This weekend marked the kickoff for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, as world class competition returns to the Japanese capital just three years after it was last in the city for the Olympics. Three years, but it seems like a totally new landscape for sports and athletics.

Back then, races were run in an empty stadium. Masks were worn up until the start-line and immediately replaced as athletes finished their competitions. The world watched on, but through TV screens alone.

This time, Tokyo has the chance to showcase exactly what we weren’t able to see in the postponed Games of the 2020 Olympiad, as the World Athletics Championships comes to town. Japan has a famously knowledgeable and proud fanbase when it comes to athletics, and distance-running in particular, so expect to see packed houses at each session of the championship, and streets lined with adoring spectators for each of the Marathon races.

Runlimited will be open throughout the week and showing the championship action happening live in-store, so if you’re an avid athletics anorak, or new and curious about the sport, come along! As a part of that, why not, we thought, give you a little preview into what we’re most excited about seeing and why.

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Bold outlook from Scott, predicting World Records to fall in the Middle Distances. He reckons Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Men’s 1500m, round 1 @ 1:35am UK-time, Sun 14th) and Keely Hodgkinson (Women’s 800m, round 1 @11:58am, Thurs 18th) will both become the fastest ever in their respective events. Incidentally, the two superstars have had their periods of dominance interrupted by injuries this season. Keely recently returned to racing just last month, obliterating a world-class field in the Silesia Diamond League, just 0.1 seconds off of her own national record and a second or so behind the WR. Ingebrigtsen has been biding his time and will make his season debut at the champs… gutsy! World’s will be the test of both athlete’s comeback to racing.

It has officially been the fastest season on record for the Men's 800m (Round 1 @ 11:35am, Tues 16th). The field is incredibly evenly matched, so we could see fireworks and a potential World Record. Just like Scott, Matt has said he’s watching for the magic ‘WR’ to appear next to the time of the victor. The time to beat? 1:40.91 from 2012. This year’s fastest? 1:41.44 by Emmanuel Wanyoni.

Kurt has a hot take: None of the medallists from last-year’s 1500m Olympic final will medal at Worlds this year. With the Bronze Medallist from Paris, Yared Nuguse (USA), not qualifying to Tokyo, the prediction is already 33.33% there… The rest of the race is wide open, but the British favourite, Josh Kerr (2nd in Paris), and defending Olympic Champ, Cole Hocker, will both look to add to the hardware they won in Paris.

Upping the distance, Dan is looking forward to seeing rising UK superstar Innes Fitzgerald make her outdoor track at the world level over 5000m (Round 1 @ 11:05am, Thurs 18th). At just 19, she’s just added a National Under-20 age group record of 14:39 to her list of achievements which includes multiple European U20 Championship titles. Her never-say-die attitude to racing could prove handy in the heat of Tokyo and make her a shout for a top-10 finish.

Cara is also going to be tuning in to the Women’s 5000m. This will be the first time that she’s watched and followed the World Athletics Champs, but will be particularly watching out for Beatrice Chebet and Faith Kipyegon, both representing Kenya and two of the fastest women of all time. Just this year, Chebet was the first woman to run under 14-minutes for 5000m on the track, breaking the World Record in the process. The head to head will be exciting, as both athletes will also be competing in other events where they both hold World Records: Kipyegon in the 1500m (Round 1 @ 11:35am, Sat 13th) and Chebet in the 10,000m (Final @ 1:30pm, Sat 13th).

Kipyegon training with her group in Kenya; courtesy of Nike Running.

As runners, most of the team were quick to tell us about their excitement for the longer-distance races, but Molly was the first to go against the grain, saying that her athlete to watch will be KJT. KJT, aka, Katarina Johnson-Thompson has been one of the UK’s leading athletes, seeming to be a household name even beyond athletics fans. She’ll be competing in the Heptathlon (First event @ 9:33am, Fri 19th) in what will be her SEVENTH appearance at the World Athletics Championships, aiming to defend the crown she won in 2023 and go one further than her silver medal at the Paris Olympics last year.

Also off of the track, Liam is interested to see the return of Ryan Crouser to the Shot Put circle (Qualification @ 2:55am, Sat. 13th). As the greatest men’s ‘putter of all time, he’s been laying low following his Olympic victory last year that came after two major injuries. Since then, Crouser has felt a number of repercussions from these issues, but as defending world champion, gets a bye to see if he can reclaim his champion’s rostrum!

We’d be amiss if no-one mentioned the Marathon, either. Liam is going to be rooting for Emile Cairess, the UK’s leading entry. The Yorkshireman ran an epic race across the French capital last year, finishing in 4th, the joint-highest finish by a British man in an Olympic marathon, and we’re hoping he can join the medals this time around. He goes at 11:30pm UK time on Monday 15th.

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You can come and join us to watch the championships as we stream the action LIVE whilst we're open. Swing by, grab a coffee, get us fired up with some healthy debates and watch some athletics!

Full timetable of events here.