Great Britain’s Anna Morris leaps from sixth to second after the final sprint for the line to take silver in the women’s points race at the World Track Cycling Championships.
SEE MORE: GB’s Archibald & Leech win madison gold
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Ruby Evans became the first Welsh gymnast to win an individual medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships as Great Britain finished second and third in the women’s floor competition.
Evans claimed silver in Jakarta, Indonesia, with Abigail Martin also making the podium to cap a remarkable 24 hours for the British team after Jake Jarman and Luke Whitehouse secured a British one-two in the men’s floor final on Friday.
The haul made Britain the leading nation in the world in the floor discipline and former World Championships medallist Beth Tweddle told BBC Sport: “It’s just incredible to see the journey that British gymnastics as a whole has been on.
“Coming from where we were 20 years ago to now – four out of the six floor medals at this championships have come home to Great Britain.”
Evans, 18, finished runner-up behind Japan’s Aiko Sugihara with a score of 13.666, while Martin came third in her first World Championships.
The 17-year-old’s mark of 13.466 was the same as Romanian gymnast Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, but she was awarded bronze because her execution score was higher.
Jake Jarman won gold at the the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships as Great Britain claimed a one-two finish in the men’s floor final.
Jarman, who took the bronze medal in the event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, finished top with a score of 14.866 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
His compatriot Luke Whitehouse followed closely behind to come second with 14.666 to secure his first medal at a World Championships, having won the past three European titles on floor.
Olympic champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines rounded off the podium, taking bronze with 14.533.
The previous world floor champion, Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, could not compete following Indonesia’s decision to not grant visas to the Israel team because of the country’s military offensive in Gaza.
British Gymnastics plans to bid for the 2030 World Championships to be hosted at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.
A formal bid will be submitted in December with a decision on the host country set to be announced in May 2026.
If successful, it would be the second time the Championships have been held in Liverpool – also doing so in 2022 – with Glasgow, London and Birmingham previously hosting too.
“The opportunity for any gymnast to compete in front of a passionate home crowd is something really special, and we’d love for our British team to be able to experience that in 2030 as part of their build-up to the Brisbane 2032 Olympics,” said Sarah Powell, chief executive of British Gymnastics.
“We have seen with the women’s Rugby World Cup and the football Euros that hosting major events can harness the nation’s passion and be a catalyst for greater impact.
“So, this World Championships bid is a chance to achieve so much more and have a lasting impact far beyond the week of incredible sporting drama that will unfold in the arena itself.”
WHEN it comes to enjoying Halloween, the team at Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens don’t cut corners.
Spiders, cobwebs, witches’ hats, scarecrows, hay bales and thousands of pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colours surrounded the stalls, rides and attractions.
But I could not help thinking that when it’s all over, someone’s got a mammoth clear-up job.
The Danish capital city’s famous amusement park, which is right in the centre, closes for two weeks while a team of more than 50 gardeners, designers, decorators, stagehands, crane operators, electricians and carpenters transform it into a spooky wonderland.
And as you would expect from the Danes, it’s all done very tastefully — and sustainably.
The 22,000 pumpkins are grown in Denmark, on the island of Samso, where the climate is spot on.
The larger ones are entries for the annual Danish Giant Pumpkin Championship, hosted by the park.
Afterwards, the prize pumpkins are given to Copenhagen Zoo, where apparently the elephants are particularly fond of them.
This year is the 20th anniversary of Tivoli’s Halloween festivities and around half a million people are expected to walk through the gates before the season ends on November 2.
To avoid the queues, I would suggest going earlier in the day to do the most popular rides, but make sure you stay until dusk to get the full effects of the flickering jack-o’-lanterns.
Little ones will love the treasure hunt and pumpkin-carving workshops, while older kids will enjoy being scared — but not too much — in Villa Vendetta, where actors jump out from the shadows.
The Haunted House wasn’t quite frightening enough for my teenage son, but the gravity-defying loops of The Demon rollercoaster took his breath away.
A day at Tivoli was part of the compromise when we told him he’d be missing the usual trick-or-treating with mates to join his parents on an October city break.
Autumn is the perfect time to visit Copenhagen. It’s when the leaves turn, the nights draw in and the “hygge” levels rise.
If you haven’t heard of hygge (pronounced hoo-ga), it is the Danish concept of “getting cosy” — and we’d come to the capital to get a dose of it.
Flights generally cost less after the summer too, and once you are here, getting around is cheap and easy.
The Metro system only has four lines and there are also hop-on, hop-off buses and water buses (small ferries).
