The University of Mississippi Athletics
Photo by: Mattia Ozbot / World Athletics
Track & Field Alums Wrap Competition at 2025 World Athletics Outdoor Championships
9/19/2025 | Track and Field
TOKYO – Ole Miss track & field greats Tiarnan Crorken (Great Britain), Sam Kendricks (Team USA) and McKenzie Long (Team USA) have all wrapped competition at the 2025 World Athletics Outdoor Championships held this week in Tokyo, with Kendricks and Long advancing to their respective finals alongside the best athletes in the world.
Read below for event-by-event recaps from Tokyo. Ole Miss cross country resumes its 2025 season next Friday (Sept. 26) at Missouri's Gans Creek Classic, while the Rebel track & field teams are slated to open the 2025-26 indoor season this December.
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SAM KENDRICKS • MEN'S POLE VAULT • TEAM USA
Qualifying (Sept. 13): T-1st Place, 5.75m/18-10.25
Final (Sept. 15): 4th Place, 5.95m/19-06.25
Sam Kendricks, a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist, has been in the prime of his career for more than a decade now as one of the most consistent vaulters on the planet – even as the quality of the event has surged globally. But this past week in Tokyo proved to be the toughest men's pole vault final in world history.
The Oxford native sailed through qualifying on Sept. 13, clearing all four of his bars on first attempts – including the auto-qualifier height of 5.75m/18-10.25. But two days later in the final on Sept. 15, the 33-year-old Kendricks fought tooth-and-nail for a fourth-place finish among the younger vanguard of the sport – including wunderkind Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, who won gold on a staggering new world record 6.30m/20-8, his 14th new world standard after first setting the record in 2020.
Earlier, though, it was the race for silver and bronze where the drama played out. A record seven men cleared at least 5.90m/19-04.25, but it was a first attempt miss at that height for Kendricks that sealed his fate in fourth place. Kendricks passed to the next bar and cleared 5.95m/19-06.25 on his second attempt, as did Australia's Kurtis Marschall, while Greece's Emmanouil Karalis needed his third and final try to setup a four-way battle for the podium.
Karalis did not waste any time at 6.00m/19-08.25, clearing on his first attempt to lock his position as the silver medal winner. Both Kendricks and Marshcall were unable to break the 6-meter barrier, but Marshcall's first-attempt clearance back at 5.90m/19-04.25 gave him the bronze over Kendricks. All the while, Duplantis never missed a try until his world record height of 6.30m/20-8, which came on his third and final attempt.
This was the eighth career World Championship team for Kendricks, who now returns to Oxford to meet his newborn son, Edwin.
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TIARNAN CRORKEN • MEN'S 800-METER • GREAT BRITAIN
Qualifying (Sept. 16): 31st Place, 1:45.63
For Tiarnan Crorken, making it to Tokyo was a dream come true – and one long in the making.
Crorken, a three-time All-American during his excellent career with the Rebels from 2022-23, was bagging groceries last winter while keeping the flame of his post-collegiate running career alive.
"I don't think many people on that start line would have been working at a supermarket for the winter," Crorken said after his race this past Tuesday. "Last year at the end of the track season, I was just below the level to try to get a potential contract, so I was 50/50 where I was even going to carry on. But my people around me, my family and friends, were like 'You're too close now to stop.' So I thought alright, I'll give it another year of working a job that was just paying the bills and getting me on training camps and stuff."
That gamble paid off. Crorken scraped his way onto Great Britain and Northern Ireland's national team after a whirlwind August that saw him finish as the national runner-up in the 800-meter at 1:45.56 on Aug. 3, before then earning the World Championship qualifying standard in Germany on Aug. 20 at a career-best 1:44.48.
"All last year I was working on the shop floor at Aldi doing 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. shifts, and then I nearly ran the World [Championships] qualifier in my first race of the season, so I thought I've got a little bit of money banked here, so why not give it a risk, and try and go full-time with it for the summer and see if it pays off? It ended up with me in Tokyo, which I obviously believed I could do it, but to do it is another thing."
In Tokyo this past Tuesday, Crorken finished 31st overall in the qualifying round at 1:45.63, and ran in a second heat that featured eventual bronze medalist Mohamed Attaoui of Spain and eighth-place finisher Marco Arop of Canada.
"Hopefully now I can give it a full-time crack and try to become an even better athlete than I've already been this year, and hopefully be back here again in two years," Crorken finished.
