have ended with a glorious relay leg rather than a failed high jump. And why have a relatively low profile event such as the womens steeplechase on the last day which is always the most watched session?

On the plus side, the athletics was glorious and the qualifying by time rather than places and the scrapping of fastest losers worked for distances of 1500m and above.

The thought that it might mean slow jogs before 400m races was not a problem. In the 1500m Adelle Tracey ran 3:58.77 and Tsepho Tshite ran 3:32.98 and didnt even make the final when those sort of times would have easily have made all previous finals but if you cant make the top six in your semi, then you are probably not going to make the top six in the final!

Their timing company Seiko were appalling. There were more mistakes in Seikos results timing analysis in Budapest than in all the previous 30-plus major championships events I have attended put together over the last 40 years.

According to Seiko, 400m winner Antonio Watson was a tailed off last at 200m and did not go through the 300m mark and Dina Asher-Smith bypassed the 100m mark in the 200m.

The timing company suggests that Faith Kipyegon dropped from first to tenth at 1100m and was back to first at 1200m. I missed that.

Timings were wrong in all mens 1500m final runners at the bell bar the leader which resulted in fictitious last lap times being even included in World Athletics report it suggests the Scots drive from 800m onwards  consists of 100m splits of 13.55, 13.72, 14.52, 12.97, 13.25, 12.93 and 13.62. Two of those boldoned are wrong and he was not six metres back at the bell.

The mixed 4x400m splits were originally hopelessly wrong and on the wrong information some teams mistakenly changed their teams for the final. They did at least correct the results a few days later.

In the mens 4x100m Seye Ogunlewe was credited with a 8.05 anchor leg and in the 4x400m heats Shakeem McKay apparently ran 39.54.

The poor quality control by Seiko and World Athletics was prevalent throughout the championships but after some criticism their response was not to improve but just not release any 4x400m splits on the final day though some have been provided by a different unofficial but accurate source and will be included in AWs results.

GB selection process still wrong

Yes, Britain had a great championships but it does not mean the selection process was right. I wrote a scathing critique pre-championships of British Athletics turning down the opportunity of UK athletes high in the world rankings not being able to take up places on offer from World Athletics.

Athletes were penalised for being British as no other nation did it to such an extent.

Maybe some of the athletes who were in the rankings have had a past opportunity and not taken it and I see that the Worlds is not a development event and that taking athletes destined to exit at the first opportunity may have had a negative impact on morale in the past.

However, too many events with no athletes is more demoralising 14 mens events and six womens had no British competitor which was unfair on British supporters there who had the biggest number of overseas supporters and its also unfair on UK television viewers but mostly on the athletes.

Certainly, however, the lack of male endurance runners is not entirely the fault of the selectors they cant pick athletes without qualifying marks though maybe that is more the fault of the system and British Athletics need to provide more competition and encouragement. The British Milers Club system obviously works as we had eight 800m and 1500m finalists. Two runners only made the team because of the 800m in the London Grand Prix and while distance races are not always practical in a busy timetable there should be more domestic events held at the biggest meets before the main programme starts.

Molly Caudery wouldnt have competed in Budapest but for one performance in the British Championships and she finished fifth and Ben Pattison only qualified even later and he finished third. Anna Purchase, a rarity who did get a ranking opportunity despite being short of the standard, made the hammer final.

Josh Zeller was fifth in Eugene and there was no sign in his 2023 form he would have repeated it but World Athletics gave British Athletics a chance for him to try again.

Nick Percy threw 64.73m at the beginning of August and 63.72m made the final in Budapest and that distance would have placed eighth in the final. Different competition pressure obviously but he might have made the final.

Heptathlete Jade ODowda achieved a PB 6255 in Gotzis this year and that would have placed her 10th in Budapest although she has not competed since an attempt in Bydgoszcz in July when she high jumped 1.86m, a height that nome of the heptathletes bettered in Hungary.

Charles Dobsons 200m spot and Alex Haydock-Wilsons 400m place were both turned down. Judging by their medal winning relay legs Dobson ran 43.75 in the 4x400m an individual place would have been warranted.

NCAA hammer champion Kenny Ikeji threw 77.92m in that competition which is a distance that finished sixth in Budapest even though his post-NCAA form was not at that level. So why not see if he could raise his form again?

Discus thrower Jade Lally threw 61.37m in 2023 but 61.31m made the final in Budapest.

On 2023 form I am not sure Will Battershill and former world finalist Zak Seddon would have necessarily made the final in Budapest but a time of 8:24.74 made the final and the pair have both run sub-8:23 this summer.

A jump of 6.61m made the womens long jump final and Lorraine Ugen jumped 6.76m wind-assisted and 6.66m legally.

Joel Clarke-Khan set a PB 2.27m in front of a huge crowd at London, so whos to say he wouldnt have found that necessary one extra centimetre in Budapest to make the final and 2.27m would have placed eighth.

British Athletics need to have a closer look at what level of performance makes the final rather than compare British performances to often highly inflated standards chosen deliberately high to keep numbers down so a higher emphasis can be put on ranking places.

Whether some of the athletes would have progressed is irrelevant to some though. The undenying view of most athletes and supporters is that if World Athletics think youre good enough to get in via a ranking place then your own governing body should support you.

If 400m hurdler Lina Nielsen would have automatically got selected with a 54.90 and she runs 54.96 and is then given a ranking spot shouldnt the governing body be pleased that she has got a selection opportunity and back its athlete?

Future event changes

Do the marathon and walks have to be included when the conditions are always so difficult? The walks do at least attract the worlds best but the marathon fields never compare with the line-ups in the likes of London, Berlin and Chicago. Should they just be included in a spring and autumn marathon and then athletes wont be subjected to dangerous conditions and it will be a true world championships?