We purchased Copenhagen Cards, which give you free public transport plus entry to 87 attractions.
They even cover the metro or train from the airport, which only takes about 15 minutes to the city centre.
As well as getting free entrance into Tivoli (rides and attractions cost extra) we used our Copenhagen Card to take a sightseeing cruise up the river, past the famous Little Mermaid statue (it really is tiny), the royal palace, funky house boats and more.
Cruises start from Nyhavn, the city’s pretty harbour with brightly-coloured houses, where we warmed up afterwards with a cup of Glogg, a sweet mulled wine.
We took the water bus to Contemporary Copenhagen to enjoy the art installations and we joined the locals cycling around the three city lakes at Soerne.
The bikes were hired from our hotel, Charlottehaven, which also happens to be a short walk from one of the city’s best bakeries, Juno. The delicious cardamom buns were well worth queuing for.
Eating out in Copenhagen isn’t cheap but there’s a growing number of communal dining venues, a concept known as faellesspisning, which are really good value.
In just a few days we’d packed a lot in and had fallen in love with Copenhagen, a compact and friendly city where everything is within easy access, even a 20-acre theme park
We went to Kanalhuset (the Canal House) in Christianshavn and joined a table full of locals for a simple but very tasty meal for around £16 each.
There’s only one choice each night (you can check what’s on the menu on the website) but they will always do a vegetarian option on request.
Everyone turns up at 6.30pm for drinks in the bar and then joins one of the large tables in the restaurant for dinner at 7pm.
We made friends with a lovely Danish family celebrating their mum’s birthday. Pretty much all the locals here speak excellent English, so it was easy to chat.
In just a few days we’d packed a lot in and had fallen in love with Copenhagen, a compact and friendly city where everything is within easy access, even a 20-acre theme park.
Once the Halloween festivities are over, Tivoli closes again for two weeks so that all the pumpkins can be replaced with fairy lights, an ice-skating rink and hundreds of Christmas trees.
Now we need to go back and experience Christmas hygge-style.
GETTING THERE: Fly to Copenhagen from Gatwick, Manchester and Bristol with fares from £23.99 one way in December.
See easyjet.com
STAYING THERE: Charlottehaven Aparthotel has rooms from £190.
See charlottehaven.com/dk/en/.
OUT & ABOUT: A 24-hour Copenhagen Card costs £66 for adults and £45 for children aged 12-15.
Kids 11 and under are free.
You can also buy cards for 48, 72, 96 or 120 hours.
See copenhagencard.com.
Dan Bethell claimed his fifth European men’s singles title in Istanbul as part of a successful European Para Badminton Championships for the Great Britain team.
The defending champion once again met Oleksandr Chyrkov in the SL3 final, after beating the Ukrainian in Rotterdam to claim the crown two years ago, and this time saw out a 21-9 21-8 win.
The British team claimed 13 medals in total, including three gold, two silver and eight bronze, which are awarded to players who reach the semi-finals but fail to progress.
“To see so many pathway players performing alongside the GB players is fantastic and shows how much the sport is developing across the country,” double Paralympic silver medallist Bethell, 29, told Badminton England.
“There’s been some amazing performances and victories across the board.”
Englishman Jack Shephard reached the final of the men’s SH6 singles but was unable to defend his title, losing 21-17 21-12 to France’s reigning Paralympic champion Charles Noakes.
But Shephard, 28, did win gold in the mixed doubles alongside 17-year-old compatriot Anya Butterworth, who stepped in after Shephard’s regular partner Rachel Choong sustained an injury before the tournament.
Butterworth also upset the odds to reach her first European singles final, beating second seed Daria Bujnicka in the last four, but had to settle for silver after losing a tight medal match 23-21 18-21 21-11 against Polish top seed Oliwia Szmigiel.
Meanwhile, England’s Krysten Coombs teamed up with men’s singles champion Noakes to win gold in the SH6 men’s doubles.
Scot Andrew Davies claimed bronze medals in both the men’s and mixed doubles in the SH6 category, while Wales’ David Jack Wilson and Englishman Robert Donald finished with bronze in the men’s SU5 singles.
Other British players to win bronze include Emma Louise Stoner (SL4 women’s singles), David Follett (WH1/2 mixed doubles), Curnow Pirbhai-Clarke and William Smith (both SL3/4 men’s doubles).
Great Britain’s Joe Clarke said he was “stuck for words” after claiming a fourth consecutive kayak cross world title in Australia.
The 32-year-old took time out of the sport after finishing with a silver medal at the 2024 Games in Paris.
