There were excellent wins for Alegna Gonzalez and Perseus Karlstrom at the Grande Pr&eacute;mio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha &ndash; a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Rio Maior, Portugal, on Saturday (16).
One was expected; the other came as a surprise. Karlstrom was a tired 12th place in Podebrady just seven days ago. Here, the 2023 world silver medallist improved his second place from 2025, while at the same time taking the prestigious scalp of Hayato Katsuki.
The Japanese, who claimed world 35km bronze in Tokyo and won the marathon at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Bras&iacute;lia last month, sits eighth on the world all-time list, and clearly brimming confidence, Katsuki made a bid for home at 16km.
It looked as if the race was done, but somehow Karlstrom dug deep to slowly get back in touch and then pass Katsuki. The Japanese desperately attempted to regain the lead only to fall foul of the DQ board and sit out a time penalty with barely a lap to go.
Arms aloft, Karlstrom strode through the finish line in 1:25:27, with time to spare on eventual second-place finisher Matheus Correa from Brazil (1:27:06).
Correa recovered from a tough time mid race to come through and pass Mexico&rsquo;s Noel Chama, third in 1:28:16, and one-time leader Jordy Arrobo from Mexico. Eduardo Camarate from Portugal was fourth, 1:31:52 and compatriot Tiago Ramos fifth (1:34:50).
Early on, six athletes went through the first lap in 4:31. But that group soon fell apart with Karlstrom, Katsuki and Arrobo putting daylight between themselves and Chama and Correa.
However, the latter two dragged themselves back into contention six laps later. By 12km, the effort to rejoin the leaders appeared to have taken its toll on Correa, but he too was able to show strength and determination.
Katsuki passed Arrobo, with only Karlstrom able to stay in contention &ndash; albeit 10 metres back. That gap became 20 metres very quickly and timed at four seconds completing 16 laps. That was when Karlstom showed the grit that has made him so popular on the race walk circuit for more than 15 years as a senior athlete.
&ldquo;This was an incredible and very emotional win,&rdquo; Karlstrom posted on Instagram after the race. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m so proud and so happy my body is starting to respond again. Hopefully I&rsquo;ve had my bad period this season now it will be up and up.&rdquo;
In contrast to the men&rsquo;s half marathon, the women&rsquo;s race was done and dusted by 6km. Even so, Gonzalez went solo to record a tremendous 1:32:15 &ndash; the fourth-fastest time recorded to date for the new race walk distance.
The world 20km silver medallist from Mexico looked in control throughout, enhanced by a smooth, quick economical style that has already brought her success on the global stage.
Teammate Karla Serrano had the race of her life to claim second place, setting a PB of 1:35:22, exactly five minutes better than her previous mark.
Antigoni Ntrismpioti made up the podium in 1:36:33. The Greek, who won double gold at the 2022 European Championships and 35km bronze at the 2023 World Championships, celebrated her 42nd birthday in March but stuck to her task even after Gonzalez and Serrano moved ahead.
By lap 10, reached in 44:25, Gonzalez could see her two closest followers going down one side of the course, while she sped down the other.
The race for second place also took a turn in Serrano&rsquo;s favour after 12 laps. Feeling confident, she slowly stretched the elastic back to Ntrismpioti until it snapped just past an hour into the race.
At one stage, there was also the unusual sight of Gonzalez lapping Viviane Lyra. The Brazilian, with multiple South American championship wins and seventh place in the Olympic marathon relay in 2024, was clearly having a bad day.
Not so the winner, who enjoyed a splendid isolation. As it turned out, Mexico boasted four of the first five: Valeria Ortuno was fourth in 1:38:14 and Valeria Flores fifth in 1:40:27.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics

There were excellent wins for Alegna Gonzalez and Perseus Karlstrom at the Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha

Karlstrom and Gonzalez victorious in Rio Maior

Jessica Schilder produced the best shot put mark in the world for 14 years, throwing a Diamond League record of 21.09m at the season-opening Wanda Diamond League meeting in Shanghai on Saturday (16).
The world champion&rsquo;s huge fifth-round effort improved her own Dutch record by 40cm, broke Valerie Adams&rsquo; Diamond League record from 2012, and moved Schilder to 29th on the world all-time list. It also made her the newest member of the 21-metre club since 2009.
Before the fifth round, no one in the field had gone beyond 20 metres. But the competition then burst into life as Schilder launched her record-breaking throw, while world indoor champion Chase Jackson reached 20.46m and two-time world indoor champion Sarah Mitton threw 20.42m. All three surpassed 20 metres again in the final round, but the positions remained unchanged.
Schilder&rsquo;s previous PB of 20.69m had been set at the 2025 European Indoor Championships and equalled earlier this year indoors, while her previous outdoor best was the 20.47m she threw in Xiamen last year. Shanghai was her first competition since finishing fourth at the World Indoor Championships in March.
&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t comprehend it,&rdquo; said Schilder. &ldquo;It is such a huge thing, it is crazy. My first outdoor competition is a big deal for me; it is always something I find quite hard. During my first throws, my coach and I were not happy, so we tried a few different things and eventually it worked.&rdquo;
<h2>Meeting records fall on the track and in the field</h2>
Mohamed Abdilaahi led a race of historic depth in the men&rsquo;s 3000m, smashing the German record by five seconds to win in a meeting record of 7:25.77.
After being paced through 2000m in 5:00.4, Abdilaahi took up the running and opened up a gap on the rest of the field. Kenya&rsquo;s Reynold Cheruiyot and Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Almgren closed on the German down the home straight, but couldn&rsquo;t catch him in time.
The previous German record had stood since 1998, but Abdilaahi &ndash; who already holds national records at 5000m and 10,000m &ndash; took it into new territory as he held off Cheruiyot, who clocked a PB of 7:26.11, and Almgren, who set a national record of 7:26.48.
Fourteen men dipped inside 7:30 &ndash; comfortably the greatest depth ever achieved in a single 3000m race. The previous record was seven men under 7:30 in one race. Before Shanghai, there had been 99 sub-7:30 outdoor performances in history; this one race added 14 more.
Eduardo Herrera set a Mexican record of 7:27.63, while Bahrain&rsquo;s Birhanu Balew clocked an Asian record of 7:29.60 and Uruguay&rsquo;s Santiago Catrofe set a South American record of 7:29.72.
Mondo Duplantis also delivered a meeting record, clearing 6.12m at the first time of asking in the men&rsquo;s pole vault, adding a centimetre to the mark he set last year. The Swedish superstar then attempted a would-be world record height of 6.32m but was unsuccessful.
Australia&rsquo;s Kurtis Marschall was second with 5.80m. Greece&rsquo;s Emmanouil Karalis achieved some great height with his attempts at 5.90m but brought the bar down each time.
Olympic champion Masai Russell produced another meeting record and world lead in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles, coming through to defeat a high-quality field in 12.25 (0.4m/s). World indoor champion Devynne Charlton was second in a Bahamian record of 12.38, with world record-holder Tobi Amusan third in 12.41. World champion Ditaji Kambundji was fifth in 12.82, while two-time world champion Danielle Williams did not finish.
In the men&rsquo;s discus, Kristjan Ceh broke a meeting record that had stood since 2010, the first year of the Diamond League. The Slovenian threw 70.31m in round two to improve the previous mark of 69.69m, then backed it up with 70.25m in round three before going farther still with 70.58m in the fourth round. Matthew Denny was second with 67.54m.
Uganda&rsquo;s 2021 Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai edged a thrilling women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase, winning in 8:51.47 as world champion Faith Cherotich finished just 0.01 behind in 8:51.48.
Behind them, Tunisia&rsquo;s Marwa Bouzayani set a national record of 8:58.09 and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Kena Tufa improved her PB by more than 30 seconds to 8:59.66. Bouzayani and Tufa became the 16th and 17th women to break nine minutes, while the race marked just the third time four women have bettered 9:00 in the same steeplechase.
Birke Haylom led an Ethiopian one-two in the women&rsquo;s 1500m, winning in 3:55.56 to break the meeting record set by Faith Kipyegon 10 years ago. Olympic 800m silver medallist Tsige Duguma was second in 3:55.71 in just her second ever 1500m race &ndash; and her first outdoors &ndash; while Australia&rsquo;s Abbey Caldwell finished strongly to take third in a PB of 3:56.12. Eleven women, five of them from Australia, finished inside four minutes.
Mark English timed his finish to perfection to win a tightly packed men&rsquo;s 800m in 1:43.85, the second-fastest time of his career, breaking the meeting record that had stood since 2018. Botswana&rsquo;s Kethobogile Haingura was second in 1:43.89, and the top six were separated by just a third of a second.
<h2>Furlani, Dos Santos and Kipyegon set world leads</h2>
World champion Mattia Furlani added to the strong early-season standard in the men&rsquo;s long jump, producing an outdoor world lead and PB of 8.43m in the second round. The Italian won comfortably from Bozhidar Saraboyukov, who jumped 8.07m.
There was another world lead in the men&rsquo;s 300m hurdles, where 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos held off a fast-finishing Karsten Warholm to win in 33.01. That makes the Brazilian the second-fastest man in history at the distance, behind Warholm&rsquo;s world best of 32.67. Warholm was close behind in 33.05.
Faith Kipyegon, contesting her first track race of the year, won the women&rsquo;s 5000m in a world-leading 14:24.14, edging a race in which Ethiopian athletes filled the next seven places. Likina Amebaw was second in a PB of 14:24.21 and Senayet Getachew third in 14:24.71.
Jackson, Pryce, Britt and Leotlela among other winners
Two-time world champion Shericka Jackson came within 0.01 of the meeting record in the women&rsquo;s 200m, winning in 22.07 &ndash; her fastest time since the 2023 Diamond League Final. Shaunae Miller-Uibo was second in 22.26, her fastest since the semifinals of the 2021 Olympic Games, while Sha&rsquo;Carri Richardson finished fourth in 22.42.
Jackson&rsquo;s Jamaican compatriot Nickisha Pryce won a close women&rsquo;s 400m in 49.75, just ahead of USA&rsquo;s Aaliyah Butler, who clocked 49.78.
In the men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles, USA&rsquo;s Jamal Britt came through strongly at the end to win in an equal PB of 13.07, with world champion Cordell Tinch second in 13.10.
South Africa&rsquo;s Gift Leotlela took the men&rsquo;s 100m from lane one, winning in 9.97 as he held off Ferdinand Omanyala and Kenny Bednarek, who both clocked 9.98. Just 0.04 separated the first five men. Elsewhere, Monae&rsquo; Nichols won the women&rsquo;s long jump with 6.89m.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Jessica Schilder produced the best shot put mark in the world for 14 years, throwing a Diamond League record of 21.09m in Shanghai