While the marathon obviously has to be in the Olympics its not a must have in these championships.

Can the mixed relay be better timetabled so it isnt just a minor event? Most countries wont run their best runners so close to the individual heats and whoever thought it would be a good idea to hold the 4x100m heats just before the 200m semi finals should be sacked.

Seb Coe is talking about a new event to fill the gap in the non-World Championships years. I doubt if it will be too revolutionary how about a 1000m time trial or 3000m elimination race? and maybe the World Championships itself could be trimmed down to just the best 24 in each event. Why should 100m runners get 80 entries and 10,00m runners get 28?

There would be no need for semi finals which would cut down the number of races.

Also with that reduction of numbers, the final say in who can compete should perhaps be up to World Athletics and not the national governing body!

British middle-distance tactics

Why do so many runners use the stay inside at nearly all costs and risk getting boxed tactic?

Near the front but a few metres wide and free to react to any acceleration, is surely better and less likely to result in a stumble or fall or being surrounded and nowhere to move?

It does often open up but if it doesnt, it requires very good acceleration and risks finishing behind inferior runners.

Also is it always the best tactic to follow the leader whatever and stay in contact? Surely it is best to run at the pace which is best for you to maximise your best performance and if that means letting someone go and catching them later, thats okay?

Most of the womens 800m finalists were at least four seconds slower on their second lap than their first. Wouldnt a 57 and 58 be better than a 56 and 60?

List of all winners

Men
100m: Noah Lyles USA 9.83
200m: Noah Lyles USA 19.52
400m: Antonio Watson JAM 44.22
800m: Marco Arop CAN 1:44.24
1500m: Josh Kerr GBR 3:29.38
5000m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen NOR 13:11.30
10,000m: Joshua Cheptegei UGA 27:51.42
3000mSC: Soufiane El Bakkali ETH 8:03.53
Marathon: Victor Kiplangat UGA 2:08:53
110mH: Grant Holloway USA 12.96
400mH: Karsten Warholm NOR 46.89
HJ: Gianmarco Tamberi ITA 2.36m
PV: Mondo Duplantis SWE 6.10m
LJ: Militiadis Tentoglou GRE 8.52m
TJ: Hugues Fabrice Zango BUR 17.64m
SP: Ryan Crouser USA 23.51 (CBP)
DT: Daniel Stahl SWE 23.51 (CBP)
HT: Ethan Katzberg CAN 81.25m
JT: Neeraj Chopra IND 88.17m
Dec: Pierce LaPage CAN 8909
20kmW: Alvaro Martin ESP 1:17:32
35kmW: Alvaro Martin ESP 2:24:30
4x100m: USA 37.38
4x400m: USA 2:57.31

Women
100m: ShaCarri Richardson USA 10.65 (CBP)
200m: Shericka Jackson JAM 21.41 (CBP)
400m: Marleidy Paulino DOM 48.76
800m: Mary Moraa KEN 1:56.03
1500m: Faith Kipyegon KEN 3:54.87
5000m: Faith Kipyegon KEN 14:53.88
10,000m: Gudaf Tsegay ETH 31:32.19
3000mSC: Winfred Yavi BRN 8:54.29
Marathon: Amane Beriso ETH 2:24:23
100mH: Danielle Williams JAM 12.43
400mH: Femke Bol NED 51.70
HJ: Yaroslava Mahuchikh UKR 2.01m
PV: Nina Kennedy AUS/Katie Moon USA 4.90m
LJ: Ivana Vuleta SRB 7.14m
TJ: Yulimar Rojas VEN 15.08m
SP: Chase Ealey USA 20.43m
DT: Laulanga Tausaga USA 69.49m
HT: Camryn Rogers CAN 77.22m
JT: Haruka Kitaguchi JPN 66.73m
Hept: Katarina Johnson-Thompson GBR 6740
20kmW: Maria Perez ESP 1:26:51
35kmW: Maria Perez ESP 2:38:40 (CBP)
4x100m: USA 41.03 (CBP)
4x400m: Netherlands 3:20.72
Mixed 4400: USA 3:08.80 (world record)

READ MORE: Results from the 2023 World Champs

World leads summary:
Mens long jump: Pinnock 8.54m (qualifying)
Mens 20km walk: 1:17:32 Martin
Mens 4x100m: USA 37.67 & Italy 37.65 & USA 37.38
Mens 4x400m: USA 2:57.31
Decathlon: LePage 8909
Womens 200m: Jackson 21.41
Womens 3000m steeplechase Yavi 8:54.29
Womens 100m hurdles: Harrison 12.24 (in heat)
Womens 4x100m Jamaica 41.70 & USA 41.59 & USA 41.03
Womens long jump: Vuleta 7.14m
Womens 4400: Jamaica 3:22.74 and Netherlands 3:20.72
Mixed 4x400m: USA 3:10.41 and 3:08.80

Equalled world lead
Mens 100m: Lyles 9.83
Mens high jump: Tamberi and Harrison 2.36m
Womens pole vault: Kennedy and Moon 4.90m
Womens 100m: Richardson 10.65

Other stats of note

World under-20 record: 400mH: Roshawn Clarke JAM 47.34

11 area records inc European 400m Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) 44.26

73 national records

71 countries finished in top 8

46 countries won medals

23 countries won gold medals

Europe won 16 golds from 9 countries second to North Americas 20

First golds for: India (mens javelin), Burkina Faso (mens triple jump), Serbia (womens long jump)

First medals for: Pakistan (Arshad Nadeem silver in javelin) British Virgin Islands (Kyle McMaster silver in 400m hurdles)

First shared gold: Womens pole vault (plus medal in mens pole vault also involving USA and Australia