Faith Kipyegon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 (© Getty Images)
There are four world titles up for grabs on day four of the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, starting with the men’s high jump and finishing with the men’s 110m hurdles.
Kipyegon a class apart in 1500m
‘Can anyone stop Faith Kipyegon?’ is the question her rivals and those packed inside the National Stadium on night four in Tokyo will be asking themselves.
The doyenne of middle-distance running looks invincible over the shorter distance as she sets out to repeat the 1500m-5000m double she pulled off at the last World Championships.
She has shattered her own 1500m world record already this season and is bidding for a fourth world title at the distance aged 31.
Successors bid to halt title No.4 for Holloway
For so long, Grant Holloway has been the benchmark for men’s sprint hurdling, having won a hat-trick of world titles as well as Olympic gold.
But the 27-year-old has not been quite his fluid best this season and, while he got off to a great start in his heat on Monday, he could only qualify fourth fastest in his heat of the 110m hurdles.
There’s no shortage of successors lining up to replace him as world champion. His fellow US athletes Cordell Tinch and Ja’kobe Tharp are two of them although Tinch also finished fourth in his heat while the home faithful would dearly love to see one of their own, Rachid Muratake, delight his supporters with the gold.
First-time world champion looms in high jump
Since 2017, Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi have won all the world titles between them, the former clinching a hat-trick before his Italian rival and friend won in Budapest two years ago.
This time, neither will feature in the field after Barshim withdrew before the competition with a foot injury and Tamberi, himself curtailed by injury this year, failed to make it through qualifying.
In their absence, Olympic champion Hamish Kerr, world indoor champion Woo Sanghyeok and European indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk look likely to lead the battle for the podium.
Katzberg clashes with Halasz, Kokhan and Winkler
He may be just 23 years of age but Canadian man mountain Ethan Katzberg is bidding for a hat-trick of global golds in the men’s hammer, having backed up a breakthrough gold in Budapest in 2023 with his Olympic glory.
The 201cm tall thrower topped qualifying with a best of 81.85m but two men have thrown farther than him this season: Bence Halasz of Hungary and US athlete Rudy Winkler.
Halasz has the biggest throw of the year at 83.18m, two centimetres farther than Winkler. That pair, along with Katzberg and Olympic bronze medallist Mykhaylo Kokhan, will be the favourites for the podium.
Another lap closer to the final
There was a near shock in the heats when Matthew Hudson-Smith, who tops the world rankings, nearly bowed out at the first stage before picking up one of the non-automatic qualifier spots.
He’ll need to up his game as he battles for a place in the final against the US contingent of Jacory Patterson, Khaleb McRae and Chris Bailey among others.
The women’s event has the makings of a head-to-head between 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser and defending champion Marileidy Paulino, who is bidding for her third consecutive global title. They are drawn in separate semi-finals.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
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