Tokyo is set to host a thrilling World Championships this week, with Noah Lyles and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone leading the U.S. medal hunt. All eyes will also be on Armand Duplantis, the pole vault star aiming to cement his legacy as one of the sport’s greatest.
The competition will feature top names including Faith Kipkigon, Karsten Warholm, and Femke Bol, all chasing historic performances over the nine-day event. This championship closes a season packed with excitement, including 15 Diamond League meets and Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam track series.
The Grand Slam, designed to bring top performers together, faced setbacks. Financial issues forced the cancellation of the fourth of four planned meets. Olympic 100m champion Lyles and Julien Alfred opted out to focus on the Diamond League, and both claimed morale-boosting victories at the Zurich circuit finals earlier this month.
Lyles said he heads to Tokyo “full of energy” after outpacing Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo in recent races, adding he will use that momentum to his advantage. But Jamaica’s Kushion Thompson, who narrowly lost to Lyles at the Paris Olympics by just five thousandths of a second, remains the fastest this year with a 100m time of 9.75 seconds. Tebogo and Alfred will aim to replicate their Paris performances, where they won gold for Botswana and Saint Lucia respectively.
“I feel ready to add another gold to my collection,” Alfred said. “I’m fitter and more focused than ever, mentally in the right place to achieve my goals.”
The U.S. track and field team has a strong legacy to uphold, topping the medal table in 15 of the 19 World Championship editions. Only East Germany (1983, 1987), Russia (2001), and Kenya (2015) have interrupted their dominance.
McLaughlin-Levrone, Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record holder, will focus on the 400m flat in Tokyo. Her absence in hurdles opens the field for Dutch star Femke Bol, the only woman this season to break 52 seconds in the 400m hurdles. She arrives in Japan after eight consecutive victories.
The men’s 400m hurdles promises another showstopper, featuring world record holder Karsten Warholm, Olympic champion Rai Benjamin, and former world champion Alison dos Santos. Warholm clocked 46.28 seconds at the Silesia Diamond League meet, narrowly missing his own 45.94-second world record set at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“I have three titles as world champion, and I want more. I’m hungry,” Warholm said.
Duplantis faces a challenge from Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis in the pole vault, but the Swedish-born American is in prime form. The question is whether he can improve his world record for the 14th time.
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Faith Kipkigon will lead hopes for a double medal haul in the men’s 800m and women’s 1500m. Despite racing in only three official events this year, Kipkigon, who clocked a world record time in one, aims to claim her fourth world 1500m title, equaling Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj.
The men’s 800m promises fierce competition, with Olympic champion Wanyonyi facing a strong field including defending world champion Marco Arop and 11 others who ran under 1:43 this season.
Injured U.S. Olympic 200m gold medalist Gabby Thomas and Australia’s Olympic and world pole vault champion Nina Kennedy will still compete.
Holland’s Sifan Hassan, who won three golds and three bronzes across the last two Olympics from 1500m to marathon, opted to prioritize last month’s Sydney Marathon. Uganda’s half-marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo and double Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei are missing Tokyo for personal reasons.
This championship promises high drama, fierce rivalries, and a chance for some athletes to make history.
