The World Athletics Championship is the most important meet of the year for elite track athletes. It’s where the best compete for medals over a span of nine days. The last edition, in 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, showed why it’s so captivating — 404,088 fans packed into the National Athletics Centre to generate an electric atmosphere that helped produce some spellbinding performances.

In the marathon, Uganda’s Victor Kiplangat looked like he would be cruising to victory at the halfway mark when he opened up a lead that was nearly 15 seconds over Leul Gebresilase of Ethiopia. He continued his dominance in the final miles, crossing the finish line to a roar of applause. He shook his hands in gratitude, then fell to his knees and kissed the ground.

American sprinter Noah Lyles backed up his pre-meet bluster with an unmatchable 9.83 in the men’s 100 meters, winning the gold medal and resetting the world record he says he’s publicly targeting. His win gave Team USA a sweep of the event’s three medals and made it their third-straight world championship triumph in that category.

The first two semifinals of the women’s 400 meters started on a pedestrian note, but U.S. champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone pushed hard on the last lap and ran her way to the final, which she won comfortably. Her fellow Americans Alysia Wilson and Jenna Prandini placed second and third respectively. Miltiadis Tentoglou of Dominica and Hamish Kerr of New Zealand won the other semifinals in the men’s high jump and triple jump, respectively.