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MCKENZIE LONG • WOMEN'S 200-METER DASH • TEAM USA
Qualifying (Sept. 17): 7th Place, 22.51 (-0.2)
Semifinal (Sept. 18): T-8th Place, 22.48 (-0.3)
Final (Sept. 19): 8th Place, 22.78 (-0.1)
McKenzie Long's first full professional season has been filled with ups and downs.
Last summer, Long was the hottest name in the sport after a magical run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that saw her win three national titles in 90 minutes, which she followed with a spot on her first career Olympic team for the Paris Games last summer. In Paris, Long concluded her 2024 season with a seventh-place finish in the Olympic 200-meter dash final, capping eight months that were physically and emotionally draining, as during all her exploits on the track she was also grieving the sudden loss of her mother.
This season, Long waited until April to open with some relay appearances, eventually running a 100-meter season-best 10.98 (+1.2) in Atlanta in May and a 200-meter 21.93 (+1.2) in Memphis in July – which still ranks third on the world lists for 2025.
But at the U.S. Championships in August, Long fell excruciatingly short of making Team USA for Worlds, coming up two-thousandths of a second shy at 22.199 to Gabby Thomas' 22.197. But after Thomas – the reigning Olympic champion – pulled out of Worlds due to an injury, it was Long who got the call to Tokyo.
Long was smooth in her qualifying round on Sept. 17, winning Heat 3 at 22.51 (-0.2), but the semifinal a day later must have felt like déjà vu.
Long was third in Heat 3 at 22.48 (-0.3), but was initially on the outside looking in yet again by one-thousandth of a second – 22.479 to Anthonique Strachan's 22.478. Upon review, though, the cameras deemed it a tie down to the thousandth at 22.478, and the officials added Long as a ninth member to the 200-meter final.
In that final on Sept. 19, Long finished in eighth place at 22.78 (-0.1), while Team USA's Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won at a world-leading 21.68 (-0.1) – making her the first American woman to ever complete the 100-200 sweep.
Read below for event-by-event recaps from Tokyo. Ole Miss cross country resumes its 2025 season next Friday (Sept. 26) at Missouri's Gans Creek Classic, while the Rebel track & field teams are slated to open the 2025-26 indoor season this December.
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SAM KENDRICKS • MEN'S POLE VAULT • TEAM USA
Qualifying (Sept. 13): T-1st Place, 5.75m/18-10.25
Final (Sept. 15): 4th Place, 5.95m/19-06.25
Sam Kendricks, a three-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist, has been in the prime of his career for more than a decade now as one of the most consistent vaulters on the planet – even as the quality of the event has surged globally. But this past week in Tokyo proved to be the toughest men's pole vault final in world history.
The Oxford native sailed through qualifying on Sept. 13, clearing all four of his bars on first attempts – including the auto-qualifier height of 5.75m/18-10.25. But two days later in the final on Sept. 15, the 33-year-old Kendricks fought tooth-and-nail for a fourth-place finish among the younger vanguard of the sport – including wunderkind Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, who won gold on a staggering new world record 6.30m/20-8, his 14th new world standard after first setting the record in 2020.
Earlier, though, it was the race for silver and bronze where the drama played out. A record seven men cleared at least 5.90m/19-04.25, but it was a first attempt miss at that height for Kendricks that sealed his fate in fourth place. Kendricks passed to the next bar and cleared 5.95m/19-06.25 on his second attempt, as did Australia's Kurtis Marschall, while Greece's Emmanouil Karalis needed his third and final try to setup a four-way battle for the podium.
Soaring Sammy 🚀@samkendricks vaults to a season's best 5.95m (19-6.25) to finish fourth overall in the men's pole vault final. #WorldAthleticsChamps
— DyeStat (@DyeStat) September 15, 2025
📸: @lhanndowns for DyeStat pic.twitter.com/9bvCmdb1D1
Karalis did not waste any time at 6.00m/19-08.25, clearing on his first attempt to lock his position as the silver medal winner. Both Kendricks and Marshcall were unable to break the 6-meter barrier, but Marshcall's first-attempt clearance back at 5.90m/19-04.25 gave him the bronze over Kendricks. All the while, Duplantis never missed a try until his world record height of 6.30m/20-8, which came on his third and final attempt.
This was the eighth career World Championship team for Kendricks, who now returns to Oxford to meet his newborn son, Edwin.
-----
TIARNAN CRORKEN • MEN'S 800-METER • GREAT BRITAIN
Qualifying (Sept. 16): 31st Place, 1:45.63
For Tiarnan Crorken, making it to Tokyo was a dream come true – and one long in the making.
Crorken, a three-time All-American during his excellent career with the Rebels from 2022-23, was bagging groceries last winter while keeping the flame of his post-collegiate running career alive.
