Running News Daily

Refugee Dominic Lobalu has proven that he can beat the best runners in the world. But will that be enough to get him to the World Championships? 

In May 2019, a 20-year-old runner named Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu, from what is now South Sudan, won a 10K road race in Geneva, Switzerland. Lobalu, who was separated from his parents as a child during the second Sudanese civil war, was competing for the Athlete Refugee Team—a World Athletics-backed initiative that recruits talented individuals from refugee camps and helps get them into prestigious events around the world. A rising star in the ART ranks, Lobalu was living in Kenya at the time and training under the former marathon great Tegla Loroupe. As a teenager, he’d competed in the 1,500-meters at the 2017 World Championships. The 2020 Olympics seemed like an attainable goal. But after that race in Geneva, Lobalu made a decision that would radically alter the trajectory of his young athletic career: early the next morning, he absconded from his hotel with the intent of seeking asylum in Switzerland.

What happened next sounds like the stuff of sports fiction. A few months after he defected from the ART, a Swiss refugee center put Lobalu in touch with Markus Hagmann, a schoolteacher in Saint Gallen, who coached at a local track club called LC Brühl. Hagmann had been a competitive amateur in his day and still held the club’s record in the 3,000-meters—a formidable eight minutes and nine seconds. As soon as he saw Lobalu run, Hagmann recognized the young man’s stupendous talent and began entering him in local races to get a sense of just how fast he could run. It quickly became apparent that the Swiss national-level road racing circuit wasn’t going to cut it. Initially, Lobalu’s asylum-seeker status meant that he couldn’t leave the country. But in June 2022 he finally got a short-term residency permit, allowing him to travel. In his first international race, Lobalu outkicked Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning half marathon world record-holder from Uganda, to win the 3,000-meters in a world-leading 7:29:40 at a Diamond League meet in Stockholm.

“When we first met, it was not about getting a Diamond League win or creating a champion,” Hagmann says of his relationship to Lobalu. “It was just that there was a guy who had suffered and who needed help. And the thing that connected us was running.”

His breakthrough performance in Sweden last June has established Lobalu not only as a world-class athlete, but as someone capable of medaling at a global championship. Subsequent results have only affirmed his incredible potential. In the span of two weeks last September, Lobalu ran a 12:52 5K and a 59:12 half marathon; both among the fastest times in the world. According to Hagmann, Lobalu produced these results on a paltry 40 to 50 miles a week—less than half the training load of your typical world-class distance runner—as his body was still adjusting to the demands of high-volume training.

But the principal obstacle preventing Lobalu from having a shot at a glittering career on the international stage is perhaps more bureaucratic than physical. He currently has a short term, self-employed work permit in Switzerland and is in the process of applying for permanent residency, but acquiring full Swiss citizenship usually takes more than a decade. This means that Lobalu is technically ineligible to represent Switzerland at the Olympics or the World Championships. Meanwhile, since he chose to leave the ART to seek asylum in Switzerland, World Athletics says that he has forfeited the right to compete for the program. When I asked Lobalu if there was a way for him to represent South Sudan, he responded that that was “never an option.” As he put it to me:  “Could you run for a country that took everything in your life? A country you’ve had no connection with for the last 16 years. A country that has one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world?” What’s more, when he left the country as a nine-year-old, South Sudan, which only became a republic in 2011, didn’t yet exist.

Earlier this year, the Swiss athletics federation put in a request with World Athletics asking the sport’s global governing body if there was any way for Lobalu to get out of his legal limbo in time to compete at the World Championships in Budapest in August. In an email, World Athletics confirmed that the Swiss had put in a request for a “transfer of allegiance” and the application was currently going through the “appropriate review process.”

The resulting uncertainty is the subject of “The Right to Race,” a mini documentary that was released today. (You can watch it here.) The film was produced by the Swiss running shoe company On, which began sponsoring Lobalu after its co-founder Oliver Bernhard happened to witness him eviscerate the competition in a Swiss road race in December 2019. It’s rife with gorgeous footage of Lobalu striding through alpine landscapes (and buying milk from a Swiss farmer) but the film smooths over some of the rougher edges of Lobalu’s story—most notably his reasons for defecting from the ART and his extreme ambivalence towards his country of birth.