He missed the early part of the season following the birth of his second child and says he struggled to “find his feet” in the subsequent World Cup events.
Clarke won silver in the men’s individual time trials and bronze in the team kayak earlier in the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Sydney, but showed his class in the kayak cross, continuing his remarkable run after winning the three previous editions of the event.
“It was a dream to come here to retain that title after getting silver in the Games last year,” said Clarke, who finished well clear of France’s Mathurin Madore in second place and Czech canoeist Matyas Novak in third.
“To compete on the biggest stage at the Olympics is massive but then I actually took some time off afterwards, so I’ve been working towards this.
“I have kind of been finding my feet the second half of the season, but it seems like I found them now.
“I came today with a point to prove and I think I’ve done that. To take a fourth world title, I’m stuck for words.”
Lauren Henry said she was “sad” to miss out on a first ever women’s single sculls gold for Great Britain after being edged out by Ireland’s Fiona Murtagh in a photo finish on the final day of the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.
Henry’s silver medal was Britain’s eighth of the championships, the most of any competing nation, with a total of three golds, four silver and one bronze.
Only the Netherlands finished with more gold medals – with four.
Henry, 23, had won a medal in every international race she competed in this year, while 30-year-old Murtagh had never before won a major regatta.
But after opening a big lead with a blistering start, Murtagh hung on as Henry reeled her in in the final 500m, with the Briton eventually losing by just 0.03 seconds.
“Obviously, I’m really pleased to come away with a medal, but it is disappointing,” said Henry.
“I said I was coming here for the gold and it’s sad to miss out by less than a centimetre.
“I’m going to use this during the winter and come back better and stronger next season. Hopefully I can win that elusive women’s single sculling gold for Great Britain at a World Championships.”
O’Connor has enjoyed the best year of her career in 2025.
European Indoor bronze, World Indoor silver, World University Games gold and now a World Championships silver medal.
As she alluded to in the build-up, O’Connor’s success was made possible by a mindset shift after finishing 14th at last year’s Paris Olympics.
“After Paris I genuinely did have a chat with myself. I felt like I know the athlete that I can be and I had to turn to my dad and ask him did he think that himself and the team that we had around me would be able to bring me to where I wanted to get myself to,” she explained.
“I suppose we had a pretty tough conversation where I kind of set out my goals to him and told him that I was ready to put my head down and work really hard towards them, but I needed everybody else to also be there with me.
“We had to make a few changes where I felt like if the coaches were expecting more of me, I would expect more of myself, so I made sure that I was hitting these really high standards that my coaches are setting for me.”
Going into the World Championships in Tokyo, she aimed to surpass 6,500 points.
She cleared that mark by some distance, with five personal bests helping her reach 6,714 points to come second behind gold medallist Anna Hall of the United States (6,888).
And O’Connor still believes there is more to come as she builds towards the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“That’s one of the most exciting things for me is that I just scored 6,700 points and there’s so much there right now.
“So, what can I do with another winter behind me and another year behind me and another two years? Then obviously get to the Olympics, which will be another three.
“I don’t think I’ve reached my limit at any of the events.”
Great Britain and Northern Ireland failed to win a gold medal at a World Athletics Championships for the first time in 22 years, as they secured their joint-lowest overall return since 2005.
GB ended the nine-day competition with a total of five medals, just managing to achieve their target of winning between five and eight.
That was level with their 2019 tally in Doha, while they last won fewer 20 years ago in Helsinki – where they finished with three.
The team’s fortunes were summed up in the event which provided their final medal opportunity in Japan, as the women’s 4x100m relay quartet – winners of Olympic silver last year – finished two-tenths of a second off the podium.
That confirmed Great Britain would fail to win a relay medal, of any colour, for the first time since Paris in 2003.
That was also the last occasion they finished without a gold.
The 64-strong British squad finished 21st in the medal table.
It comes after the team equalled their best haul of 10 medals to finish seventh at the previous World Championships two years ago.
On that occasion, they brought home two gold medals, three silvers and five bronze from Budapest.
They also achieved GB’s best return at an Olympics for 40 years with 10 athletics medals at Paris 2024.
Reflecting on the championships, Great Britain head coach Paula Dunn told BBC Sport: “Definitely a mixed bag. Five medals which is good and I’m pleased to see, and some missed opportunities.
“So it’s time for us to go back sit down with the coaches and athletes, reflect and do a review and see how we move forward.”
Elsewhere, there were eight other medals for Great Britain on day one including two golds.
Poppy Maskill won her first individual world title in the women’s 200m freestyle S14, with Louise Fiddes also finishing on the podium in third place.
