Day 8 of the ’25 Track & Field World Championships in Tokyo saw three Golazo-managed athletes in action, with one of them competing in a final, while two others were relay team members securing advancement to the event final.
In the men’s 800m final, Tshepiso Masalela finished 8th in a time of 1:42.77. The quality and depth in this race was unprecedented, as all eight finishers for the first time in history ran under 1:43.00 and the spread between first 1st to 8th place was 0.91 sec. Masalela’s own performance was historical on two accounts: his time was the fastest-ever for an 8th place finish in any 800m race, and thus, his time was the fastest-ever for an 8th place finish in the 800m at the world championships. Masalela had an outstanding ’25 season, winning two Diamond League 800m competitions (Rabat in a personal best 1:42.70 and Doha in 1:43.11), along with finishing 5th at the Diamond League final in Zurich (1:43.76).
After already helping the Belgian 4x400m mixed relay team to the bronze medals on Day 1 of these world championships, Imke Vervaet (second leg) and Helena Ponette (anchor leg), this time joined Naomi van den Broeck (first leg) and Camille Laus (third leg) on the Belgian women’s 4x400m relay team, which placed 2nd in their opening round heat with a time of 3:23.96, securing advancement to the event final.