News | Athletics
30 Sep 2025 17:03
NZCity News
NZCity CalculatorReturn to NZCity

  • Start Page
  • Personalise
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • Finance
  • Shopping
  • Jobs
  • Horoscopes
  • Lotto Results
  • Photo Gallery
  • Site Gallery
  • TVNow
  • Dating
  • SearchNZ
  • NZSearch
  • Crime.co.nz
  • RugbyLeague
  • Make Home
  • About NZCity
  • Contact NZCity
  • Your Privacy
  • Advertising
  • Login
  • Join for Free

  •   Home > News > Sports > Athletics

    Matt Denny finishes fourth in farcical discus competition at World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo

    Matt Denny was one discus thrower who ended up slipping and sliding across the Tokyo National Stadium as heavy rain made the discus competition a farce.


    Matt Denny finished in an agonising fourth place in a farcical discus final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

    The competition was significantly delayed by torrential rain that hit Tokyo, turning the throwing circle into a treacherous, unnavigable death trap.

    Mykolas Alekna managed a legal throw, but Denny slid on the circle and fell as the heavens opened, leading to a cessation in the competition for two hours.

    "He is pissed off," Nina Kennedy said, as Denny flung the discus away.

    "This isn't what elite sport is about."

    The competition was restarted after the conclusion of all the other events and the closing ceremony, after consultation with the athletes.

    "The vast majority of discus athletes want the competition to take place tonight," a World Athletics statement read.

    "Every effort will be made to keep the circle and surrounding area dry and the competition will commence.

    "The athletes have been offered the opportunity to wear any shoes they feel are safe.

    "We thank all teams for their cooperation, and wish all discus athletes the best of luck under very difficult conditions."

    Wearing a variety of different footwear — Denny taped his standing foot, others wore trainers and German Mika Sosna went into the cage in his socks in a bid to find some grip — the athletes resumed, with volunteers dabbing at the torrent of water with towels.

    But the problems remained.

    "I'm finding this really hard to watch," Tamsyn Manou said on SBS as competitors slipped and slid across the circle.

    "Someone could get really hurt."

    Austrian thrower Lukas Weißhaidinger slipped and fell badly in the circle, as did Mario Díaz of Cuba.

    It clearly had an impact, with just three athletes throwing further than they did in qualifying in dry conditions on Saturday morning.

    "I've watched track and field for my whole life, and I've never seen as many falls as this night," Kennedy said on Nine.

    "This is just getting dangerous and silly at this point."

    Out of 52 attempts in the final, a whopping 50 per cent were fouled, with Henrik Janseen failing to record a single distance. 

    "This is not a fair competition," veteran commentator Bruce McAvaney said on SBS.

    "It has been rushed."

    Denny said he felt the competition should have been delayed to the next day.

    "I just said if there's an option to throw tomorrow, I don't care if there's 100,000 people or zero people, like we did zero people for the Olympics in '21,” Denny said.

    "But I understand that people have flights, people have things booked, people are ready to go.

    "It's just really hard, really emotional and disappointing."

    Daniel Ståhl won the competition with his final throw, launching the discus 70.47m to beat Mykolas Alekna (67.84m).

    "This was my first rainy championships ever," Ståhl said. 

    "I tried to focus today as much as possible, focus on not giving up and just staying positive. Sometimes things like this happen. There are delays, the competition takes time. I just tried to reboot my energy.

    "If I thought I was going to make a fault, I would make it. 

    "You have to have this different mentality — if it's raining, you have to be ready for it. 

    "Today wasn't slippery for me at all because I have really good shoes."

    Alenka, meanwhile, said he "never imagined that the conditions were going to be like that."

    Alex Rose finished in bronze medal position with 66.96m, winning Samoa it's first ever world championship medal.

    Athletics Australia president Jane Flemming told ABC Sport she had "never seen a discus competition like it".

    "Discus and high jump are probably the two worst track and field competitions to conduct in the rain, very dangerous," she said.

    "Matt I think would be really disappointed with fourth, but it would have been terribly hard to have normal expectations given what the conditions were."

    © 2025 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

     Other Athletics News
     30 Sep: A second medal for New Zealand at the Para Athletics World Championships in India
     21 Sep: For Dr Mackenzie Little, javelin bronze at the World Athletics Championships is 'icing on the cake'
     21 Sep: New Zealand is currently a staggering 5th on the medal table at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
     20 Sep: American sprinter Noah Lyles has emulated the great Usain Bolt with his latest 200 metres success
     19 Sep: Gout Gout, Torrie Lewis miss finals in brilliant 200m semifinal displays at World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo
     18 Sep: Gout Gout shows class to reach 200m semifinal at World Athletics Championships
     17 Sep: World champion high jumper Hamish Kerr has fired a warning to his rivals that he believes a strong offseason will take him to another level
     Top Stories

    RUGBY RUGBY
    The All Blacks XV - or New Zealand B - have a new rugby coach More...


    BUSINESS BUSINESS
    Timaru dessert company Denheath is in deep custard with creditors More...



     Today's News

    Law and Order:
    A former Auckland funeral director is citing her celebrity inmate status, as a factor in her sentence appeal 16:57

    Entertainment:
    Colin Jost has only ever asked one Saturday Night Live guest for their autograph 16:54

    Entertainment:
    Kathy Griffin thinks her audience is "un-shockable" 16:24

    Auckland:
    A bomb squad's heading to a northern Auckland property, after reports of an 'unknown substance' 16:17

    National:
    AI in the classroom is hard to detect – time to bring back oral tests 16:07

    Entertainment:
    Madelaine Petsch hates watching herself on screen 15:54

    International:
    Why Bad Bunny is a controversial choice to headline Super Bowl half-time show 15:37

    Business:
    Timaru dessert company Denheath is in deep custard with creditors 15:27

    Entertainment:
    Mark Wahlberg has made a conscious effort to find a healthy work-life balance 15:24

    Law and Order:
    Police are reassuring anyone with information relating to the death of a US student in Auckland in April 15:17


     News Search






    Power Search


    © 2025 New Zealand City Ltd