We’ve had numerous track and field highs throughout 2025, including the World and European Indoor Championships and last month’s Diamond League Finals. Now the world’s best runners, jumpers and throwers head to the Far East for the standout competition of the year, the World Athletics Championships, which gets underway on Saturday, September 13.
This is the 20th edition of the biennial event, which was first held in Helsinki in 1983. However, it will be serving as the season-ending athletics event for the first time this year. It promises to be one of the sporting highlights of 2025, and you won’t want to miss a single moment.
All the action will be taking place at Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo. This will be the third time that the World Athletics Championships have been held in Japan, following the 1991 event in Tokyo (staged at the former National Stadium) and the 2007 edition in Osaka. The current National Stadium was also the venue for the athletics competitions at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Over 2,000 athletes from 200 teams will compete in the 49 World Championship events, with 147 medals up for grabs and a total prize pot of $8.5 million (£6.3 million). There are an equal number of disciplines (24) for women and men, and one mixed event (4 x 400m relay).
With an astonishing array of talent in action, such as Noah Lyles, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Mondo Duplantis, Femke Bol and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (to name just a few), we are set for a scintillating nine days of top-class athletics in the Japanese capital.
The United States topped the all-time World Championship table, having won a staggering 443 medals in total down the years (195 golden ones), that’s almost the same amount as the three nations below them in the standings; Kenya, Russia and Jamaica. Usain Bolt famously won 14 World Championship medals (2007-2017), three more than LaShawn Merritt and four ahead of Carl Lewis.
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Bolt may have bagged a 14-medal haul, but amazingly, America’s Allyson Felix won 14 glittering World Championship golds between 2005 and 2022 (20 medals in total). Sprint legends, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Noah Lyles, are just two of the current world stars who will be aiming to move a few notches up the medal ladder. Fraser-Pryce has 16 and Lyles has seven.
Let GOAL give you the rundown of all the key information you need to know ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, including the schedule of events, the star athletes to look out for and how you can watch or stream all the thrilling track and field action.
When are the World Athletics Championships 2025?
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The World Athletics Championships 2025 are being held at Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo, between Saturday, September 13 and Sunday, September 21.
Japan's National Stadium is a multipurpose venue in Tokyo, which is used mostly for association football matches. Following the demolition of the old National Stadium in 2015, the construction of the new/current version began in December 2016. It was completed in November 2019, with the stadium's inaugural sporting event being the Emperor's Cup final (Japan's main annual national football cup competition), which took place on 1 January 2020.
The National Stadium would serve as the main venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the venue for track and field athletics events at the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics, which were COVID-delayed until 2021. The National Stadium capacity for each of the World Athletics Championship 2025 sessions is 68,000. It will be the biggest World Championships crowd since Beijing staged the event in 2015.
🇺🇸 How to watch the World Athletics Championships 2025 in the US
Every one of the 14 sessions of the World Athletics Championships 2025, starting with the morning session on day one (Saturday, September 13) through to the evening session on day nine (Sunday, September 21), will be broadcast live all over the globe.
Fans in the United States can watch the World Championships exclusively on NBC, and it will simulstream live on Peacock (NBC’s streaming service). Peacock Premium costs $8 a month or $80 annually for ad-supported streaming. To watch without ads, you need to upgrade to a Peacock Premium Plus plan, which costs $14 a month or $140 a year.
Another great streaming service that allows you to watch the World Athletics Championships live is fubo. Fubo packages start at $84.99 a month ($30 off your first month right now), and they offer an all-inclusive free 7-day trial before you pay. Fubo’s massive streaming plans carry up to 200+ channels, and you can get even more depending on your location.
For avid sports fans, fubo is the ultimate choice as it provides access to the most popular sports, including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL & MLS. Additionally, international soccer fans can enjoy some of the world’s most popular leagues, such as the Premier League and La Liga. Most fubo plans allow you to stream on up to 10 devices simultaneously.
🇬🇧 How to watch the World Athletics Championships 2025 in the UK
In the United Kingdom, World Athletics Championship coverage will be screened live on TNT Sports. You can live stream on discovery+ and watch via TNT Sports' TV channels on Sky, BT and Virgin Media platforms. Discovery+ Premium is £30.99 per month and available on a monthly rolling contract. This includes TNT Sports and other entertainment channels. Existing BT broadband customers can access TNT Sports for £20 per month. The package consists of TNT Sports and Discovery+. There will also be BBC coverage of the World Championships throughout.
Who’s competing at the World Athletics Championships 2025?
