As the year draws to a close, we look back at the key moments of 2025 in each area of the sport.
The series began with a review of the sprints and continues with a review of the middle and long distance events – the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m. It will be followed over the coming days by reviews of all the other event groups.
World Championships: Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) 1:41.86 World Indoor Championships: Josh Hoey (USA) 1:44.77 Wanda Diamond League: Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) 1:42.37 South American Championships: Eduardo Ribeiro (BRA) 1:50.46 Asian Championships: Ebrahim Alzofairi (KUW) 1:44.59 NACAC Championships: Handal Roban (VIN) 1:42.87
Season snapshot
Emmanuel Wanyonyi strengthened his reputation as the current king of the two-lap with back-to-back global outdoor titles. The Olympic champion secured the world crown in Tokyo with a championship record of 1:41.86, upgrading from silver in Budapest in 2023. That achievement, along with his world lead of 1:41.44 and Diamond League title, earned the 21-year-old the World Athletics Male Track Athlete of the Year award.
Djamel Sedjati settled for silver, while defending champion Marco Arop claimed bronze. It was similar to the 2022 World Championships podium, only this time the winner was a different Emmanuel after Wanyonyi’s compatriot Korir won in Oregon. It was also a repeat of the Paris Olympic podium, but Sedjati and Arop switched the medals and their positions on the season top list. The top six finishers beat the previous championship record of 1:42.34 and it was the first time that eight men finished inside 1:43 in a single race. The performances included national records for Ireland and Jamaica.
Josh Hoey, undefeated indoors, took the world indoor title in 1:44.77. Hoey, who defeated Wanyonyi to win at the Lausanne Diamond League, ends the year ranked fourth, while Max Burgin rounds off the top five. Handal Roban won a first ever gold medal for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines at the North Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Championships, securing the title in a national record.
Wanyonyi set the world-leading time of 1:41.44 in Monaco and won in Stockholm, London and the final in Zurich, where he retained his Diamond trophy. Four of the top six performances (1:41.44, 1:41.86, 1:41.95 and 1:42.00) this year are his.
Seventeen men ran under 1:43 in 2025, five more than last year. The top 10 in the world ranking is diverse, with eight countries represented.
World Championships: Lilian Odira (KEN) 1:54.62 World Indoor Championships: Prudence Sekgodiso (RSA) 1:58.40 Wanda Diamond League: Audrey Werro (SUI) 1:55.91 South American Championships: Déborah Rodríguez (URU) 2:04.70 Asian Championships: Wu Hongjiao (CHN) 2:00.08 NACAC Championships: Nia Akins (USA) 1:59.75
Season snapshot
A debutant at the World Championships, Lilian Odira was not on the medal contender list, but the Kenyan flipped the script when she claimed her first global title. Clocking 1:54.62, the 26-year-old broke the 42-year-old championship record of 1:54.68 set by Jarmila Kratochvílova and shaved almost two seconds off her personal best, breaking into the all-time top 10 at No.7.
Placing second behind Odira was Georgia Hunter Bell. The Olympic 1500m bronze medallist secured silver in 1:54.90, moving to ninth on the all-time list. Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson took bronze in 1:54.91. She went into the championships as one of the medal favourites with the quickest time of the season of 1:54.74 from the Silesia Diamond League.
Odira, Hunter Bell and Hodgkinson all ran under 1:55 and for the first time, five women broke 1:56 in a single race.
Prudence Sekgodiso won the world indoor title, setting a national indoor record of 1:58.40 to claim her country’s first women’s world indoor medal, but her quest for a medal in Tokyo ended prematurely from a hamstring injury. Olympic silver medallist Tsige Duguma had a strong Diamond League season with victories in Shanghai/Keqiao, where she ran an Ethiopian record of 1:56.64, as well as Rabat and at the Prefontaine Classic. Audrey Werro secured the Diamond League title in Zurich, setting a Swiss record of 1:55.91.
Odira tops the season list, followed by Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell, who heads the world rankings. Six women ran sub-1:56 – four up on last year – and four of those performances were achieved in Tokyo.
World Championships: Isaac Nader (POR) 3:34.10 World Indoor Championships: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 3:38.79 Wanda Diamond League: Niels Laros (NED) 3:29.20 South American Championships: Diego Lacamoire (ARG) 3:41.34 Asian Championships: Kazuto Iizawa (JPN) 3:42.56 NACAC Championships: Foster Malleck (CAN) 3:37.54
Season snapshot
Isaac Nader burst into the global spotlight when he edged out 2022 world champion Jake Wightman by just two-hundredths of a second to win at the World Championships – one of Portugal’s two gold medals from Tokyo. Before Tokyo, Nader’s biggest win had been the Dream Mile in Oslo in June, where he set a Portuguese record of 3:48.25. The 26-year-old started the championships ranked eighth in the world.
Wightman clocked 3:34.12, as 21-year-old Reynold Cheruiyot won bronze in 3:34.25. There was drama, too, when Olympic champion Cole Hocker was disqualified in the semifinals, defending champion Josh Kerr suffered a calf injury and Jakob Ingebrigtsen exited in the heats.