There was a British one-two in the Women’s 400m freestyle S8 with Alice Tai edging out Brock Whiston.
Ellie Challis won the 12th world championship medal of her career with a second-placed finish in the women’s 50m breaststroke SB2, while 14-year-old Iona Winnifrith claimed bronze in the women’s 200m individual medley SM7.
And there was another double podium for Great Britain to round off day one, this time in the women’s 100m backstroke S12.
Ela Letton-Jones and Astrid Carroll claimed silver and bronze on their respective world championship debuts, with Brazil’s Carol Santiago, 40, beating them to the finish.
The GB men’s quad – Cedol Dafydd, Callum Dixon, Matthew Haywood and Rory Harris – have had a superb season becoming European champions and winning the World Cup in Lucerne and they continued that form, dominating the second half of their heat to take their place in Tuesday’s semi-finals.
Ireland’s Ronan Byrne, Brian Colsh, Adam Murphy and Andrew Sheehan failed to qualify.
It is a new combination in the women‘s pair for Great Britain and Lizzie Witt and Jade Lindo acquitted themselves well, coming third in their heat behind Serbia and Chile but fast enough to claim one of the six fastest-loser places in the semi-finals.
Lindo was introduced to rowing through the Discover Your Gold talent ID programme and soon joined the GB Start pathway at Twickenham Boat Club. Witt was inspired to take up the sport when she went to see the 2012 Olympics at Eton Dorney. This is her first season of full-time rowing.
Ireland’s Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey failed to progress.
In the men’s pair, James Vogel and Harry Geffen stormed off the start and were leading with 250m to go.
The Leander club duo were then caught by the experienced Spanish pair of Jaime Canalejo and Javier Garcia, along with Sweden.
Third place meant an anxious wait but they too progressed into Tuesday’s semi-finals as one of the quickest non-automatic qualifiers.
The County Fermanagh pair of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, representing Ireland, made it through as an automatic qualifier after finishing second behind Romania in their heat.
This was their first race since the Olympic final in Paris where they finished sixth but they are the defending bronze medallists from the World Championships two years ago.
On Friday, after securing her place in Sunday’s 800m final, Hodgkinson said she may have to change her routine.
She said: “With the whole warm-up situation, you’re warming up for almost two hours.
“It can be quite draining, so maybe we will have to look at doing something better come Sunday.”
Last week, American middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz described it as “weird”, adding: “It’s definitely not usual, but we’re all in the same boat.”
Jamaican coach Stephen Francis was more critical. In an interview with his country’s TVJ news channel, Francis described what he felt were a number of logistical issues, including the “distance from the stadium to the warm-up track”.
He added: “Those areas of a meet are not befitting the top meet of the year for World Athletics.”
A World Athletics statement said: “The athlete experience is of utmost importance for World Athletics and the local organising committee at these World Athletics Championships, and we have put a lot of consideration into their preparations within the constraints of locations and venues.
“This type of configuration is not unique – as we have seen from previous Olympic Games and other major athletics championships.
“The rules regarding warm-up, call room and transport apply to every team and every athlete without exception.
“The brilliant performances we have seen so far from the athletes speak for themselves.”
Lyles, dethroned as world 100m champion on Sunday as he took bronze, captured gold in his favoured discipline five days later to secure his eighth global title.
He had produced a statement performance in Thursday’s semi-finals, setting the fastest time of 2025 in 19.51 seconds.
After a final where he was just 0.01 seconds slower, he celebrated by raising four fingers to the crowd.
It was at the World Championships two years ago that Lyles asserted himself as the dominant male sprinter on the sport’s biggest stages with three golds in Budapest, before claiming the Olympic 100m title at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Prior to the championships, Lyles told reporters that he would take bronze in the 100m if it meant he would get 200m gold by breaking Bolt’s world-record time.
He got the gold – but Bolt’s record remains elusive for now.
Lyles’ American team-mate Kenny Bednarek had to settle for silver – his fourth in a row across the last four Olympic and world championships.
Bednarek and Lyles have a tempestuous relationship, and almost came to blows at the US trials when Lyles stared down his opponent in beating him to the 200m title, to which Bednarek responded with a shove.
Bronze went to 21-year-old Jamaican Bryan Levell, with Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo fourth. Britain’s Zharnel Hughes ran a season-best 19.78 for fifth.
Great Britain heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson looks back through her career highlights including her first Olympic medal in Paris 2024 and receiving an MBE this year.
Watch the World Athletics Championships on BBC iPlayer.
