Must-watch events at World Athletics Championships

The World Athletics Championships get under way in Tokyo on Saturday, beginning nine days of captivating drama featuring the world’s biggest track and field stars.

There are 147 medals to be awarded across 49 events in an action-packed schedule in the Japanese capital, with a total prize pot of $8.5m (£6.3m) on offer.

Thursday, 18 September 11:55 BST – heats; Friday, 19 September 12:45 BST – semi-finals; Sunday, 21 September 11:35 BST – final

Despite being forced to wait 12 months to compete for the first time as Olympic champion because of injury, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson will line up in Tokyo as the gold medal favourite.

The 23-year-old made her return just four weeks before the World Championships, after two torn hamstrings, but clocked the fastest time of 2025 in her comeback and backed that up with another win at last month’s Lausanne Diamond League.

Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell has decided to focus her full attention on the 800m, joining training partner Hodgkinson and fellow Briton Jemma Reekie in the battle for the podium.

Saturday, 13 September 12:35 BST – heats; Sunday, 14 September 12:43 BST – semi-finals and 14:20 – final

American Noah Lyles seeks a third consecutive global 100m title after following up world glory in Budapest with a dramatic Olympic gold at Paris 2024.

The 28-year-old edged out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in the fastest race in history last summer but his season’s best of 9.90 seconds ranks just 11th in the world this year.

Thompson arrives as 2025’s fastest man in 9.75, while fellow Jamaican Oblique Seville beat Lyles comprehensively in August.

There will also be attention on Australian teenager Gout Gout, who has been likened to sprint icon Usain Bolt.

Saturday, 13 September 10:55 BST – heats; Sunday, 14 September 12:20 BST – semi-finals and 14:13 BST – final

St Lucia’s Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred will target a sprint double in the absence of injured American 200m gold medallist Gabby Thomas – the only athlete able to deny her that achievement last summer.

American Sha’Carri Richardson will aim to retain her world title after taking Olympic silver, but it is Paris 2024 bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson-Wooden who has been the standout performer this season.

Not only has Jefferson-Wooden run an unmatched 10.65 seconds, but she also boasts five of the six fastest times this year – with her fourth-fastest tied with Alfred’s best of 10.75 secs.

Sunday, 14 September 01:35 BST – heats; Monday, 15 September 13:30 BST – semi-finals; Wednesday, 17 September 14:20 BST – final

Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen meet for their latest duel, this time fully alert to the threats around them.

Defending champion Kerr emulated British team-mate Jake Wightman in beating Ingebrigtsen to world gold two years ago.

But American Cole Hocker delivered a surprise twist to the latest showdown between the two fierce rivals as he pipped Kerr to gold in an Olympic record time.

Friday, 19 September 09:33 BST – 100m hurdles; 10:20 BST – high jump; 12:30 BST – shot put; 13:38 BST – 200m; Saturday, 20 September 03:30 BST – long jump; 11:00 BST – javelin; 13:11 BST – 800m

Great Britain’s Katerina Johnson-Thompson and Belgian Nafi Thiam go head-to-head as both seek to become three-time world champions in Tokyo.

The pair have split the past four world golds between them, with Johnson-Thompson triumphing as Thiam missed the 2023 championships through injury.

Thiam became a three-time Olympic champion last year, edging Johnson-Thompson to take gold by just 36 points in a dramatic concluding 800m in Paris.

Sunday, 14 September 10:35 BST – heats; Tuesday, 16 September 13:35 BST – semi-finals; Thursday, 18 September 14:10 BST – final

Will Tokyo be the scene of Matthew Hudson-Smith’s crowning moment?

The British 30-year-old has gone agonisingly close to gold at the past two global championships, missing out to American Quincy Hall by four-hundredths of a second at the Olympics after finishing within 0.09secs of the world title 12 months earlier.

His European record time of 43.44 seconds at Paris 2024 made him the fifth-quickest 400m runner in history, but three men have gone faster than his season’s best of 44.10 – including American Diamond League champion Jacory Patterson.