Since 2017, each global championships has produced a different winner – Elijah Manangoi (2017), Timothy Cheruiyot (2019), Ingebrigtsen (2021), Wightman (2022), Kerr (2023), Hocker (2024), and this year delivered Nader.
This season also saw six different winners of the 1500m and mile on the Diamond League circuit – Jonah Koech (Rabat), Azeddine Habz (Rome), Nader (Oslo), Phanuel Koech (London), Yared Nuguse (Silesia) and 20-year-old Niels Laros, who won in Eugene, Brussels and Zurich and finished fifth in the world final.
Ingebrigtsen won the world indoor 1500m title – becoming just the second man in history to win two gold medals at the same World Indoor Championships after his 3000m victory the day before – but he was absent from the outdoor circuit due to injury, only returning for the World Championships.
Habz went to Tokyo with the world's fastest time of 3:27.49, a French record achieved in Paris. That race produced the top four quickest times of the year. A record 14 men dipped under 3:30 in 2025, with 17 sub-3:30 performances among them. A total of 64 athletes clocked sub-3:33 times, almost double the number (33) that achieved the feat in 2024.
The world all-time top 10 has two new entrants – Habz in sixth and Phanuel Koech in ninth.
World Championships: Faith Kipyegon (KEN) 3:52.15 World Indoor Championships: Gudaf Tsegay (ETH) 3:54.86 Wanda Diamond League: Nelly Chepchirchir (KEN) 3:56.99 SB South American Championships: Micaela Levaggi (ARG) 4:25.99 Asian Championships: Li Chunhui (CHN) 4:10.58 NACAC Championships: Emily Mackay (USA) 4:09.48
Season snapshot
Each season, Faith Kipyegon redefines consistency and excellence. The undisputed queen of middle-distance running extended her global dominance by sealing a historic fourth world title in Tokyo in 3:52.15, the second-fastest winning time in the history of the World Championships. Kipyegon now owns three of the four fastest winning times recorded at the event and is the first woman to win four world titles in the 1500m.
Her compatriot Dorcas Ewoi was rewarded with a silver medal and a PB of 3:54.92 at her first World Championships, achieving a Kenyan 1-2 for the first time in the 1500m. Jess Hull secured bronze in 3:55.16.
Kipyegon had a strong season right from the start as she narrowly missed the world 1000m record in April and then attempted more history in the mile, before she lowered her own world 1500m record to 3:48.68 in July. In August, the three-time Olympic champion came within a second of breaking the 32-year-old 3000m world record.
World 1500m short track record-holder Gudaf Tsegay claimed the 1500m gold at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing with a championship record of 3:54.86, winning her second indoor 1500m title. Nelly Chepchirchir dominated the Diamond League, registering wins in Doha, Rabat, Paris, Monaco and the Zurich final to secure the Diamond trophy. Those performances helped her to top of the world rankings.
The leading two on the season top list remain the same as last year – Kipyegon and Tsegay. Nine women ran under 3:56, while 36 athletes dipped under four minutes – seven fewer than last year. The number of sub-four-minute performances dropped to 93, down from the record 118 last year.
World Championships: Cole Hocker (USA) 12:58.30 World Indoor Championships (3000m): Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 7:46.09 Wanda Diamond League (3000m): Salwa Eid Naser (BRN) 48.70 South American Championships: Martina Weil (CHI) 51.14 Asian Championships: Nanako Matsumoto (JPN) 52.17 NACAC Championships: Nickisha Pryce (JAM) 49.95
Season snapshot
The 2025 season has witnessed a shift and stands as a testament to the rise of distance running beyond East Africa. USA’s Cole Hocker overcame the disappointment of his 1500m disqualification, redeeming himself with 5000m gold in 12:58.30, adding another title to his Olympic 1500m win. Silver went to Belgium’s Isaac Kimeli and bronze to France’s 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier. For the first time since the inaugural edition in 1983, there was no African representative on the podium.
The fastest time of the season is the fastest indoor performance of all time, as USA’s Grant Fisher set a world short track record of 12:44.09 in Boston. Fisher also set a world 3000m short track record of 7:22.91 in New York.
Seven athletes won the Diamond League meetings, with Berihu Aregawi in Shanghai/Keqiao, Reynold Cheruiyot in Doha and Nico Young in Oslo. Andreas Almgren set a European record at home during the Stockholm meeting, Yomif Kejelcha won in Paris and Monaco, Kimeli won in Lausanne and Gressier ran 7:36.78 over 3000m in Zurich to lift the Diamond trophy. He tops the world rankings.
A record 59 sub-13-minute performances were achieved this year by 38 athletes, an improvement on the previous record of 47 by 29 athletes in 2024.
