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: Saturday, September 13th at 8:30 am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Top contenders: It would be a shock to see Beatrice Chebet lose this one. In 2023, a Chebet-less 10,000m ended with an Ethiopian sweep led by Gudaf Tsegay, but Chebet is now the Olympic champion and world record holder who appears to have Tsegay’s number every time they race in the distance events. Tsegay can still get the better of her rival over 1500m, beating Chebet in the 1500m in Silesia, but Chebet still set an 11-second PB in that race and has the ability to close 5000ms and 10,000ms with 28-second 200m splits.

The battle for the non-gold medals will likely come down to Tsegay, her fellow Ethiopians including 2023 bronze medalist Ejgayehu Taye, Kenyans Agnes Ngetich and Janeth Chepngetich, and Paris silver medalist Nadia Battocletti.

Dark horses: If the race slows to a crawl in the warm Tokyo weather, all sorts of crazy things could happen. The last American medalist in this event, Emily Infeld in 2015, is back with a U.S. title under her belt, and Elise Cranny with her 3:57.87 PB could contend in a kicker’s race. Conversely, Ugandan Sarah Chelangat could factor in if the pace is honest. Outside of the U.S. and Kenya, the only other nation with two runners who’ve broken 31 minutes this year is Australia, thanks to Isobel Batt-Doyle and Lauren Ryan.

One good stat: With a victory, Chebet would become the first woman to win gold at the World Championships, World Road Running Championships, Olympic Games and World Cross Country Championships. Granted, the World Road Running Championships have only ever happened once but it makes for a cool stat.