The best athletes from all four corners of the globe are heading to Tokyo this September, but here are just a few of the standout competitors who are set to light up the National Stadium:
🇯🇲 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
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It marks the end of an era for Jamaican sprint queen, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, as she is set to retire from the sport in Tokyo after an illustrious track career, which has seen her win eight Olympic and 16 World Championships medals. After withdrawing from the semi-finals at last year's Olympics, Fraser-Pryce decided to return for one more season and one more shot at glory. She will, of course, have some very stiff 100m competition in Tokyo, with the likes of Julien Alfred, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Sha'Carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson lining up.
🇺🇸 Noah Lyles
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Noah Lyles, the reigning men's 100m and 200m world champion, began his 2025 season late due to injuries and has yet to win a 100m final this year. He’s only gone under 10 seconds in one of his four races during this campaign. However, the American star has shone over his favoured 200m, including winning the Diamond League Final in Zurich last month. His main rival over the longer distance looks to be Letsile Tebogo, the Olympic champion. However, the ever-confident Lyles will take heart from the fact he’s beaten Tebogo in both their head-to-head races this season on the Diamond League.
🇺🇸 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
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Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who stunned the Paris crowd last summer when breaking the 400m hurdles world record in the Olympic final, has focused all her attention on the flat 400m this season. She has the third-fastest time this year, behind only last year’s Olympic 400m gold and silver medallists, Marileidy Paulino and Salwa Eid Naser. It should be fascinating to see the trio tussle it out on the Tokyo track.
🇦🇺 Gout Gout
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The Australian teenage sensation, who is making his World Athletics Championship debut, has earned comparisons with Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt. The 17-year-old is taking time out from school to compete in the200m in Tokyo. Another youngster, looking to make headlines in the Japanese capital, is 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus. He ran the fourth-fastest time in American history over 800 meters in August. In the weeks since that performance, the high schooler from Texas signed a professional contract with Nike.
🥇 Defending champions
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There are also lots of reigning world champions who are attempting to successfully defend their crowns this September, including Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Femke Bol (400m hurdles), Neeraj Chopra (javelin), Faith Kipyegon (1500m & 5000m), Yulimar Rojas (triple jump), Yaroslava Mahuchikh (high jump), Ryan Crouser (shot put), Jakob Ingebrigtsen (5000m) and Haruka Kitaguchi (javelin).
What is the World Athletics Championships 2025 schedule?
Check out the World Athletics Championship highlights (all times shown are in (JST), Japan Standard Time (BST +8hrs & ET +13hrs)
Saturday, September 13
- 08:00 - Men’s 35km Race Walk
- 08:00 - Men’s 35km Race Walk
- 21:10 - Men’s Shot Put Final
- 21:30 - Women’s 10000m Final
- 22:20 - Mixed 4x400m Relay Final
Sunday, September 14
- 08:00 - Women’s Marathon
- 09:12 - Women’s Discus Final
- 20:40 - Women’s Long Jump Final
- 21:30 - Men’s 10000m Final
- 22:13 - Women’s 100m Final
- 22:20 - Men’s 100m Final
Monday, September 15
- 08:00 - Men’s Marathon
- 19:49 - Men’s Pole Vault Final
- 21:00 - Women’s Hammer Throw Final
- 21:55 - Men’s 3000m Steeplechase
- 22:20 - Women’s 100m Hurdles Final
Tuesday, September 16
- 20:36 - Men’s High Jump Final
- 21:01 - Men’s Hammer Throw Final
- 22:05 - Women’s 1500m
- 22:20 - Men’s 110m hurdles
Wednesday, September 17
- 20:11 - Women’s Pole Vault Final
- 20:49 - Men’s Long Jump Final
- 21:57 - Women’s 3000m Steeplechase Final
- 22:20 - Men’s 1500m Final
Thursday, September 18
- 19:23 - Men’s Javelin Final
- 20:55 - Women’s Triple Jump Final
- 22:10 - Men’s 400m Final
- 22:24 - Women’s 400m Final
Friday, September 19
- 17:33 - Heptathlon (starts)
- 20:50 - Men’s Triple Jump Final
- 21:15 - Men’s 400m Hurdles Final
- 21:57 - Women’s 400m Hurdles Final
- 22:06 - Men’s 200m Final
- 22:22 - Women’s 200m Final
Saturday, September 20
- 07:30 - Women’s 20km Race Walk
- 09:25 - Decathlon (starts)
- 09:50 - Men’s 20km Race Walk
- 19:54 - Women’s Shot Put Final
- 21:05 - Women’s Javelin Final
- 21:29 - Women’s 5000m Final
- 22:22 - Men’s 800m Final
Sunday, September 21
- 19:30 - Women’s High Jump Final
- 19:35 - Women’s 800m Final
- 19:47 - Men’s 5000m Final
- 20:10 - Men’s Discus Final
- 20:20 - Men’s 4 x 400m Relay Final
- 20:35 - Women’s 4 x 400m Relay Final
- 21:06 - Women’s 4 x 100m Relay Final
- 21:20 - Men’s 4 x 100m Relay Final