Schilder breaks Diamond League record with 21.09m in Shanghai

The opening three days of the African Championships in Accra have delivered historic breakthroughs and thrilling finishes across multiple disciplines.
The championships, running from 12-17 May at the University of Ghana Stadium, have already produced unforgettable moments, such as Cameroonian duo Emmanuel Eseme and Herv&eacute;rge Kole Etame winning the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s 100m titles respectively.
After finishing fifth and then second at the previous two editions, Eseme finally struck gold on his third attempt, crossing the line in 10.26. The race for silver and bronze was incredibly close, with South Africa&rsquo;s Bradley Nkoana and Nigeria&rsquo;s Chidera Ezeakor both clocking 10.32, with Nkoana awarded silver and Ezeakor bronze.
Moments earlier, Etame edged Nigeria&rsquo;s Rosemary Chukwuma in another dramatic finish, with both athletes recording identical times of 11.49. Liberia&rsquo;s Thelma Davies took bronze in 11.51 &ndash; her nation&rsquo;s first individual medal of the championships.
The men&rsquo;s 400m delivered one of the standout races of the championships. Dennis Hove &ndash; one of three Zimbabweans in the final &ndash; went out hard and had Morocco&rsquo;s Yassine Zerhoume on his heels. However, Lee Eppie &ndash; who ran the opening leg for the triumphant Botswana team at the recent World Relays &ndash; changed gears halfway into the race and crossed the line first in 44.66 as Hove followed in 44.92, while fellow Zimbabwean Zuze Leeford came from behind to beat Zarhoume to the bronze medal in 45.03.
Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ajayba Aliy Ahmed lived up to her billing in the women&rsquo;s 400m. After being the fastest qualifier, she came from behind in the final to surge past Egypt&rsquo;s Hemida Bassant who was in the lead going into the home straight. Ahmed clocked 51.54 for gold. Botswana&rsquo;s Obakeng Kamberuka (51.79) and Ghana&rsquo;s Florence Agyemang (51.87) also overtook Hemida (52.00) to complete the podium.
Ethiopian duo Abebe Lemecha Abdi and Mersimo Kasahun Bekele controlled the first lap of the men&rsquo;s 800m, but Moroccan Imad Bouchajda took over in the second lap and appeared to have things under control. However, Kenya&rsquo;s Kimtai Kelvin Loti overtook him close to the finishing line and stopped the clock in 1:45.47, with Bouchajda settling for silver with 1:45.62. Buoyed by the home crowd, Ghanaian record-holder Alex Amankwa took bronze in 1:46.18.
In the women&rsquo;s 800m, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Mesgana Zemedkun proved too strong for Botswana&rsquo;s national record-holder Oratile Nowe, and raced to gold in 1:59.02 to the latter&rsquo;s 1:59.09. Niger&rsquo;s Samira Awali Boubakar set a national record of 1:59.63 to claim bronze.
Ten years after his first podium finish at the African Championships, South Africa&rsquo;s 2017 world champion Luvo Manyonga secured his first continental gold medal. The African record holder won with his opening leap of 8.15m, beating Senegalese pair Lys Mendy (8.07m) and Amath Faye (8.00m).
Rwanda celebrated one of the most emotional moments of the championships as Emeline Imanizabayo claimed her country&rsquo;s first-ever gold medal at the African Championships. She won the women&rsquo;s 5000m in 15:46.62 to finish ahead of Djibouti&rsquo;s Samiya Hassan, who finished in 15:47.05 for silver, an upgrade from her bronze medal from Douala two years ago. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ziyn Ayelegn placed third.
Kenya also made history in the men&rsquo;s 10,000m, with Kelvin Chesang ending the nation&rsquo;s 14-year wait for gold in the event, crossing in 28:30.44. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Hagos Eyob Gared took silver in 28:30.57, while Kenyan champion Silas Senchura added bronze (28:32.66).
Ethiopia responded in the men&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase, where Gemechu Godana ran a commanding race to win gold in 8:38.37, beating Salah Eddine Ben Yazide of Morocco to the title. Samuel Firew Fiche completed the podium in 8:41.67.
World record-holder Tobi Amusan reclaimed her title in the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles &ndash; her third at the African Championships &ndash; leading a Nigerian podium sweep in 12.83 ahead of Ashley Miller (13.24) and Adaobi Tabugbo (13.26).
In the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, Botswana&rsquo;s Kemorena Tisang took gold in 48.66 ahead of teammate Victor Ntweng (49.21). South Africa&rsquo;s Wenich Van Resburg was third in 49.35.
Nigeria dominated the mixed 4x400m as the quartet of Ezekiel Asuquo, Toheebat Jimoh, Victor Sampson and Patience Okon-George stopped the clock at 3:16.41, holding off Botswana (3:17.88) and Kenya (3:17.94).
Elsewhere, Nikiema N&eacute;mata led a memorable 1-2 finish for Burkina Faso in the women&rsquo;s long jump, jumping a lifetime best of 6.76m to edge compatriot Marthe Koala by just one centimetre. Nora Atim Monie won the women&rsquo;s discus &ndash; a first for Cameroon &ndash; with 57.00m.
Yemi Galadima for World Athletics

The opening three days of the African Championships in Accra have delivered historic breakthroughs and thrilling finishes

