Women’s 5K | 11:50 a.m. local time, 4:50 a.m. ET

Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet is looking to bookend her year with another global gold medal. After winning the World Cross Country Championships in February, she’s now targeting her – and anyone’s – first-ever road 5K gold medal.

In the Prefontaine Classic’s women’s 5000m, she hung on to Gudaf Tsegay for as long as she could. Tsegay ended up clocking a 14:00.21 world record but Chebet moved to No. 3 on the all-time list with a 14:05.92 finish of her own. At just 23 years old, Chebet’s among the contenders to become the first woman under 14 minutes on the track.

We likely won’t see anyone go that fast on the roads in Latvia, but Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye has experience pushing the pace. She has run 14:19 and 14:21 on the asphalt while chasing some of the top men in the Cursa dels Nassos 5K in Barcelona in December 2021 and 2022. And she had a successful summer with a world championship bronze medal in the 10,000m, a fifth place, near-podium finish in the 5000m in Budapest, and then a third place finish at the Prefontaine Classic 5000m. Chebet has won their last three head-to-head races over 5000m on the track.

Other potential medal contenders include the Ethiopian duo of Medina Eisa (14:16.54 track PB; 2022 World U20 5000m champion and World Cross Country U20 silver medalist) and Lemlem Hailu (14:34.53 track PB; 2022 World Indoor 3000m champion) as well as Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai (15:05 road PB; 2021 Olympic steeplechase champion).

Men’s 5K | 12:15 p.m. local time, 5:15 a.m. ET

Ethiopia was shut out of the medals in the 5000m for the second consecutive world championships, which is a massive disappointment for them considering half of the top 10 times this year belong to Ethiopian athletes.

(Yes, I’m still thinking about why the Ethiopians didn’t just try to run the legs out of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was sick and had three rounds of the 1500m and a 5000m prelim on his legs.)

They have a chance at a medal sweep in Riga.

Road 5K world record holder and World Cross Country silver medalist Berihu Aregawi is entered after finishing fourth in the 10,000m and eighth in the 5000m in Budapest. His road world record of 12:49 has stood since December 2021, and he’s only improved on the track this year, clocking a 12:40.45 to move to No. 5 on the all-time list.

Yomif Kejelcha has been running way too fast in 2023 to finish the year without any global hardware. He ran 12:41.73 for 5000m at the Oslo Diamond League in June, finished fifth at the World Championships 5000m final, won the Zurich Diamond League in 12:46.91 just four days later, and then finished second in 7:23.64 for 3000m at the Diamond League final. Kejelcha was vocal about his discontent with the decision to change the Diamond League final from a 5000m to a 3000m race, so you have to assume he thinks he’s in even better form for that distance now.

He’ll get to channel some of that frustration by possibly winning his third career world championship gold medal and the inaugural road 5K gold medal. He’s the favorite based on his track credentials and having run 12:50 for 5K in Lille, France back in March. Kejelcha owns the advantage 2 to 1 in his head-to-head matchups with Aregawi over 5000m on the track.

Ethiopia’s third star is Hagos Gebrhiwet, the 2013 5000m silver medalist who has seen a massive resurgence in 2023 with a 12:42.18 personal best at the Monaco Diamond League.

Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir is looking to bounce back after a disappointing world championship, where he was eighth in the 10,000m final and failed to make it out of the prelim in the 5000m. His road 5K personal best is 12:55 from a runner-up finish behind Kelecha at the Adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach in 2022.

Team USA will be represented by Olin Hacker and Ahmed Muhumed, who train together with Northern Arizona Elite.

Women’s Mile | 1 p.m. local time, 6 a.m. ET

On the same day that U.S. road mile champion Nikki Hiltz had their inaugural world record ratified for the 4:27:97 victory in April’s Grand Blue Mile in Des Moines, they tweeted: “I think my favorite part about this is that in 1 week I get to congratulate the goat 🐐 Faith Kipyegon for breaking my world record 😂.”

Kipyegon’s perfect season will feature one more race as she takes on her first-ever road mile with a high likelihood of breaking Hiltz’s world record. Kipyegon ran 4:07.64 to break the women’s mile world record on the track at the Monaco Diamond League. We probably won’t see a time faster on the roads than she produced in Monaco with the prime conditions and pacing support, but it will still be fast.

Ethiopia fields a very strong team as well, that includes 2023 World Championship 1500m silver medalist Diribe Welteji, 2022 World Indoor 1500m bronze medalist Hirut Meshesha, and 2022 World Indoor 800m silver medalist Freweyni Hailu.

The United States’ best chance at a medal may come from 19-year-old Addy Wiley, who ran 3:59.17 for 1500m at the Brussels Diamond League. Emily Mackay and Helen Schlachtenhaufen will also rep the red, white and blue for the first time at a global championships.

Men’s Mile | 1:10 p.m. local time, 6:10 a.m. ET

The men’s mile field in Riga is a bit more wide open due to the absence of 1500m world champion Josh Kerr, 1500m Olympic and Diamond League champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (fresh off a 3:43.73 for No. 3 on the all-time mile list) and U.S. record holder Yared Nuguse (3:43.97 for No. 4 on the all-time mile list). Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot is presumably the favorite, with the fastest 1500m personal best at 3:30.30 and fastest mile personal best of 3:48.06, was just set at the Diamond League final for a new U20 world record.

Women’s Half Marathon | 1:30 p.m. local time, 6:30 a.m. ET

Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya looks to join the legendary Tegla Loroupe, Paula Radcliffe and Lornah Kiplagat as the only women in history to have won three world championship gold medals in the half marathon. Jepchirchir is the 2016 and 2020 champion. She won last year’s Boston Marathon and missed a chance to defend her New York City Marathon title due to injury but appears to be back in top form in 2023, coming off of a 2:18:38 third place finish in April’s London Marathon. This race will also be a big indicator of where she’s at before taking on a stacked New York City Marathon field in November.

Kenya will also be represented by Jepchumba Kimais, who is just 24 years old and was undefeated on the track before finishing fourth in the World Championships 10,000m final and missing a medal by just four seconds. She boasts a personal best of 1:04:37 from her win in February’s Barcelona Half, which puts her at No. 8 on the all-time list.

Ethiopia has re-written the top of the half marathon record books in the last three years with Letesenbet Gidey’s 1:02:52 world record, Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s 1:03:51 (No. 2 all-time) and Girmawit Gebrzihair’s 1:04:14 (No. 4 all-time). But they had to go a bit deeper into their roster to assemble a team. Their fastest runner is Tsigie Gebreselama, who has a 1:05:46 personal best. She earned a silver medal at the World Cross Country Championships in February and then took second at the Berlin Half two months later.

American fans were hoping to see Sara Hall back on the global stage. Last year, she broke the American record in 1:07:15 at the Houston Half – which has since been broken twice: by Emily Sisson and then by Keira D’Amato. Hall withdrew on Thursday due to pain in her SI joint. The U.S. team will now be Sarah Pagano, Molly Grabill and Amber Zimmerman.