Lilian Odira celebrates winning the 800m Tokyo World Championship final.

Lilian Odira stormed to a record-setting victory at the just concluded Tokyo World Championships 2025, clinching 800m gold in the process.

Kenya’s Lilian Odira stunned the athletics world on Sunday after storming to gold in the women’s 800m final at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, producing a devastating late kick to outpace pre-race favorites Keely Hodgkinson and Mary Moraa.

The African silver medalist clocked a championship record of 1:54.62, upsetting the established order in one of the most dramatic middle-distance races of recent years.

 Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell claimed silver in a personal best of 1:54.90, while Olympic champion Hodgkinson faded in the closing meters to take bronze in 1:54.91.

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Moraa, the defending champion, had looked on course for a podium finish after dictating the pace for most of the race, but she faded badly down the final stretch to finish seventh. Fellow Kenyan Sarah Moraa came in fourth, just missing out on a medal.

Speaking after the race, Odira was still absorbing the magnitude of her achievement.

“I want to thank my friends, my coach, my family, my teammates, and my fans. It’s a great honor to be a world champion,” she said.

 “We went into the race with the mindset of all three of us medalling, and I thank God the title is back home. Our main aim was to retain it, and we achieved that. We worked as a team and agreed the best should win.”

Odira revealed that the Kenyan camp had devised a clear tactical approach, built around Mary Moraa’s renowned 400m speed.

“We knew Mary was fast in the 400m, so the plan was for her to make it fast from the start. From there, we said the strongest would survive,” Odira explained. “Our main aim was simply to bring the title back home, not to worry about who specifically would retain it. We had a plan, we stuck to it, and it worked.”

Her decisive final surge in the last 100 meters turned the strategy into a golden moment, leaving Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell scrambling in her wake.

Now crowned world champion, Odira insists the victory is both a reward and a responsibility.

“Winning such a title is huge, but it also means you must work even harder to maintain it. Retaining a crown is never easy. I’ll sit down with my coach and plan carefully for the next steps, but this gives me belief that with hard work, more is possible.”

For Odira, the win marks the culmination of years of steady progression and sends a strong warning to her rivals ahead of next year’s Commonwealth Games and the next World Championships.

Kenya, long dominant in distance running, now has a new heroine in the two-lap race — one who announced herself to the world in spectacular fashion under the lights of Tokyo.