Historic firsts define opening days of African Championships in Accra

Olympic champions Noah Lyles, Rai Benjamin and Haruka Kitaguchi will be among the headline acts at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix when the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting returns to Tokyo&rsquo;s National Stadium on Sunday (17).
For many of the leading athletes in action, the meeting offers an early-season opportunity to return to the venue that staged last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships. For others, it will be a chance to build on strong starts to 2026.
Lyles will contest his first 100m of the season, returning to the stadium where he won his first Olympic medal five years ago. Now a four-time world 200m champion and Olympic 100m champion, the US sprinter opened his outdoor campaign in Gainesville last month with a 19.91 run over 200m and a 37.78 victory in the 4x100m.
He will be joined by Canada&rsquo;s Jerome Blake, the Olympic 4x100m champion who opened his individual season with a PB of 9.93. Blake will be looking to make amends after pulling up with cramp at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone earlier this month.
The home challenge includes Ryota Yamagata, the Japanese 100m record-holder with 9.95 and a member of the nation&rsquo;s 2016 Olympic silver medal-winning 4x100m team, while 17-year-old Sorato Shimizu will make his first appearance of the year. Shimizu set a world U18 best of 10.00 last year and will now test himself against one of the strongest fields of his young career.
The men&rsquo;s 200m features another strong US contingent. Courtney Lindsey, the world 4x100m champion with a 19.71 PB, is set for his first 200m of the year after clocking 10.02 for 100m last month. He represented the USA in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at last year&rsquo;s World Championships.
He will face Jordan Anthony, the world indoor 60m champion, who has already run a 100m PB of 9.91 and a season&rsquo;s best of 20.07 for 200m this year.
Benjamin, the world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion, contests the 400m flat for his first race of 2026. The US athlete, who has a 400m PB of 44.21, hasn&rsquo;t raced since last year&rsquo;s World Championships.
He faces Zambia&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga, who has a PB of 43.74 and recently ran 44.55 to finish second at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Nairobi last month. More recently, Samukonga clocked 31.38 over 300m in Pretoria, moving to sixth on the world all-time list.
Japan&rsquo;s Yuki Joseph Nakajima, sixth at last year&rsquo;s World Championships and the national record-holder, will also line up, as will Australia&rsquo;s Reece Holder, fresh from helping his national team break the Oceanian 4x400m record at the World Relays with a 43.12 split. USA&rsquo;s Vernon Norwood adds further depth to the field.
The women&rsquo;s 400m includes two-time world 4x400m champion Britton Wilson, who has a PB of 49.13 and ran 50.66 indoors earlier this year. This will be her first outdoor 400m of the season.
Bailey Lear arrives after helping the USA to victory in the mixed 4x400m at the World Relays and has a season&rsquo;s best of 51.03. Britain&rsquo;s Yemi Mary John, a world and Olympic relay medallist, will also contest her first outdoor 400m of the year after running some strong relay legs in Gaborone.
<h2>Field event stars return to world stage</h2>
Few athletes will command more home support than Kitaguchi. Japan&rsquo;s Olympic javelin champion and 2023 world champion returns to one of the biggest stages in Japanese athletics as she makes her first appearance since last year&rsquo;s World Championships.
Ecuador&rsquo;s Juleisy Angulo, the surprise world champion in Tokyo last year, also makes her first competition appearance since that global triumph.
They are joined by Colombia&rsquo;s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, the 2023 world silver medallist, who opened her season with 61.76m last month, and Greece&rsquo;s Elina Tzengko, the Diamond League Final winner and world-ranked No.1, who began her season in March with 58.21m.
The men&rsquo;s javelin features the current world leader, Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka. He threw 89.37m earlier this year and surpassed 89 metres again in Nairobi. Undefeated in four competitions so far this season, the 2025 World Championships seventh-place finisher will aim to extend that winning run in Tokyo.
Czechia&rsquo;s Jakub Vadlejch, a four-time global medallist, three-time Diamond League champion and meeting record-holder, opens his season after an injury-restricted 2025 campaign. Brazil&rsquo;s Luiz Mauricio da Silva, the South American record-holder with 91.00m last year, has an 82.62m season&rsquo;s best.
In the men&rsquo;s high jump, Korea&rsquo;s Woo Sanghyeok, the world silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion, takes on Olympic silver medallist Shelby McEwen of the USA.
<h2>Muratake leads home hopes in hurdles</h2>
Rachid Muratake will be one of the main home hopes on the track. The Japanese 110m hurdles record-holder, Asian champion and 12.92 performer finished fifth at both the 2024 Olympics and last year&rsquo;s World Championships. Last weekend he opened his season with 13.05, the second-fastest time of his career.
He will face USA&rsquo;s Freddie Crittenden, a world and Olympic finalist with a PB of 12.93, and Japan&rsquo;s Shunsuke Izumiya, a 2023 world finalist.
In the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles, Alia Armstrong brings strong credentials to the field. The US indoor champion, who finished fourth at the 2022 World Championships, has a PB of 12.32. Jamaica&rsquo;s NACAC champion Amoi Brown and Japanese record-holder Maku Fukube are also in the line-up.
The men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles features a clash between USA&rsquo;s Chris Robinson and Japan&rsquo;s Ken Toyoda, while the middle-distance races will offer further home interest.
Australia&rsquo;s Jude Thomas, who set a meeting record over 3000m last year, returns to contest the men&rsquo;s 1500m. In the women&rsquo;s 1500m, Japan&rsquo;s Nozomi Tanaka takes on USA&rsquo;s Shelby Houlihan.

SEIKO Golden Grand Prix

Olympic champions Noah Lyles, Rai Benjamin and Haruka Kitaguchi will be among the headline acts at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix

Lyles, Benjamin and Kitaguchi return to Tokyo for Seiko Golden Grand Prix

Many Olympic and world champions will get their Wanda Diamond League seasons under way when the first event of the 2026 series takes place in Shanghai/Keqiao on Saturday (16).
World record-holders Faith Kipyegon, Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm will be joined by fellow global gold medallists such as Shericka Jackson, Cordell Tinch, Letsile Tebogo, Ditaji Kambundji and Daniel St&aring;hl as the sport&rsquo;s leading stars look to make some early season statements.
Sprint showdowns, distance duels and fierce field clashes will set the tone for the season, which features 14 Diamond League meetings before the two-day final in Brussels in September.
Multiple global medallists will collide in the women&rsquo;s 200m. Jamaica&rsquo;s two-time world 200m champion Jackson and USA&rsquo;s world and Olympic 100m medallist Sha'Carri Richardson both contest their first half-lap races of the year, lining up alongside world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt, two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, last year&rsquo;s winner Anavia Battle and Jenna Prandini, who has already clocked 10.97 for 100m and 22.36 for 200m this season.
Olympic 200m champion Tebogo races the 100m, fresh from forming part of Botswana&rsquo;s victorious 4x400m team on home soil at the World Athletics Relays. The field is stacked with sub-10.00 sprinters including two-time Olympic and world 200m medallist Kenny Bednarek, two-time world 100m bronze medallist Trayvon Bromell, South African record-holder Akani Simbine and Lachlan Kennedy, who ran 9.96 to win the Australian title last month.
The women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles stars a clash between the past four global outdoor champions &ndash; Kambundji, Masai Russell, Danielle Williams and world record-holder Tobi Amusan &ndash; and the athlete who has won the past three world indoor 60m hurdles titles: Devynne Charlton.&nbsp;
Tinch stormed into the spotlight in Shanghai last year, clocking 12.87 to move to fourth on the world 110m hurdles all-time list. He returns as the world champion and Diamond League champion, ready for a rematch against Olympic silver medallist Orlando Bennett and Japanese record-holder Rachid Muratake, who clocked 12.92 in 2025.
After winning the 400m hurdles in Shanghai last year, three-time world gold medallist Warholm returns to race the 300m hurdles &ndash; an event for which he owns the world best of 32.67. He races for the first time since the World Championships in Tokyo, where he finished fifth, and he&rsquo;s not easing himself in gently as he faces 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos, 2023 world silver medallist Kyron McMaster and 2022 world bronze medallist Trevor Bassitt.
<h2>Duplantis and Kipyegon make season debuts</h2>
Swedish pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis competed three times during the indoor season &ndash; his performances including another world record &ndash; 6.31m &ndash; and another world indoor title win. Now he opens his outdoor season &ndash; the start of a campaign that he hopes will end with another crown from the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September.
He might not have things all his own way this year, however. In Shanghai he faces Emmanouil Karalis, who moved to second on the world all-time list with a 6.17m clearance in February, as well as two-time world champion Sam Kendricks and two-time world bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall.
Kenya&rsquo;s Faith Kipyegon makes her season opener in the non-Diamond League 5000m &ndash; the event in which she won world gold in 2023 as part of a 1500m and 5000m double. Since then, she has added another world 1500m title and another Olympic 1500m crown to her haul, which now stands at three Olympic and five world titles.
She ran a world 1500m record of 3:48.68 during the Diamond League meeting in Eugene last year and will want to make her mark in the 5000m again after running 14:05.20 &ndash; a since-improved world record &ndash; in Paris in 2023. Her competition this time includes two-time world U20 champion Medina Eisa, two-time world U20 cross-country champion Marta Alemayo and Hirut Meshesha.
Jess Hull got Olympic silver and world bronze behind Kipyegon in Paris and Tokyo, and the Australian races that distance in Shanghai against the athlete who got world silver between them &ndash; Dorcus Ewoi. Olympic 800m silver medallist Tsige Duguma makes her outdoor 1500m debut.
Kenya&rsquo;s 2019 world 1500m champion Timothy Cheruiyot steps up to contest the 3000m against his compatriots Jacob Krop, Edwin Kurgat and Reynold Cheruiyot, the world 1500m bronze medallist. World 10,000m bronze medallist Andreas Almgren adds further strength to the field.
The men&rsquo;s 800m includes three sub-1:43 runners in Wycliffe Kinyamal, Ben Pattison and Peter Bol, while the women&rsquo;s 400m pits Salwa Eid Naser against Nickisha Pryce and two-time world bronze medallist Sada Williams.
Three global gold medallist race in the 3000m steeplechase as world champion Faith Cherotich faces 2022 world champion Norah Jeruto and Tokyo Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai.
There will be a clash of titans in the men&rsquo;s discus as the in-form Matt Denny and Steven Richter go up against three-time world champion Daniel St&aring;hl, Olympic champion Roj&eacute; Stona, 2022 world champion Kristjan Čeh and world bronze medallist Alex Rose. Denny and Richter both threw 74 metres in Ramona last month.
A host of global gold medallists are in shot put action, too. Two-time world outdoor champion Chase Jackson won her first world indoor title in Poland in March ahead of two-time champion Sarah Mitton and they renew their rivalry against world champion Jessica Schilder and Olympic champion Yemisi Mabry (n&eacute;e Ogunleye).
Lex Brown will want to continue her strong form in the long jump after leaping 7.07m last month &ndash; one centimetre farther than the PB Larissa Iapichino set last year. They both compete in Shanghai against world bronze medallist Natalia Linares and 2025 world indoor champion Claire Bryant.
World champion Mattia Furlani leads the non-Diamond League men&rsquo;s long jump field as he takes on world indoor bronze medallist Bozhidar Sar&acirc;boyukov, Tajay Gayle, Wayne Pinnock and home favourite Shi Yuhao, world bronze medallist last year in Tokyo.
&nbsp;

