Greetings from Tokyo! We’re only one day away from the 2025 World Athletics Championships starting Saturday, September 13th (the evening of Friday the 12th EDT).

In case you missed it, you can read our comprehensive sprint preview here as we move onto the events 800m on up. During the meet, we’ll bring you minute-by-minute coverage, daily live shows, and newsletters all along the way. 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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Schedule + How To Watch

Final: Sunday, September 14th at 8:30 am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Top contenders: The absence of Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, who won the last three World titles along with Olympic gold in Paris, opens the door for a new champion to emerge. At least two Ethiopians will be vying for the crown, possibly against each other: Berihu Aregawi, the Olympic silver medalist, and Selemon Barega, the 2021 Olympic champion. Throw in Yomif Kejelcha and his 26:31.01 PB and the odds of an Ethiopian victory are looking promising.

But Kenyans Edwin Kurgat and Ishmael Kipkurui, both NCAA champs in their college days, will want to break up the Ethiopian party, and if college creds are any predictor of international success, the American trio of Grant Fisher, Nico Young, and Graham Blanks warrant a mention as well. Fisher, of course, is the reigning Olympic bronze medalist, but Young bested him in the 10,000m at USAs so by transitive property Team USA has at least two medal contenders.

Dark horses: Ugandan Oscar Chelimo has a World bronze medal from 2022 but has yet to contest the 10,000m at a global championship. With Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo focused elsewhere, he’ll be the country’s best hope at a medal.

Canadian Moh Ahmed (also a former teammate of Grant Fisher) showed last summer his best days are not yet behind him, finishing fourth in the 10,000m final in Paris. With two 5000m medals on his shelf, he’s got a record of performing in championship settings. With recent results in mind, keep an eye on Benson Kiplangat (third in the Kenyan Trials in 26:50.00) and South African Adriaan Wildschutt, who ran 26:51.67 at the TEN this past spring.

One good stat: 20 men in history have run under 26:40 in the 10,000m. Seven of them are entered in this race.