In a 2021 article in Time, Lobalu is quoted as saying that while he was at Loroupe’s training camp, he was deprived of prize money that he had earned and generally treated as a second-class citizen of nowhere. When I asked Lobalu about this on a recent phone call, however, he demurred and simply said that the situation in Kenya “wasn’t working for him.” (On has also had sponsorship arrangements with the Athlete Refugee Team.) While one can hardly blame Lobalu for not wanting to ruffle any more feathers, his disenchantment with the ART program seems like crucial context that is noticeably absent from “The Right to Race.”

To be fair, the film does a good job of portraying the conundrum for World Athletics.

“We can’t continue to persuade countries to give visas to refugees who may abscond and seek refugee status in their country,” World Athletics official Jackie Brock-Doyle says in the film. “From where we sit, he couldn’t continue to be part of the Athlete Refugee Team because, if so, the message to every other refugee is: Look, isn’t he a hero? Why don’t you do the same?”

Brock-Doyle reiterated this to me via email, but said that World Athletics was working to find a solution for Lobalu: “We would like to stress that there is a huge amount of sympathy for Mr Lobalu’s situation given his terrible experience as a child fleeing civil war in South Sudan. He is undoubtedly a talented athlete, and if we were able to find a way to include him in the ART programme without seriously compromising the programme—or possibly damaging it irreparably—we would have done so.”

For his part, Hagmann told me that while he understands the predicament for World Athletics, he feels that a runner’s refugee status ultimately shouldn’t be contingent on where he happens to be seeking asylum.

Of course, the amount of attention Lobalu is getting—and any prospective “hero” status—has been amplified by his success on the track. Hagmann is adamant that their relationship is first and foremost about friendship, but it’s hardly a stretch to suggest that his star athlete would be less likely to have the backing of a foreign athletics federation and a global corporation if he were just another semi-pro. “The Right to Race” includes an interview with one of Hagmann’s friends, who explicitly argues that finding a way for Lobalu to compete isn’t a matter of humanitarian goodwill, but of athletic integrity. “There must be a way for him to compete as a neutral person. Not because he is a nice guy, but because he is the best. The fastest person, or if he’s the second- or third-fastest, needs to have the possibility to start at the World Championships and the Olympic Games.”

I asked Lobalu whether this had been on his mind when he made the fateful decision, four years ago, to remain in Geneva.

“I think, in running, there is nothing that you are sure about—where you can say that, This is going to happen in this way. It was just my decision. I took it without knowing what would happen. So I just took a risk. I said: Let me try.”

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden delivered a sensational performance in Budapest, storming to victory in the women’s 100m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in a breathtaking 10.62 seconds.

The American produced a superb display of acceleration and composure to claim the World Ultimate Championship title while recording the fastest women’s 100m time in the world this year. Her 10.62 mark underlined her exceptional form and placed her firmly at the top of the global sprinting hierarchy.

Jefferson-Wooden controlled the race through the decisive stages and maintained her form all the way to the finish to secure a statement victory against a field packed with championship pedigree. She crossed the line ahead of Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who clocked 10.74 seconds with a -0.2 m/s wind, while Sha’Carri Richardson took third in 10.76.

Women’s 100m Final

1. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden — 10.62

2. Julien Alfred — 10.74 (-0.2 m/s)

3. Sha’Carri Richardson — 10.76

The victory was especially significant given the quality of the opposition. Jefferson-Wooden held her nerve against Alfred and Richardson, two of the most accomplished sprinters of the current generation, to produce the fastest performance in the world this year when it mattered most.

Alfred once again demonstrated her consistency at the highest level by taking silver, while Richardson completed an all-star podium in a race that brought together three of the biggest names in women’s sprinting.

But beyond the time, the title and the celebration, one of the most touching moments came after the race when Jefferson-Wooden embraced her father, Melvin, in an emotional celebration.

Their moment carried a deeply personal meaning. When Melissa was just 17 years old, she donated her stem cells to help her father undergo a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome. Years later, the two shared an unforgettable embrace in Budapest after she had become the World Ultimate Champion.

For Jefferson-Wooden, however, the evening was about far more than a medal. It was the culmination of an extraordinary journey, now highlighted by a world-leading 10.62 seconds on one of the biggest stages in athletics.

With the Ultimate Championship title secured and her father by her side, Jefferson-Wooden leaves Budapest with more than being an ultimate champion. She leaves with momentum, confidence and a powerful statement of intent — turning a high-profile showdown into one of the defining sprint performances of her season.