Many Olympic and world champions will get their Wanda Diamond League seasons under way when the first event of the 2026 series takes place in Shanghai/Keqiao

Global stars in Shanghai for start of Diamond League season

World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that World Athletics Council Member Hamad Kalkaba Malboum died on Wednesday (13) at the age of 75.
As well as serving on the World Athletics Council since 2007, Kalkaba Malboum was President of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) for more than two decades.
&ldquo;I have known Hamad Kalkaba Malboum for the best part of 20 years, first meeting him in Mombasa at the World Cross Country Championships in 2007,&rdquo; said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
&ldquo;The character of a man is often shaped early in his life, and this was indeed true of Hamad. He has always been a private and dignified man &ndash; a family man, a sportsman, a military man, a businessman and a musician. A man who has overcome prejudice by exploring the opportunities presented to him and the world around him and by working quietly, calmly and diligently to further himself, his colleagues, his family and whatever mission he was on &ndash; whether that was on the sports track or field, delivering a sporting event, handling military manoeuvres, serving communities, nurturing an orchestra or writing songs and music.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Determination, kindness, excellence and the quiet strength, focus and discipline he has bought to all aspects of his life is how I will remember him best. A man that has always paid homage and respect to his African ancestors, while embracing and accepting global customs and culture quietly, patiently and successfully. He will be missed.&rdquo;
The Cameroonian administrator dedicated his life to athletics and sport. He was born in Kawadji in Cameroon on 11 November 1950 and explored his passions for both sport and music while at school.
His own athletics career saw him focus on the 100m, 200m and long jump, and he was a member of the national 4x100m team between 1970 and 1974.
Kalkaba Malboum then turned his attention to administration and was a leading figure in developing national sports federations in his home country. He became President of the Cameroon Handball Federation in 1976, the same year he first served as Director of Military Sport at the Ministry of Defence of Cameroon.
He was President of the Cameroon Athletics Federation from 1993 to 2001, previously serving as Vice President from 1989.
At the time of his death, as well as being a World Athletics Council Member and CAA President, Kalkaba Malboum was President of the Cameroon National Olympic and Sports Committee, a Member of the IOC Sport and Environment Commission, a Member of the Board of the IOC Olympic Truce Foundation, and Senior Vice President of the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation.
World Athletics

Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, 1950-2026

World Athletics Council Member Kalkaba Malboum dies

The World Athletics Ultimate Championship features three nights of finals showcasing the greatest athletes on the planet in their quest to be crowned the champion of champions.&nbsp;
In a new four-part series, we look at some of the key battles brewing ahead of the global gathering in Budapest on 11-13 September. First up, it&rsquo;s the men&rsquo;s track. 
<h3>100m</h3>
Competition will be fierce in the fight to become the sprint king in Budapest. As ever, there&rsquo;s no shortage of contenders for the US$150,000 top prize in an event that often brings the biggest pre-championship buzz.
Oblique Seville won world gold in Tokyo in 9.77 and, last year, was only bettered in pace terms by his Jamaican compatriot Kishane Thompson (9.75), who had to make do with the silver medal.
Third was USA&rsquo;s Noah Lyles, the Olympic champion whose early part to the season was hampered by injury. So far in 2026 that hasn&rsquo;t been the case, and, like Thompson, he tested himself over 60m indoors, the pair clocking bests of 6.46 and 6.51, respectively.
Further afield, excitement is building over the future of Australian Gout Gout, who only turned 18 at the end of last year and has already run 10 seconds flat this year. Talking of newcomers, the new world indoor champion Jordan Anthony will also be looking to transfer that speed outdoors. 
<h3>400m</h3>
Botswana&rsquo;s Collen Kebinatshipi is not a man lacking in confidence. After winning the world title in a thrilling final in Japan, he immediately shifted his sights to Wayde van Niekerk&rsquo;s world record of 43.03.
The 22-year-old would dearly love to shatter that with the world watching the September showcase. The double world champion &ndash; he also sealed gold in the 4x400m &ndash; still has half a second to claw back and he would also have some of the best one-lap runners in the world trying to hunt him down.
Breathing down his neck between now and the Ultimate Championship will be Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Jereem Richards, who was two tenths of a second behind him in the world final, as well as his Botswana compatriot Bayapo Ndori, who came away with the bronze.&nbsp;
The US contingent has promised to hit back with a vengeance come the Budapest clash, while Britain&rsquo;s Matt Hudson-Smith and South African Zakithi Nene, the world&rsquo;s fastest man prior to Tokyo, should again be among the forces to be reckoned with. 
<h3>400m hurdles</h3>
We&rsquo;re in the golden age for the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles. Fans will be eager to find out if world record-holder Karsten Warholm can bounce back to clinch the title. The rebuild is on early in 2026 for the Lego obsessive after the fastest man in the world last year could only finish fifth in the World Championships final.
And what a final it ended up being, with USA&rsquo;s Rai Benjamin winning gold in a season&rsquo;s best. But it was not without drama. Declared the winner, he was then disqualified before being reinstated moments later.
He and Warholm should be duelling again for yet another season but there are no shortage of suitors lining up to catch them along the banks the Danube, notably Brazilian Alison dos Santos, Abderrahman Samba of Qatar and Nigeria&rsquo;s Ezekiel Nathaniel.

World Athletics Ultimate Championship

A look at the key head to heads for men's track in the build-up to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest 26

Ultimate clashes: men’s track

Global champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Cordell Tinch will be among the athletes in action at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial when the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting returns to Zagreb on 24-26 June.
The event begins with the Zagreb City Challenge, held next to the Zagreb Fountains. There, Ukraine&rsquo;s Mahuchikh will headline a high jump field also featuring home star Jana Ko&scaron;čak.
Olympic champion Mahuchikh, who cleared a world record of 2.10m in 2024, had a great start to her year as she regained the world indoor title in Poland in March.
She will compete in Zagreb for the first time and Croatia&rsquo;s world U20 heptathlon champion Ko&scaron;čak is looking forward to facing her on home soil.
&ldquo;This will be my first time competing with Yaroslava and I hope it will be a positive experience, that she will push me to a good result,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old.
The Ivan Ivančić Memorial will take place at the same location the following day, when USA&rsquo;s two-time world champion Joe Kovacs will take on New Zealand&rsquo;s multiple world gold medallist Tom Walsh in the shot put.
Like Mahuchikh, Walsh impressed during the indoor season &ndash; winning a fourth gold and his seventh medal at the World Indoor Championships.
The Mladost Sports Park will then welcome athletes on the 26 June, when USA&rsquo;s world 110m hurdles champion Tinch is sure to attack the meeting record of 12.98, which has stood since 1999.
Tinch clocked 12.87 last year &ndash; a time that places him joint fourth on the world all-time list.
The men's long jump will feature world U20 champion Roko Farka&scaron;, while world indoor fifth-place finisher Marino Bloudek will line up for the 800m.
&nbsp;

Global champions Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Cordell Tinch will be among the athletes in action at the Boris Hanžeković Memorial

Mahuchikh and Tinch set for Zagreb

After running a world record of 1:59:30 in London, Sabastian Sawe has confirmed that he will return to the BMW Berlin Marathon to defend his title at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on 27 September.
With that performance in London last month, the Kenyan 31-year-old became the first athlete to officially break two hours for the marathon &ndash; taking 65 seconds off the previous world record set by the late Kelvin Kiptum in Chicago in 2023 and surpassing Eliud Kipchoge&rsquo;s 1:59:41 exhibition performance from 2019.
It was Sawe&rsquo;s first race since winning the Berlin Marathon in September in 2:02:16 &ndash; which was then the second-fastest marathon of his career behind the 2:02:05 he ran in Valencia in 2024.
&ldquo;I am very happy to return to the BMW Berlin Marathon this year and to defend my title,&rdquo; Sawe told event organisers.
&ldquo;Many people may be wondering what my goals are this time. After coming off my win in London and sub-2 performance, I can only say that, like always, I plan to prepare myself to the best of my ability and to come to Berlin to honour this great event and organisation which has invited me, and to run as well and fast as possible. Then, on the day, we will see what will happen.&rdquo;
Berlin is one of the fastest marathons in the world &ndash; eight consecutive men&rsquo;s world records were set there between 2003 and 2022. The course record is Kipchoge&rsquo;s 2:01:09, run in 2022.
Sawe is unbeaten in his marathon career so far. The 2:02:05 he ran to win in Valencia in 2024 came on his marathon debut and he followed it with 2:02:27 to win in London the following April, 2:02:16 to win in Berlin and then 1:59:30 to retain his title in London. On a landmark day for marathon running, Yomif Kejelcha finished second in 1:59:41 &ndash; the second-fastest time in history and the fastest marathon debut ever &ndash; and Jacob Kiplimo joined them in finishing inside the previous world record, placing third in 2:00:28. Tigst Assefa also successfully defended her title, improving her own women-only world record to 2:15:41.