"I don't think many people on that start line would have been working at a supermarket for the winter," Crorken said after his race this past Tuesday. "Last year at the end of the track season, I was just below the level to try to get a potential contract, so I was 50/50 where I was even going to carry on. But my people around me, my family and friends, were like 'You're too close now to stop.' So I thought alright, I'll give it another year of working a job that was just paying the bills and getting me on training camps and stuff."
That gamble paid off. Crorken scraped his way onto Great Britain and Northern Ireland's national team after a whirlwind August that saw him finish as the national runner-up in the 800-meter at 1:45.56 on Aug. 3, before then earning the World Championship qualifying standard in Germany on Aug. 20 at a career-best 1:44.48.
"All last year I was working on the shop floor at Aldi doing 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. shifts, and then I nearly ran the World [Championships] qualifier in my first race of the season, so I thought I've got a little bit of money banked here, so why not give it a risk, and try and go full-time with it for the summer and see if it pays off? It ended up with me in Tokyo, which I obviously believed I could do it, but to do it is another thing."
In Tokyo this past Tuesday, Crorken finished 31st overall in the qualifying round at 1:45.63, and ran in a second heat that featured eventual bronze medalist Mohamed Attaoui of Spain and eighth-place finisher Marco Arop of Canada.
"Hopefully now I can give it a full-time crack and try to become an even better athlete than I've already been this year, and hopefully be back here again in two years," Crorken finished.
From stacking supermarket shelves to mixing with the best in the world 🌍
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) September 16, 2025
Tiarnan Crorken, remember the name 💪#WCHTokyo25 #NovunaGBNI #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/OtsLx391KZ
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MCKENZIE LONG • WOMEN'S 200-METER DASH • TEAM USA
Qualifying (Sept. 17): 7th Place, 22.51 (-0.2)
Semifinal (Sept. 18): T-8th Place, 22.48 (-0.3)
Final (Sept. 19): 8th Place, 22.78 (-0.1)
McKenzie Long's first full professional season has been filled with ups and downs.
Last summer, Long was the hottest name in the sport after a magical run at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that saw her win three national titles in 90 minutes, which she followed with a spot on her first career Olympic team for the Paris Games last summer. In Paris, Long concluded her 2024 season with a seventh-place finish in the Olympic 200-meter dash final, capping eight months that were physically and emotionally draining, as during all her exploits on the track she was also grieving the sudden loss of her mother.
This season, Long waited until April to open with some relay appearances, eventually running a 100-meter season-best 10.98 (+1.2) in Atlanta in May and a 200-meter 21.93 (+1.2) in Memphis in July – which still ranks third on the world lists for 2025.
But at the U.S. Championships in August, Long fell excruciatingly short of making Team USA for Worlds, coming up two-thousandths of a second shy at 22.199 to Gabby Thomas' 22.197. But after Thomas – the reigning Olympic champion – pulled out of Worlds due to an injury, it was Long who got the call to Tokyo.
Long was smooth in her qualifying round on Sept. 17, winning Heat 3 at 22.51 (-0.2), but the semifinal a day later must have felt like déjà vu.
FIRST TO THE LINE! 🇺🇸
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) September 17, 2025
McKenzie Long cruises to a 22.51 victory in her 200m heat to qualify for the semifinals at Worlds in Tokyo 🙌#WCHTokyo25 coverage presented by @brooksrunning
📸: @DanielleAlakija pic.twitter.com/305SMmkTks
1-2 finish for 🇺🇸McKenzie Long and 🇯🇲Ashanti Moore in their 200m prelimpic.twitter.com/Uow1KZk1bX
— Travis Miller (@travismillerx13) September 17, 2025
Long was third in Heat 3 at 22.48 (-0.3), but was initially on the outside looking in yet again by one-thousandth of a second – 22.479 to Anthonique Strachan's 22.478. Upon review, though, the cameras deemed it a tie down to the thousandth at 22.478, and the officials added Long as a ninth member to the 200-meter final.
There will be NINE women in the 200m final 🔥
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) September 18, 2025
Following a finish line camera review, McKenzie Long ends up advancing after initially being listed as the first woman out. She and Anthonique Strachan 🇧🇸 were tied to the thousandth of a second at 22.48.
She becomes the fourth 🇺🇸… pic.twitter.com/KhyWRrXfpD
In that final on Sept. 19, Long finished in eighth place at 22.78 (-0.1), while Team USA's Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won at a world-leading 21.68 (-0.1) – making her the first American woman to ever complete the 100-200 sweep.
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