Audrey Werro has added another major title to her extraordinary season, storming to victory in the women’s 800m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest.

The Swiss star delivered a commanding performance, taking control from the opening gun and refusing to surrender the lead as she powered through an absorbing battle against two of the biggest names in the event.

Werro stopped the clock at 1:55.88 to become the Ultimate Championships 800m champion, producing another statement performance on one of the sport’s newest and most prestigious stages.

Behind her, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson fought her way to second in 1:56.26, while the Netherlands’ Femke Broeders-Bol completed the podium in 1:56.74.

The result once again brought together the same formidable trio that featured on the podium at the European Championships, but Werro again proved to be the athlete who could rise above the challenge when it mattered most.

Her Budapest triumph is the latest chapter in a season that has already included records, a successful Diamond League Trophy defence and European Championship gold. Now, she can add the Ultimate Championships crown to a growing list of accomplishments.

Werro’s consistency has been particularly impressive in an 800m event packed with elite talent. Rather than simply relying on a fast finish, the Swiss athlete showed her authority by taking the initiative from the beginning and maintaining enough strength and composure to hold off Hodgkinson and Broeders-Bol all the way to the line.

The victory also underlined the remarkable depth of the women’s 800m, with three athletes separated by less than a second at the finish. Hodgkinson’s 1:56.26 and Broeders-Bol’s 1:56.74 showed just how fiercely contested the race was, but Werro’s decision to dictate the pace ultimately gave her the decisive advantage.

For Werro, this was more than another medal. It was another opportunity to demonstrate that her rise is no passing moment. On a stage featuring established champions and elite rivals, she once again produced the performance required to claim the biggest prize.

For Hodgkinson, the silver medal adds another major podium finish, while Broeders-Bol once again demonstrated her ability to compete with the very best over two laps.

But the spotlight in Budapest belonged unmistakably to Werro.

With another championship crown secured, the Swiss star has strengthened her claim as the athlete setting the standard in women’s 800m running. This is Audrey Werro’s era — and the rest of the field is chasing.

Busang Collen Kebinatshipi has delivered another sensational performance, storming to victory in the men’s 400m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

The reigning world champion stopped the clock at an astonishing 43.39 seconds, smashing his own Botswana national record and moving to fifth on the world all-time list.

Kebinatshipi produced a commanding finish to pull away from his rivals and secure the Ultimate Championship title. American star Rai Benjamin finished second in 44.15, while Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago completed the podium in 44.23.

 Men’s 400m

1. Busang Collen Kebinatshipi — 43.39 NR

2. Rai Benjamin — 44.15

3. Jereem Richards — 44.23

The performance is even more remarkable considering that Kebinatshipi had already rewritten the Botswana record just one week ago in Brussels, where he ran 43.40. In Budapest, he lowered that mark by another 0.01 seconds to establish a new national record of 43.39.

That improvement has also propelled the 22-year-old into rare territory. His latest time now ranks him fifth fastest in history over 400m, placing him among an extraordinary group of athletes who have broken the 43.40 barrier.

Kebinatshipi's victory also caps an extraordinary season for the Botswana star. After establishing himself as a global champion, he has continued to demonstrate that he belongs among the very best one-lap runners in the world.

And there is a major reward for his historic night in Budapest: Kebinatshipi walks away as the Ultimate Champion and $150,000 richer.

From another national record to a place among the five fastest 400m runners ever, Kebinatshipi has turned an already remarkable season into something truly special.

Botswana has its latest sprinting superstar — and Kebinatshipi is showing that his ceiling may be even higher than anyone imagined. 

Marileidy Paulino once again proved why she is the undisputed queen of the one-lap event, powering to victory in the women’s 400m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest.

The Dominican Republic superstar produced a sensational 49.07 seconds to claim gold, pulling decisively away in the final straight and holding off a fiercely competitive field to extend her remarkable unbeaten run.

Paulino delivered her trademark combination of controlled speed and devastating finishing strength. She remained firmly in contention through the opening stages before unleashing her decisive move down the home straight, where she quickly opened a gap on her closest challengers.

