It’s nearly time for the Big Show in Tokyo! The CITIUS MAG crew is flying halfway across the globe to bring you the best of track and field from Japan starting Saturday, September 13th—or Friday the 12th if you’re living on the American side of the International Date Line.

There’s plenty of running, jumping, and throwing on tap for the 2025 World Athletics Championships, and we’ll have minute-by-minute coverage and daily live shows and newsletters all along the way. You can find a full schedule with entries and live results here. To kick things off, we’re giving you event-by-event previews of every competition on tap for Tokyo so you head into the weekend with all the latest insight and analysis.

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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

Heats: Sunday, September 14th at 5:35am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Semifinals: Tuesday, September 16th at 8:35am ET on Peacock and USA

Final: Thursday, September 18th at 9:10am ET on Peacock and USA

Top contenders: It’s been a good year to be an American in the men’s 400m, even though 2025 has largely been without the presence of Olympic champ Quincy Hall, whose season was dramatically shortened by injury. Chris Bailey won the World Indoor title ahead of Jacory Patterson’s bronze, and then Bailey, Hall, and Patterson combined to win five of eight Diamond Leagues and two of three Grand Slams. Patterson and Caleb McRae account for two of the three sub-44s this season and after Patterson’s commanding 43.85 victory in the Diamond League final, he’s gotta be the favorite for gold.

Between Bailey, Patterson, McRae, and now Vernon Norwood added to the open 400m following Patterson’s DL victory, a U.S. sweep is very much in the cards. The man most likely to deny the Americans a romp is Great Britain’s Matthew Hudson-Smith, the top returner from Paris who also handed Patterson his only loss this outdoor season. But Hudson-Smith may not even be the top Brit in the final as Charlie Dobson beat him to the line at the London DL. And Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga (Zambia) has had a quiet season so far, but his best time before last year’s 43.84 in the Olympic final was only 44.54, so he could be on a similar trajectory.

The world leader, Zakithi Nene of South Africa, hasn’t raced since July and went 0 for 3 on the DL circuit, so it’s looking more like his 43.76 from the Kip Keino Classic is unlikely to be replicated. But he could certainly factor in for the medals if he shows up to Tokyo healthy, and who knows? He may be holding his cards close to the chest.

Dark horses: At times, Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori has seemed like the heir apparent to African 400m dominance following world record holder Wayde van Niekerk’s string of injuries. But Ndori hasn’t won a 400m since the very first Diamond League back in April, nor has he bettered the 44.25 season’s best he set there.

The other two names worthy of a mention aren’t dark horses by virtue of their resumes—Belgium’s Alexander Doom is the 2024 World Indoor champ and Kirani James (Grenada) has six global medals, including World and Olympic gold—but rather their 2025 form. Doom finished eighth in the Diamond League final and his SB is only 44.66, and James won the NACAC in 44.48 but has raced sparingly all season. Both men are veteran racers, however, and can be trusted to time their peaks right.

One good stat: World record holder Wayde van Niekerk is running at this World Championships, but only in the 200 meters, where he has a 20.07 season’s best.