They say good things take time. For Trinidad and Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott, that time arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, when he claimed the 2025 World Athletics Championship gold, his first major title since the London Olympics in 2012. The turning point, he admitted, was his decision last year to begin training under German biomechanics expert Dr Klaus Bartonietz.
It was a triumphant return to the Japanese capital for Bartonietz as well. The 75-year-old coach had been in Neeraj Chopra’s corner when the Indian superstar won Olympic gold at the same venue in 2021. Four years later, Chopra’s title defence fell flat after finishing eighth with a best of 84.03m but Bartonietz was celebrating again, this time with a new student on top of the podium.
Walcott credited his resurgence to the change. “Maybe some changes I made last year paid off. To change my coach was the best decision I have made recently,” he told World Athletics.
The partnership was unconventional at first. According to Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Walcott and Bartonietz began working together virtually in October 2024, exchanging training data through video calls. They met in person only in May this year, two weeks before the Doha Diamond League, where Bartonietz watched his former pupil Chopra break the 90m barrier for the first time.
Soon after, Walcott shifted his training base to Germany, working near his coach’s home. The early days were filled with uncertainty.
“Going into Doha, it was a bit unpredictable for me because I didn’t know what to expect with the change of coach. His background is biomechanics, so his approach to training is completely different… It’s more quality-focused — short and to the point,” Walcott had said.
The training overhaul meant fewer throws, under 20 per session, with emphasis on precision and efficiency.
“It took a bit of getting used to, especially mentally, because you have to trust the coach and trust your mind,” he explained.
Only after Doha did Walcott fully commit to Bartonietz’s system. “When I began to give him 100 per cent was after Doha, when I realised I could get results. Now that I’ve given him full trust, I think we see a lot of potential moving forward.”
That potential came to fruition in Tokyo where Walcott produced a stunning season-best throw of 88.16m to secure the gold ahead of Grenada’s Anderson Peters (87.38m) and USA’s Curtis Thompson (86.67m).
For Chopra, meanwhile, the evening marked a rare stumble. It was the first time since the Tokyo Olympics that he failed to finish in the top two of an international competition and the first time since September 2018 that he placed outside the top three.
The other Indian in the competition, Sachin Yadav finished an incredible fourth, with a best throw of 86.27m to miss the bronze by a mere 0.40 m in his only second international event.