Oblique Seville won the men’s 100m at the World Championships, running a personal best 9.77 seconds.
The Jamaican sprinter ended his nation’s decade-long wait for another global 100m sprint champion.
Jamaica’s Oblique Seville stormed to victory in the men’s 100m final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday, ending a decade-long wait for the Caribbean nation’s next global sprint champion.
The 23-year-old clocked a blistering personal best of 9.77 seconds, securing gold ahead of compatriot Kishane Thompson, who ran 9.82 seconds for silver. Defending champion and Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles of the United States settled for bronze in 9.89 seconds.
Seville’s triumph marked Jamaica’s first world 100m crown since Usain Bolt’s famous double at the 2015 Beijing championships, where the sprint icon captured both the 100m and 200m titles.
Bolt, an 11-time world champion, had publicly tipped his fellow citizens for success before the race, boldly predicting a Jamaican 1–2 finish over Lyles. His prophecy proved spot on, as Seville and Thompson crossed the line dominantly.
Watching from the stands, Bolt erupted in celebration as his successors surged to the finish.
Thousands of Jamaican fans echoed his delight, their cheers ringing through the stadium to the sound of Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier.”
Seville, visibly emotional, tore open the top of his sprint suit in celebration after delivering on years of promise.
The victory signals the continuation of Jamaica’s storied sprint tradition, once dominated by Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Yohan Blake. Analysts say Seville’s breakthrough could mark the beginning of a new golden era for Jamaican athletics.
With Thompson also establishing himself as a world-class force, Jamaica now boasts two of the fastest men in the world heading into the next Olympic cycle.
For Bolt, who remains the face of global sprinting, Sunday’s result was both a vindication of his faith in the next generation and a passing of the torch to athletes carrying forward the island’s sprinting legacy.