Sabastian Sawe has confirmed that he will return to the BMW Berlin Marathon to defend his title at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race

World record-holder Sawe to defend Berlin Marathon crown

Brian Pintado, Hayato Katsuki and Alegna Gonz&aacute;lez headline the Grande Pr&eacute;mio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha &ndash; a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting &ndash; in Rio Maior, Portugal, on Saturday (16).
On top of that, Perseus Karlstr&ouml;m is set to race the half marathon twice in eight days following the global medallist&rsquo;s 12th place at the Poděbrady Gold Tour race last week.
Also heading south from the Czechia spa town is Glenda Morej&oacute;n. Ecuador&rsquo;s Olympic marathon mixed relay silver medallist recorded a modest 1:37:54 for 11th place in Poděbrady, but it was her first race of the year. She will surely expect to build on that.
Just as intriguing is the entry from her teammate Pintado.
The man who reigned supreme at the Paris Olympics in the 20km lined up in Poděbrady for the park course but barely completed a 1km lap before stepping to one side.
His social media post says he is in week 11 of 127 towards the next Olympics in Los Angeles following hip surgery last year, so maybe this is another tentative toe in competitive waters as he bids to regain form.
By contrast, Katsuki is in excellent shape.
The Japanese athlete, who claimed world 35km bronze in Tokyo and won the marathon at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Bras&iacute;lia last month, sits eighth on the world all-time list following his 1:22:06 at his country&rsquo;s half marathon championships in February.
Even then, it was good only for sixth in a race that brought an inaugural world record for Toshikazu Yamanishi &ndash; 1:20:34.
But Katsuki&rsquo;s mark is nearly two minutes better than anyone else&rsquo;s at Rio Maior.
Next best is Karlstr&ouml;m, who race walked 1:24:58 at the Dudinska 50 in March, a time that was good enough to win. The popular Swede is a keen racer, but he was a tired finisher in Poděbrady.
He has hands full to beat Katsuki, and maybe C&eacute;sar Rodr&iacute;guez, who has raced sparingly since he set a Peruvian 20km record of 1:18:23 in La Coru&ntilde;a two years ago but clearly has the pedigree needed to go with the leaders.
Like Pintado, Mexico&rsquo;s Noel Chama was a non-finisher in Poděbrady but he went into the race having clocked 1:27:28 to win at the USATF Championships in January.
Uzbekistan&rsquo;s Rasulbek Dilmurodov is also one to watch. He recorded 1:25:31 to get bronze at the Asian Championships in March and a place on the podium in Portugal likewise beckons.
The women&rsquo;s race sees a half marathon debut for Alegna Gonz&aacute;lez.
The Mexican world 20km silver medallist set an area record of 1:26:06 in Tokyo and on paper is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the field.
Viviane Lyra race walked 1:41:24 at the Gold Tour event in Taicang at the beginning of March and was fifth, in 3:34:53, on home soil for the full marathon at the World Race Walking Team Championships.
Antigoni Ntrismpioti also lines up for her first race of the year. The Greek athlete won double gold at the European Championships in 2022, as well as bronze at the 2023 World Championships, and celebrated her 42nd birthday in March. She knows all about racing the best in Tour events.
A fifth Poděbrady racer is also keen to give it a second shot in the same week: Valeria Ortu&ntilde;o. The Mexican&rsquo;s 1:41:58 suggests the battle for third place behind Gonz&aacute;lez and Morej&oacute;n should be competitive.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics

Brian Pintado, Hayato Katsuki and Alegna González headline the Grande Prémio Internacional de Rio Maior em Marcha

Pintado, Katsuki and González lead fields for Rio Maior

World U20 silver medallists Gout Gout and Izobelle Louison-Roe have been named on Australia&rsquo;s team for the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 on 5-9 August.
With 75 athletes selected, it is set to be&nbsp;Australia&rsquo;s biggest team in the history of the global U20 event.
Gout secured 200m silver in Lima in 2024 and has gone on to become a world U20 record-breaker in the discipline, clocking 19.67 in Sydney in April.
The 18-year-old is entered for the 200m and the 4x400m in Oregon.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited to get out there at World Athletics U20s in Eugene, Oregon,&rdquo; Gout told Australian Athletics.
&ldquo;I know it&rsquo;s a great stadium and place to run fast, and I feel confident I&rsquo;ll be ready to step up and make Australia proud. I&rsquo;ll be competing in the 200m but I&rsquo;m also excited to join in the 4x400m on the last day.&rdquo;
Louison-Roe&nbsp;also claimed silver in Lima, in the high jump. The 18-year-old, who cleared a PB of 1.95m in January and matched that mark in March, is entered for both the high jump and the triple jump and will decide which event she will contest closer to the competition.
Mason McGroder claimed long jump bronze in Lima and the 17-year-old also returns to the global stage.
Isaac Beacroft is another major medallist on the team. The 18-year-old won the U20 10km race walk at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Antalya in 2024 and finished second in this year&rsquo;s event in Bras&iacute;lia. He also has experience of competing at the World U20 Championships as he finished fourth in the 10,000m race walk in Lima two years ago. In Oregon he will contest the 5000m race walk.
<h3>Australian team for Oregon:</h3>
WOMEN 100m:&nbsp;Zara Hagan, Maya Taber 200m: Zara Hagan, Amaya Mearns 400m: Alice Hill, Shari Hurdman 800m: Ivy Boothroyd,&nbsp;Emma Fryga 1500m: Mia Gray, Milla Roberts 3000m: Imogen Baker, Eliza Lawton 5000m: Imogen Baker, Libby Mantay 3000m steeplechase: Helena Butler, Tessa Ebert 100m hurdles: Jamison Harding, Tammin Lampret 400m hurdles: Shakira Harding, Maiya Hewitt 5000m race walk: Sophie Polkinghorne, Zoe Woods High jump: Izobelle Louison-Roe Pole vault: Jamison Harding, Rangi Khushnoor Long jump: Geena Davy Triple jump: Izobelle Louison-Roe Shot put: Manaia Coulter, Lauren Kelly Discus: Riley-Jay Henry-Purcell, Chelsy Wayne Heptathlon: Bailey Van Den Broek, Isabella Wing 4x100m: Grace Crowe,&nbsp;Mackenzie Estlick, Zara Hagan, Amaya Mearns, Leah O&rsquo;Brien, Thewbelle Philp,&nbsp;Emilia Reed,&nbsp;Maya Taber 4x400m: Samara Bond,&nbsp; Alice Hill, Shari Hurdman, Naomi Krajancic, Xanthee Watts, Charlotte McAuliffe
MEN 100m:&nbsp;Uwezo Lubenda, Zavier Peacock 200m: Gout Gout, Zavier Peacock&nbsp; 400m: Chase Grant, Seth Kennedy 800m:&nbsp;Harry Halleen, Daniel Williams 1500m: Alexander Cameron-Smith, Kieran Shepherd 3000m: Charles Barrett, Matthew McLachlan 5000m: Charles Barrett, Lucas Chis 3000m steeplechase: Jonathan Neethling 110m hurdles: Oliver Facer, Harrison Purcell 400m hurdles: Will Tait, Ethan Williams 5000m race walk: Isaac Beacroft, Owen Toyne Long jump: Mason McGroder, Luke Vrataric Triple jump: Lian Anagnostopoulos, Daniel Okerenyang Discus: Elijah Wilson Hammer: Connor Hopgood, Xavier Leauma Decathlon: Xavier Davie, Wyatt Hill 4x100m: Paul Ehioghae, Kelechi Ekwomadu, Dylan Hall, Josiah John, Hugh Kabengele, Uwezo Lubenda, Zavier Peacock 4x400m: Gout Gout, Chase Grant, Fred Hamblin, Seth Kennedy, Dashiell Muir, Dylan Ruming, Terrell Thorne

