Tokyo 25 World Championships ends 5-year winning streaks

The Tokyo 25 World Championships, which will be held from September 13th to 21st, will be as unique as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which were also held under unique circumstances. The title “2020”  referred to a previous year, yet the Olympics were held in 2021.

Due to the delays and cancellations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games marked the beginning of a long medal-harvesting season for athletes from 2021 to 2025. The following year, we had the world championships in Oregon, followed by the world championships in Budapest in 2023, and the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. 

The pandemic was a blessing in disguise for some global champions, who have won one or two major world titles every year since then.

To complete this five-year circle of continuous medal-harvesting season, the Tokyo 25 world championships will be held again at the same venue where it all began: the Japan National Stadium.

For the first time, in 2021, the Olympic Games happened without the usual full stadiums. The fans remained patient and watched the action from the comfort of their homes. The excitement that was missed at the Olympics that year will finally be seen as the championships kick off this weekend. 

I remember watching the competitions live from Kenya. Like it was then, the timetable will be very convenient to the Kenyan fans, given that most of the morning sessions will begin at 9 AM in Tokyo, which will be 3 AM in the morning in Kenya, and end at 9 PM, which will be 3 PM.

One of the exciting stories ahead of the Tokyo Olympics was Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who was going for three gold medals: in the women’s 1500m, 5000m, and 10,000m, which became a historic feat.

Medalists from Tokyo Olympics returning to Tokyo 25 Championships

Hassan won’t be back at the Tokyo 25 World Championships this year. Still, some medalists from then, including Kenya’s legendary Faith Kipyegon, who has remained unbeaten at the major championships since then in her favourite 1500m event, will be back.

The three-time Olympic and four-time World Champion will represent Kenya in the 1500m and 5000m events.

For a runner who has stayed on top of her game since the last major world event in Tokyo, Tokyo 25 will be their fifth major title. For such a short period of time, Kipyegon has won two Olympic titles and three world titles, with the possibility of adding two more titles at the end of the championships.

The men’s 3000m steeplechase event will be an example of rivalries that started in 2021 and continue to this day. Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali is another runner who has remained unbeaten at the major championships since winning his first major title here in 2021. Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma has always been seen as his main challenger, and it appears so going into the championships.

Armand Duplantis of Sweden is the other athlete who has had an unbeaten record at major global championships since he won the Olympic title in 2021. The current world record holder for the men’s Pole Vault event is currently ranked as the best in the world, and has shown that by recently increasing the world record mark to 6.29m.

Other notable Olympic medalists that featured at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and are back at the Tokyo 25 championships include Norway’s Karsten Warholm, USA’ Noah Lyles, Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Marileidy Paulino of Dominican Republic, Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, Gudaf Tsegay and Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, Canada’s Andre De Grasse, Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai and USA’s Sydney McLaughlin, among others.

Unfortunately, the winning streak will have to end after these championships, as the next major global athletics event will be in Beijing in 2027.