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.

___________________

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.

___________________

Schedule + How To Watch

Heats: Saturday, September 13th at 5:55am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Semifinals: Sunday, September 14th at 7:20am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Final: Sunday, September 14th at 9:13am ET on Peacock and CNBC

Top contenders: While this field is one of the most stacked in the whole championships based on accolades, two big names have emerged from the pack. Julien Alfred (St. Lucia), the Olympic champion, and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA), the bronze medalist, have been far and away the two strongest sprinters in the world this year, with Jefferson-Wooden clocking the only sub-10.7 in the world this year when she ran 10.65 to win the U.S. championships and Alfred dipping under 10.80 four times.

Alfred and MJW together account for the nine fastest times in the world this year, but they’ve only matched up head-to-head once, at the Prefontaine Classic. There, Jefferson-Wooden took the win by a hair, 10.75 to 10.77, and since she hasn’t lost to Alfred or anyone else in the 100m all year, it’s tempting to call her the favorite. But really it’ll come down to execution on the day from two sprinters at the top of their game, and it’s hard to say either one of them truly has an edge.

Beyond the two heaviest hitters are a number of promising young talents and established stars looking to return to the podium. Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) is the reigning World champ but hasn’t shown the same form thus far in the season—although it’s possible she’s simply timing her return from an early-winter injury perfectly with the September championships, and if she does head to Tokyo at full fitness, she’s got the talent to contend for gold. And Jamaican fans will surely want to send off all-time great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce with one last medal (she has 10 already in the 100m alone), but the 38-year-old will likely need to improve on her 10.91 season’s best to do so. She may end up battling her own teammates for a podium spot as 21-year-old Tina Clayton won the Jamaican Trials and Shericka Jackson has rounded into better form as the season progressed.

Dark horses: Besides SAFP, the biggest fan favorite among longtime track fans may be Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith (Côte d’Ivoire), the 36-year-old three time World medalist who’s had a number of close misses over the years including a fourth-place finish at the 2023 championships. She’s run 10.87 this year and tends to perform best in the Diamond League setting, but if she can put together three strong rounds of racing she should be in the mix.

Two other members of Dennis Mitchell’s Star Athletics contingent also have an outside shot at a medal should one of the big names falter: Kayla White and Tee Tee Terry, a late add to the open 100m after Aleia Hobbs’s withdrawal from Team USA due to injury. And if betting on experience is your thing, you can’t count out Brit Dina Asher-Smith to bring her best stuff in a championship setting. Asher-Smith is the epitome of the kind of athlete who may not be in the mix if it’s a sub-10.8 race, but if conditions or others’ performances open the door to 10.85 or thereabouts sneaking onto the podium, she’s got a great shot.

One good stat: Counting heats, semis, and finals over the years, the first round of racing in Tokyo will be Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s 37th 100-meter race in a World/Olympic championship.