UIPM 2025 Obstacle World Championships (OCR): Pioneers Webberley and Beckstrand are first 400m world champs
- American duo secure elite gold medals and highest prizemoney
- Mind-blowing OCR skills on display across numerous age groups
- Gold medals for Australia, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Poland and neutrals
Tiana Webberley and Luke Beckstrand became Obstacle pioneers on a day that will go down in sporting history at the National Olympic Sports Centre, Beijing.
The American duo blew away the competition on the second day of the inaugural UIPM 2025 Obstacle World Championships (OCR), winning the elite 400 metres titles against stiff competition from around the world, from their own countries and even their own families.
Luke Beckstrand performed with remarkable Ninja elasticity and pace on the one-lap circuit, giving his elder brother Kai Beckstrand no chance of catching him as he prevailed by more than 7sec in 1min 30.870sec. South African Brandon Hulley claimed the bronze medal narrowly ahead of local hero Yiqi Li.
This came after Tiana Webberley, nicknamed ‘Sweet T’, had bested another field of OCR icons in the Women’s Final.
Less than three years out from the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, Webberley took the gold medal back to California with an impressive front-running victory, resisting a late fightback from Polish star Katarzyna Jonaczyk to prevail by just under 1sec in 2:01.440. A glimpse of the future was provided by German bronze medallist Lotta Kokemohr who impressively kept Canada’s Beatrice Moyen-Sylvestre off the podium.
In the autumnal mist of Beijing there were numerous performances that will not fall quickly from memory, with mind-blowing skills on show. In the U17 Men’s Final, Rolia Hleb (AIN) was flying around the course without a care in the world, only to be undone by a stunning sprint finish by Polish rival Filip Drzewiecki.
Earlier, Anastasiia Gordeeva (AIN) had enjoyed a much more serene victory in the Women’s U15 Final. There were also world titles for athletes from Australia, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The 400m action came in the wake of a round of second attempts on the 100m course which saw Pentathlon world champion Farida Khalil reach the Women’s Final with the 6th-best time, while her fellow Egyptian Moustafa Abouamer clung on to a place in the Men’s Final.
Elite medallist reaction
Women’s gold medallist Tiana Webberley said: “I am so grateful, over the moon. You know, God is great. He allowed me to be here and just gave me this ability to run. And these ladies are phenomenal. So it’s just a privilege and honour to run with them.
“I knew Kasha [was coming back], she's an amazing athlete. I know she had a really fast time in both the qualifiers and the semi, so I knew I had to get out hard and try to hold her off. And thankfully, it worked out well. And I look forward to another season.
“I’m so excited for the future of the sport. It's incredible being at the place where the Olympics was, and to see it getting into the Olympics in 2028 is just so exciting. I can't wait to see how much the sport grows.”
Silver medallist Katarzyna Jonaczyk added: “Incredible. I'm so happy, because honestly, when I came to China, I was only competing for the 100m, so this was a last-minute decision and I'm here in the Final so I'm really, really happy.
“I’m quite disappointed because of the situation on the net. We were really close to each other, and I really lost the balance and all of that. But I'm so happy I'm on a podium. So yeah, China will definitely stay in my heart.”
Bronze medallist Lotta Kokemohr said: “Super fun race! I did not expect that I could take home the bronze medal, but, yeah, it went well.”
Men’s elite gold medallist Luke Beckstrand said: “I'm super happy that I could get it done in this 400m. I'm so happy.
“[Kai] is such an incredible athlete. I wouldn't want to go up against anyone else. I'm super happy that I could come out on top, but he's still crushing it and getting second place.
“With the UIPM, it's just super amazing. These courses have been great, and I'm just so happy to be competing in Beijing. It's awesome.”
Silver medallist Kai Beckstrand added: “We came here to go one and two, regardless of how that played out. And fortunately for Luke, he was able to take the win on this one. I’m going to come back a little bit stronger for the next competition, I’m definitely not handing it to him. He's definitely worked for everything he's achieved at this point. And so he's earned it, for sure.
“I mean, we train together in everything that we do. I know exactly he's capable of. We push each other. No better training partner I could ask for, and he's my brother at the same time. So couldn't think of a better duo.”
Bronze medallist Brandon Hulley said: “It was tough, going into that last corner. I knew me and [Li] were neck and neck, and I knew, okay, this is going to come down to the wagon wheel.
“So I focused every single bit of energy I hd to focus to get through it as smooth as possible, because I knew it was going to come down to a sprint because we approached almost at the same time. I knew that this was the make-or-break moment.
“This venue is incredible. The history behind it is insane. So to be able to do this when I wasn't even sure I was going to come here, and to just represent my country, is awesome.”
How it works
The UIPM 2025 Obstacle World Championships (OCR) takes place in Beijing (CHN) from October 23-26. The Opening Ceremony (pictured above) was held on October 24. Click here for more information about the competition.
Having participated in two qualification attempts on October 23 and 24, the 100m participants will compete for glory in the Finals on October 25. In the elite category, the Final will comprise 16 athletes, with other age groups featuring eight. The format in all Finals is Direct Elimination.
The 3km individual race will also take place on October 25, with the 3km team event following on the closing day of October 26.
In the schedule below, livestream start times are listed (in Central European Summer Time) where applicable. Live coverage is free on UIPM YouTube and UIPM.TV.
25 October
- 3km Individual Finals
- 100m Finals (live from 13:00 CEST)
26 October
- 3km Team Event
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