Gold and silver: Caio Bonfim and Piu climb the podium in Tokyo, in Brazil’s best world championship campaign

The Brazilian anthem played in Japan! After Caio Bonfim became the world champion in the 20 km race walk for the first time late the previous night (Brasília time), the award ceremony took place early Saturday morning at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Smiling and on top of the podium, the Brazilian bit the gold medal. Alison dos Santos, also received his silver medal for the 400m hurdles this morning. This is Brazil’s best world championship campaign. Sprinter: Promised a $550 million contract by Chelsea, he switched from football to athletics aiming for the 2028 Olympic Games. Aline Pellegrino believes in the World Cup’s legacy for women: ‘It’s time to show who we are, what we do, and where we want to go’. Brazil’s most decorated athlete in world championships, with four medals in eight editions, Caio had to face a race full of twists and turns that ended with the Chinese Wang Zhaozhao in second place with silver and the Spaniard Paul McGrath with bronze. The title led the athlete from Sobradinho to be idolized. Alison dos Santos, for example, praised his compatriot on social media: ‘The greatest in history’. In the stadium stands, weightlifter Fernando Reis, a member of the Brazilian Athletics Confederation, posed alongside Caio — who proudly displayed the gold medal — and Gianetti Sena, mother and coach of the champion. ‘Congratulations, Caio and Gia. What you do for the sport inspires us and makes us believe that we can always do more’, Fernando wrote. In addition to the unprecedented gold, Caio has two bronzes, in London-2017 and Budapest-2023, and the silver he won earlier this year at the World Championships, in the 35 km race. The other Brazilian champions are Piu (400m hurdles in Eugene-2022) and Fabiana Murer, in the pole vault in Beijing-2015. Piu: ‘Not giving my best is throwing away my gift’. In the 400m hurdles event, Alison dos Santos finished with the second-best time (46s84) and won the silver medal. The title went to the American Rai Benjamin, the current Olympic champion (46s52), and Qatari Abderrahman Samba took the bronze, with 47s06. The trio climbed the podium at the National Stadium in Tokyo this morning. ‘Not giving my best is throwing away my gift’, Piu wrote on Instagram after the runner-up finish. This is his second medal in world championships. The first was the gold in 2022, also in the 400m hurdles. With Caio Bonfim’s two medals and Piu’s silver, Brazil is experiencing its best campaign in world championships. So far, the best result had been in Seville-1999, with two silvers — Claudinei Quirino in the 200m and Sanderlei Parrela in the 400m — and bronze in the 4x100m relay.