Noah Lyles wins the 200m at the New York Grand Prix (© Kevin Morris)
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’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’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’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’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’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’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’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’t raced since last year’s World Championships.
He faces Zambia’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’s Yuki Joseph Nakajima, sixth at last year’s World Championships and the national record-holder, will also line up, as will Australia’s Reece Holder, fresh from helping his national team break the Oceanian 4x400m record at the World Relays with a 43.12 split. USA’s Vernon Norwood adds further depth to the field.
The women’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’s best of 51.03. Britain’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.
Field event stars return to world stage
Few athletes will command more home support than Kitaguchi. Japan’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’s World Championships.
Ecuador’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’s Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, the 2023 world silver medallist, who opened her season with 61.76m last month, and Greece’s Elina Tzengko, the Diamond League Final winner and world-ranked No.1, who began her season in March with 58.21m.
The men’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’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’s Luiz Mauricio da Silva, the South American record-holder with 91.00m last year, has an 82.62m season’s best.
In the men’s high jump, Korea’s Woo Sanghyeok, the world silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion, takes on Olympic silver medallist Shelby McEwen of the USA.
Muratake leads home hopes in hurdles
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’s World Championships. Last weekend he opened his season with 13.05, the second-fastest time of his career.
He will face USA’s Freddie Crittenden, a world and Olympic finalist with a PB of 12.93, and Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya, a 2023 world finalist.
In the women’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’s NACAC champion Amoi Brown and Japanese record-holder Maku Fukube are also in the line-up.
The men’s 400m hurdles features a clash between USA’s Chris Robinson and Japan’s Ken Toyoda, while the middle-distance races will offer further home interest.
Australia’s Jude Thomas, who set a meeting record over 3000m last year, returns to contest the men’s 1500m. In the women’s 1500m, Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka takes on USA’s Shelby Houlihan.