World Championships: Beatrice Chebet (KEN) 14:54.36 World Indoor Championships (3000m): Freweyni Hailu (ETH) 8:37.21 Wanda Diamond League (3000m): Fantaye Belayneh (ETH) 8:40.56 South American Championships: Sheyla Eulogio Paucar (PER) 15:51.27 Asian Championships: Norah Jeruto (KAZ) 14:58.71 NACAC Championships: Anisleidis Ochoa (CUB) 15:35.80
Season snapshot
Mirroring last year, double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet remains unmatched in both speed and medals in the 5000m and 10,000m. She set a 5000m world record before her third attempt at the distance at the World Championships following her silver and bronze in 2022 and 2023. Chebet bagged the gold medal in 14:54.36, just one week after her 10,000m gold – replicating her achievements at the Paris 2024 Olympics. At just 25, Chebet joined the esteemed company of Tirunesh Dibaba (2005) and Vivian Cheruiyot (2011), winning both titles at the same World Athletics Championships.
In a tactical but slow race, Chebet led a Kenyan 1-2 ahead of her close friend and the defending champion Faith Kipyegon, who got silver in her first 5000m race of the season after winning the 1500m. Nadia Battocletti claimed bronze after her 10,000m silver, meaning all three 5000m medallists achieved medal doubles in Tokyo.
In June, Chebet narrowly missed the 5000m world record in Rome, setting the second-fastest time in history of 14:03.69 – a Kenyan record. A month later, she shattered the world record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, timing 13:58.06 to become the first woman to go under 14 minutes in the distance. She is now a world record-holder in the 5000m, 10,000m and 5km on the road.
While Chebet took the top spot on the all-time list, Agnes Ngetich entered the list at No.3 with her 14:01.29 when finishing second to Chebet, while Gudaf Tsegay retained No.2.
Ngetich won the Brussels Diamond League, Faith Kipyegon set a 3000m African record and world-leading time of 8:07.04 in her pursuit of the world record in Silesia, Medina Eisa won in London and Linden Hall the 3000m in Stockholm.
Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu claimed the world indoor 3000m title, while her compatriot Fantaye Belayneh became the Diamond League champion.
A total of 11 athletes went sub-14:30 this season, compared to nine last year.
World Championships: Jimmy Gressier (FRA) 28:55.77 South American Championships: Ignacio Velásquez (CHI) 28:44.81 Asian Championships: Gulveer Singh (IND) 28:38.63
Season snapshot
Jimmy Gressier realised his childhood dream when he stunned the field to win the world 10,000m title in 28:55.77, claiming his maiden major title and France’s first outdoor global title in athletics since 2022. A week later, he added a bronze in the 5000m.
The 28-year-old powered past Yomif Kejelcha on the finish line, Kejelcha crossing close behind in 28:55.83. After setting a European record at 5000m and 10km, Andreas Almgren claimed bronze in 28:56.02. It was the first time since 1987 that two European men made it on to the podium.
As well as claiming the 10,000m title, Gressier set a European indoor 5000m record of 12:54.92 and a French 3000m record of 7:30.18. He followed that with a European 5km record of 12:57 and won the European half marathon title and the Diamond League 3000m title.
Ethiopian athletes had the strongest performances prior to the World Championships. Biniam Mehary, Berihu Aregawi and Selemon Barega sat at the top of the list following their 1-2-3 finish at the Prefontaine Classic, which was dubbed the East African trials, and all three crossed the line inside 26:45. The top five performances of the season were produced in Eugene.
Ethiopia wraps up the year with the three fastest times this season, with Kenya occupying the next three spots. Ethiopian athletes also own the top three places on the world rankings.
World Championships: Beatrice Chebet (KEN) 30:37.61 South American Championships: Nubia de Oliveira Silva (BRA) 34:06.56 Asian Championships: Daisy Jepkemei (KAZ) 30:48.44 NACAC Championships: Taylor Roe (USA) 32:19.84
Season snapshot
Beatrice Chebet kicked off her World Championships campaign by winning the 10,000m title, completing the first part of her golden double in Tokyo. A strong championship runner, Nadia Battocletti secured silver in an Italian record of 30:38.23, while defending champion Gudaf Tsegay got bronze.
Chebet’s double glory places her in the elite group of only four athletes who have won both the 5000m and 10,000m at the World Championships: Tirunesh Dibaba (2005), Kenenisa Bekele (2009), Vivian Cheruiyot (2011) and Mo Farah (2013, 2015).
Chebet is now a double Olympic and world champion, the world record-holder in the 5000m, 10,000m and 5km, a two-time world cross country champion and the world 5km champion. It is a mind-blowing CV for the 25-year-old, who cements her status in every race.
For the second year running, Chebet tops the 10,000m world rankings ahead of Battocletti. However, the world leader is Janeth Chepngetich, the winner of the Kenyan trials with 30:27.02. The trials produced the top three fastest times this year as Chepngetich finished ahead of Agnes Ngetich and Chebet. Tactical running seemed to be the focus of the season, with no athlete running under 30 minutes. It was the slowest season since 2018, when the quickest time of the year was 30:41.85.
