Tokyo World Championships: Isaac Nader pulls off a Portuguese 1500m heist

Call it a Gressier or a Beamish finish, you decide. Portugal’s Isaac Nader pulled off the perfect heist on the Tokyo track on Wednesday in the 1500m final at the World Championships. Everything seemed set up for Jake Wightman, the surprise world champion in 2022 who was closing in on a second title, but Nader exploded over the final 30 metres to overhaul the entire field. Time: 3:34.10, two hundredths ahead of the Briton (3:34.12). Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot completed the podium in 3:34.25, in the slowest final since American Matthew Centrowitz’s masterclass at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

A race packed with twists

The race, however, unfolded in several acts. Fifth in 3:34.52, impressive Niels Laros, sixth at the Paris Olympics and winner of the last two Diamond League races, immediately moved to the front alongside Timothy Cheruiyot (fourth in 3:34.50). Between 500 and 700m, the pace eased, almost too much, before the Kenyan veteran hit the accelerator again. The stage was set for an explosive final battle. With 500m to go, Jake Wightman launched his attack. For a moment, it looked like a repeat of his Eugene 2022 masterstroke: the Briton, equally comfortable over 800m, took the lead, opened a gap and seemed to be cruising towards a second world title.

But on the bend before the final lap, his compatriot Josh Kerr injured his right calf and saw his hopes disappear. At the back of the field, the reigning world champion battled to the finish, limping home in a display of courage but well, well back (14th in 4:11.23). Then, in the home straight, the unexpected winner of the Oslo Diamond League mile came hurtling through like a sprinter to snatch glory from Wightman. It was a stunning breakthrough for a runner who had never finished higher than fourth at the World Indoor Championships, in 2024 and 2025, and who was still running the distance in 3:36.50 at 23 (although he set a 3:29.37 PB this season).

Portugal’s 24th World Championships medal

“ Over the final 100 metres, I fully believed in myself, said the bronze medallist at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn last March in the immediate aftermath. I knew Jake (Wightman) would fight until the end, so I dived. It was probably the first time I’d ever done that in my career, but I couldn’t risk losing a world title. It paid off in the end! I have no words for what happened. (…) Some people criticised me and said I’d never make it, but here I am, world champion. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear the Portuguese team cheering because the crowd here is so loud. This is just one of my dreams fulfilled; the other will have to wait until 2028. Winning gold in Los Angeles isn’t a promise, it’s simply a dream.”

The victory gives Portugal its first medal in the Japanese capital and sends Isaac Nader into the history books. The country’s eighth world champion, the Benfica athlete also adds a 24th medal to Portugal’s national tally. Over the distance, the Faro native from southern Portugal joins a distinguished lineage: after Carla Sacramento, gold medallist in Athens in 1997 and bronze medallist in Gothenburg in 1995, and Rui Silva, bronze medallist in Athens in 2004 and Helsinki in 2005, Nader has secured Portugal’s fourth medal in what has become a Lusitanian speciality.

A podium without its giants or its French contenders

This final had already lost several big names along the way, including two accomplished Norwegians. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic champion, went out in the heats, lacking both fitness and sharpness. His compatriot Narve Gilje Nordås fared no better, eliminated in the semi-finals. For the United States, Cole Hocker, the Paris Olympic champion, was disqualified in the semis for throwing an elbow in the final scramble. And what about the French? None of the 14 finalists. The season’s fastest man, Azeddine Habz (3:27.49), and his compatriot Paul Anselmini failed to make it through the heats, while Romain Mornet was knocked out in the semi-finals.

A final that reshuffles the world order

With one sprint, Isaac Nader transformed his status: from an ambitious finalist, 12th in Budapest in 2023, the 26-year-old middle-distance runner became a world champion. Beaten by the narrowest of margins, Jake Wightman leaves frustrated but as the race’s chief protagonist. And at just 20, Reynold Cheruiyot confirmed that he is Kenya’s new driving force over the distance. The 1500m now commands as much attention as the 100m at every major championship.

Tokyo’s final proved one thing: the 1500m remains a race where the hierarchy can collapse after the slightest mistake. Wightman learned that the hard way, Kerr through no fault of his own, while Nader seized his chance to write his name into the record books with real panache.