One more preview to go! A little more than 24 hours from now, the 2025 World Athletics Championships get underway in Tokyo, Japan. The first events kick off on Saturday, September 13th (the evening of Friday the 12th EDT).

In case you missed it, you can catch up with our comprehensive sprint preview and distance preview, but now it’s time to move inside the oval. You can find a full schedule with entries and live results here.

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How to keep up with all of CITIUS MAG’s extensive coverage of the World Championships – powered by ASICS:

• 🎥 CHAMPS CHATS - We will be streaming our post-race show live on YouTube at the conclusion of every evening session in Tokyo (AM in America) featuring Chris Chavez, Eric Jenkins, Anderson Emerole, Paul Hof-Mahoney and more from the CITIUS MAG team.
• 🎧 CHAMPS CHATS | Will immediately be available to stream, download and listen as a podcast on Apple Podcasts + Spotify or wherever you get your shows on The CITIUS MAG Podcast feed. Exclusive interviews with athletes will also be published as podcasts.
• 🎧 We will have episodes of Off The Rails live from Tokyo | Apple Podcasts + Spotify
• 📬 Daily newsletters, so be sure you’re subscribed to the CITIUS MAG Newsletter
• 🎦 Post-race interviews on the CITIUS MAG YouTube channel.
• 📲 Follow along for all updates, news, results and more on X and Instagram.
• 📆 Bookmark our full schedule of events here.
• 🏃 If you’re in Tokyo, join us for group runs with Asics on Sept. 12th and Sept. 19th. Details here.

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Decathlon

Schedule + How To Watch

From Friday, September 19th at approximately 6:30pm ET until Sunday, September 21st at approximately 8:20am ET across Peacock, USA, and CNBC

Top Contenders: If you are unsure whether you have the attention span to follow the ins and outs of 10 events over two days, this is the year to give it a try, as this competition promises to be absolutely incredible, with five of the top 10 athletes in history competing.

In the absence of Olympic champion Markus Rooth due to an injury, his Norwegian compatriot Sander Skotheim is the strong favorite for gold having put together a spectacular redemption tour after no-heighting in the pole vault in Paris while on track for a medal. He has won World and European Indoor titles, set a European record in the heptathlon, and crossed the 8900 barrier to comfortably win over a strong field at the Götzis Hypomeeting in May.

Leo Neugebauer comes in with one of the most impressive personal bests in the field at 8,961 but the German has not quite managed to put out his best performances when global medals are on the line or when facing his top international competition. However on his day he has the capability to put together a performance that could easily overpower the rest of the field.

Kyle Garland put together an excellent personal best of 8,869 to win at USAs which now puts him firmly in the mix for the medals after a couple of down years post his collegiate exploits.

Defending champion Pierce Le Page has been struggling with injury, and has not looked at his best since returning to competition earlier this year. Fellow Canadian and Tokyo Olympic Champion Damian Warner is healthy but also did not look his best in Götzis.

Dark Horses: Lindon Victor has been the bronze medalist the last two years even though the Grenadian’s year’s results have been below par. Ayden Owens-Delerme of Puerto Rico renews his NCAA rivalry with Neugebauer and Garland which may bring out the best in the Puerto Rican athlete. Simon Ehammer doubles back from the Long Jump and has been improving in the decathlon, whilst 2019 World Champion for Germany Niklas Kaul has been improving in the running events which puts him in the mix alongside his massive javelin ability.

One Good Stat: Three men in this field have recorded a single event’s all-time decathlon record—Warner in the 100m (10.12), Ehammer in the long jump (8.45m), and Neugebauer in the discus (57.70m).

Heptathlon

Schedule + How To Watch

From Friday, September 19th at approximately 6:30am ET until Saturday, September 20th at approximately 9:22am ET across Peacock, USA, and CNBC

Top Contenders:

American Anna Hall looks the most impressive contender on paper after becoming the equal second best heptathlete in history with her mind boggling 7,032 point performance in Götzis, and backed that up at USAs with a casual 6,899 points when she wasn’t even fully trying. She did scratch a couple of individual Diamond League events post USAs, but hopefully that is more a sign of caution than any injury. Having set PBs in the high jump, javelin, shot put, and 800m in 2025 she is continuing to improve which is hugely impressive given the level she is already at. The only potential chink in her armor is the long jump, where she has continued to be tentative given that it was the cause of the injury that disrupted her 2024 season.

Nafi Thiam is the three-time Olympic champion, and has a reputation for coming out strong in her first full heptathlon of the year as she showed impressively in winning the European Championships for Belgium in 6,848 points in 2024 before going on to Olympic gold in 6,880 points. Having set personal bests in the 800m and the shot put in Paris she continues to improve this far into her career, and has adapted to the challenge of the likes of Anna Hall by improving her 800m.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the defending World Champion and Olympic silver medalist and has also not competed in a full heptathlon this year but the Brit has proven over the last couple of years that she can bring her best when it counts the most. She did withdraw from Gotzis earlier in the year, but has been competing across various individual events to get in her competition reps so looks to be healthy coming in.

These are the three top contenders for the podium spots and seem fairly set if all are healthy going in, with Olympic bronze medalist Noor Vidts out with injury. As ever with the multi-events though drama is guaranteed, with the jeopardy of no throws and no jumps that can take out a top competitor there are plenty of others who could grab the opportunity.

Dark Horses: Saga Vanninen is the World and European Indoor Champion in 2025 and at only 22 years old, the Finn is rapidly improving under the tutelage of 2000 Olympic Champion Erki Nool. Dutchwoman Sofie Dokter is another young rising star at 23 and came second behind Anna Hall in Gotzis, and was also European Indoor silver medalist behind Vanninen. Others who could feature if the top contenders falter are the likes of Ireland’s Kate O’Connor, Team USA’s Taliyah Brooks, and Annik Kälin of Switzerland.

One Good Stat: Hall joining the 7000-point club really underscores just how good her mentor and predecessor, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, was in her day. JJK owns the top six performances in history, and her world record of 7,291 is a full 259 points clear of Hall’s #2 (tied) all-time total.