World Athletics U20 Championships

Gout Gout and Izobelle Louison-Roe have been named on Australia’s team for the World Athletics U20 Championships Oregon 26 on 5-9 August.

World U20 medallists Gout and Louison-Roe lead Australian team for Oregon

When war broke out in South Sudan in 2011, seven-year-old Kun Waar Liem fled to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in northeastern Kenya while his parents escaped to Ethiopia. He has not seen them since.
"We were in different places then, and survival came first. So we split. My parents and siblings went to Ethiopia. My elder sister and I came to Kenya."
He didn't know it yet, but years later, the refugee camp that once offered safety also became the starting block to his athletics career.
Kun, a 200m runner, is among the five athletes who will represent the Athlete Refugee Team (ART), an initiative of World Athletics, at the African Championships in Accra, Ghana, from 12-17 May.
His teammate, Solomon Okeny, crossed over to Kenya in 2010 with his mother and five siblings to Kakuma Refugee Camp. He initially started with football, playing for Kakuma United, but he got into running by chance.
"I saw a race where winners got water and glucose,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In Kakuma&rsquo;s heat, that was enough. I joined and that&rsquo;s how I discovered I could run."
The duo trains in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, under Duncan Ayiemba, who also coaches Africa's fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala.
"He (Omanyala) mentors us a lot on how to progress in sprinting," says Kun. "When we are in training, we just try to catch up with him, and that's how we gain."
Okeny, who is a staunch fan of 400m world record-holder Wayde Van Niekerk, supports his sisters in Kakuma, by paying their school fees through his allowances and by teaching yoga, a skill he has learned over time.
"I left school to take care of my sisters,&rdquo; says Okeny. &ldquo;When free education ended in Kakuma and fees were introduced, I worried they might be pushed into early marriage. So I chose to lift them up through education. I'll go back to school this year."
While the sprinters train in Nairobi, the middle and long-distance teams are based in Kaptagat, approximately 300 kilometres northwest of Kenya's capital. The team is trained by 2007 world 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei.
Like Kun and Okeny, Abdifatah Aden Hassan is preparing for his first major race outside Kenya, but the 1500m specialist is still unsure of the whereabouts of his parents. Hassan fled his home country, Ethiopia, in 2009, and he thinks his parents are still there.
"When the war started, people scattered. I went with the nearest relatives I could find, and we ended up in Dadaab Refugee Camp. I&rsquo;ve been searching for my parents ever since, but I haven&rsquo;t been successful yet."
He found his sister in Dadaab and grew up in the refugee camp. Hassan&rsquo;s talent was spotted through the IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship programme and the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation.
"We are refugees by name, not by choice,&rdquo; says Hassan. &ldquo;Let's live like others and work towards our goals; my dream for Accra is to be the best version of myself."
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64f5c2e03e15ad537cf367a3.jpg" alt="Perina Lokure Nakang at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23" />
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Perina Lokure Nakang at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
</div>
For Lokoro Dario (men's 5000m) and Perina Nakang (women's 800m), the African Championships won't be their first major international outing. South Sudan's Dario competed at the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24 and is hoping for a better outing in Ghana.
"I ran the 3000m in Peru, but I will be competing in the 5000m in Ghana,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I ran 16:13 in the Athletics Kenya trials, and my target now is to lower it."
Nakang, also a native of South Sudan, remembers how her aunt grabbed her in the middle of one night in 2010 after the war broke out. They fled to Kakuma and were only reunited with her mother six years later.
She is the most experienced in the group, having competed in two World Athletics Championships and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and is now ready to make her continental debut.
"The training has been going well,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I am just fine-tuning a few things. It helps to have a world champion as a coach, and I am hoping to lower my personal best in Accra."
Susan Nakiro is also part of the team in Kaptagat, but an injury ruled her out of the African Championships, which has only deepened her resolve to fight through another challenge in life.
In 2017, her parents left Nakiro, who is the eldest, and her five siblings at their home in Lauru, South Sudan, to work at a nearby mining site when war broke out.
"When the gunshots went off, it was scary, and I didn't know what was going on. I gathered my siblings, and I followed the fleeing villagers. The first few nights, we slept in the forest until we reached what I came to know as Kakuma Refugee Camp."
She found her aunt in Kakuma, but the harsh living conditions there meant that she had to fend for her siblings, which practically made her the head of the family at 14 years old.
In 2025, she was picked to join the group after she emerged second in the 200m, before she was later advised to switch to 1500m.
Her siblings are still in Kakuma, but she can now pay for their rent and food with the allowances she gets while in camp.
As they prepare to line up in Accra, the members of the Athlete Refugee Team do so with different stories, different targets and different distances to cover. But each arrives with the same purpose: to make the most of an opportunity earned through talent, resilience and the belief that their circumstances do not define the limits of their ambitions.
Martin Moses for World Athletics

When war broke out in South Sudan in 2011, seven-year-old Kun Waar Liem fled to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in northeastern Kenya

Broeders-Bol returns to Ostrava for outdoor 800m debut

Athlete Refugee Team members gain valuable experience in Accra

Zimbabwe win 4x400m, Yego claims sixth javelin title on final day of African Championships

Lyles helps to light up Tokyo with 100m win at Seiko Golden Grand Prix

Relay breakthroughs and surprise performances at African Championships in Accra