Norway’s Henriette Jæger mounted a strong challenge but could not match Paulino’s finishing speed, crossing the line second in an impressive 49.28. Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce completed the podium after clocking 49.56, ensuring that three of the world’s leading 400m talents occupied the medals.

The result once again underlined Paulino’s extraordinary consistency at the highest level. She entered Budapest as the world leader after running 48.48 in Paris in June, a performance that also set a Diamond League record. She subsequently remained unbeaten throughout her Diamond League campaign, closing the circuit with a meeting-record 48.64 in Brussels.

Budapest has also become a special venue in Paulino’s career. Three years ago, at the same National Athletics Centre, she captured her first individual world title, marking the beginning of another dominant chapter in her career. She later added Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, further establishing herself among the defining 400m athletes of her generation.

The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship has brought together the sport’s biggest stars in a new winner-takes-the-spotlight format, with Olympic and world champions, Diamond League winners and leading performers competing for ultimate honours.

For Paulino, the occasion once again ended with Ultimate Crown on her arms.

With 49.07 seconds, she did more than win another major 400m title. She delivered another statement of authority, powering through the final straight with the confidence and speed that have made her one of the most dominant figures in modern women’s athletics.

Marileidy Paulino remains unbeaten, remains relentless and, once again, remains the queen of the one lap.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen has made a major decision regarding the remainder of his World Athletics Ultimate Championship campaign, confirming that he will withdraw from the men’s 1500m in Budapest despite producing a sensational performance to win the 5,000m title.

The Norwegian superstar stormed to victory in the inaugural Ultimate Championship 5,000m on Friday night, clocking a season-best 12:59.24 and delivering a devastating finishing kick to defeat Olympic 5,000m champion Cole Hocker and American Parker Wolfe.

Ingebrigtsen’s final 100 metres was arguably the defining moment of the race. The Olympic champion produced a remarkable 12.60-second closing 100m, powering away from the field to secure the $150,000 winner’s prize and underline just how far his fitness has progressed since returning from Achilles surgery.

The victory was particularly significant after what has been an extremely difficult period for the 25-year-old. Earlier in the season, Ingebrigtsen faced serious uncertainty over whether he would even be able to compete at the highest level again. His return has gradually gathered momentum, and his performance in Budapest offered perhaps the clearest indication yet that the Norwegian is rediscovering his formidable racing ability.

But rather than risk pushing his recovering body further, Ingebrigtsen has now opted to step away from the 1500m.

The decision means the highly anticipated showdown with British rival Josh Kerr will not take place in Budapest after all. The two stars had been expected to renew one of the biggest rivalries in modern middle-distance running in the 1500m final.

Instead, Ingebrigtsen is looking beyond the immediate opportunity and towards the bigger picture.

“I’m thinking about 2027… Fitness cannot be faked,” the Norwegian said, signalling that protecting his long-term condition has become more important than chasing another major victory only days after his return to peak-level competition.

The decision comes just one week after an emotionally charged Diamond League Final in Brussels, where Ingebrigtsen finished fourth in the 1500m behind Australia’s Cameron Myers, Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and American Ethan Strand.

After that race, Ingebrigtsen delivered a fiery assessment of his rivals and questioned the tactics surrounding the pacemaking, particularly involving Hocker. He later acknowledged that there had been “a little too much adrenaline and emotion” when microphones were placed in front of him immediately after the race.

Yet his latest decision shows that beneath the emotion and competitive intensity lies a longer-term strategy.

Ingebrigtsen has already demonstrated that he can compete at an elite level again. His 12:59.24 in Budapest was not simply a victory — it was a statement that the Norwegian remains capable of producing a world-class finish even after months of injury rehabilitation.

Now, however, he is choosing not to gamble with that progress.

For a runner who has spent much of the year fighting his way back from injury, another 1500m race could have offered enormous rewards but also carried unnecessary risk. By withdrawing, Ingebrigtsen is effectively prioritising longevity over one more opportunity for immediate glory.

His message is clear: the comeback is underway, but it will not be rushed.

The 5,000m victory has given Ingebrigtsen confidence, momentum and perhaps, most importantly, proof that his body can once again handle elite competition.

Now comes the harder part — knowing when to stop.

With 2027 already firmly in his sights, the Norwegian has chosen recovery over risk. And after everything he has endured, that could ultimately prove to be one of the most important decisions of his comeback.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is not walking away from the sport. He is protecting his future in it.