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With temperatures of about 30C accompanied by intense humidity continuing to pose a challenge to the athletes in the Japanese capital, Cairess was unable to complete the men’s marathon.
The 27-year-old Briton, a medal contender after placing fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympics, stopped by the roadside with less than three of the 26.2 miles remaining and the lead group beginning to move out of reach.
“I tried my best. I just got too hot, simple as that really. The conditions were so tough,” said Cairess, who finished third in last year’s London Marathon.
“When I stopped, I just took ages to just feel all right again. I used all the stations to be diligent with the ice and the sponges. While it helped, it just still got too hot.
“I did a decent amount of preparation for the conditions, as much as I could balancing it with training. I’ve not known conditions like it, but this is only my fourth marathon. I did the best I could.”
Watch all the drama from the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo as Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir beats Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in a sprint finish, and Julia Paternain wins Uruguay’s first ever World Championships medal.
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Jakob Ingebrigtsen described his performance as “terrible” after he suffered a shock exit in the men’s 1500m heats at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The world outdoor title is the only international 1500m gold medal missing from the Norwegian star’s collection after he was beaten by Great Britain’s Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman at the past two editions.
But the 24-year-old will not have the chance to end that wait inside the stadium where he triumphed in the Olympic 1500m four years ago after finishing eighth in his heat on Sunday.
Ingebrigtsen, a two-time Olympic and world champion, has endured an injury-disrupted season and did not race for six months prior to these championships.
“I was terrible,” Ingebrigtsen told BBC Sport.
“The race itself was perfect, especially how it turned out, it was gifted to me.
“Unfortunately I have lost too much and I have not been able to prepare.
“Of course I’m disappointed but it’s a reality check that it was never really going to happen. I was holding on for dear life because I love to compete.
“I’ve been glued to the floor unfortunately. I’ve not been able to do what is needed, clearly. I just have to look forward.”
Britons Kerr, Wightman and Neil Gourley progressed – and saw their medal hopes boosted further as Frenchman Azeddine Habz and talented Kenyan teenager Phanuel Koech, the top two fastest 1500m runners this year, both also exited the competition.
The men’s 1500m semi-finals take place on Monday (13:30 BST), with the final on Wednesday.
Callum Makin had to settle for a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championships after a semi-final defeat in the men’s 75kg division.
The 21-year-old middleweight was beaten by Rami Kiwan at the M&S Arena in Liverpool on Friday – the judge scoring all five rounds to his Bulgarian opponent.
Makin’s fellow Liverpudlian Odel Kamara is one of five other British fighters already guaranteed bronze before their semi-finals at the weekend.
Kamara faces Torekhan Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan on Saturday in the men’s 70kg semi-final after his win over Mongolia’s Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar.
Teagn Stott is through to the semi-finals in the men’s 85kg following a second-round stoppage against Semion Boldirev of Bulgaria and will now take on Ukrainian Danylo Zhasan.
Elsewhere, Chantelle Reid will square up against Natalya Bogdanova in the semi-finals of the women’s 70kg after beating Mengge Zhang.
Emily Asquith beat Turkey’s Elif Guneri in the women’s 80kg to secure a last-four meeting with India’s Pooja Rani.
Hodgkinson, a two-time world silver medallist, is joined in the 800m by training partner and Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell, who has chosen to switch focus in pursuit of another global podium, and Jemma Reekie.
Olympic silver medallists Kerr (men’s 1500m) and Johnson-Thompson (heptathlon) both compete as defending world champions, while Hudson-Smith (men’s 400m) will target gold after making the podium at the past three global championships.
The women’s 4x100m team featuring 100m and 200m individual medal hopes Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita and Amy Hunt head GB’s relay medal hopes following Olympic silver.
World bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes doubles in the men’s 100m and 200m and is joined by world indoor 60m champion Jeremiah Azu in the former.
Amber Anning, fifth on her Olympic debut and the world indoor champion, will have American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone among the competition after the hurdles star chose to switch events.
Molly Caudery (women’s pole vault) said she feels “so ready” for a world title bid, while Max Burgin (men’s 800m) demonstrated his readiness to challenge for a global medal at recent Diamond League races.
Marathon runner Emile Cairess will seek to build on his fourth-place Olympic finish, and high jumper Morgan Lake displayed her medal potential by clearing 2m for the first time last month.
GB’s podium prospects also include British 5,000m record holder George Mills, the experienced Laura Muir (women’s 1500m) and rising star Charlie Dobson (men’s 400m), as well as their five relay teams.
GB finished seventh in the medal table in 2023, winning two gold medals, three silver and five bronze.
