It’s already been one of the longest competitive seasons in athletics history, and it all comes to a conclusion over nine days of competition at the 20th edition of World Championships in Tokyo.
Starting in the early hours of Saturday morning Irish time, the event returns to the land of the rising sun for a third time, Tokyo previously staging the championships back in 1991, with Osaka the venue in 2007.
With 2,202 athletes qualified, from 198 countries, it is unquestionably the largest sporting event in the world this year. The eight-hour time difference means most of the headline finals can be seen in the early afternoon, Irish time, with RTÉ securing the live TV rights for the first time since 1999.
It’s the latest the championships have been staged except for Doha in 2019, when the brutal desert heat pushed things out to even later in September. The venue is the Japan National Stadium, which sat largely empty of spectators during the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but which is now expected to be at its 67,750-capacity for most of the evening sessions.
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How big is the Irish interest in Japan?
With a total of 28 athletes, including 21 individuals and seven more relay panellists, it’s the biggest Irish team ever sent to a World Championships. They are spread across 14 different events, men and women, track, field and road, the relay hopes resting with the mixed 4x400m in Saturday’s opening sessions, plus the women’s 4x400m the following weekend.
There are also two big-time absentees in Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean, who both finished fourth in their respective events at the last World Championships in Budapest in 2023 – Adeleke in the 400m, and Mageean in the 1,500m.
Adeleke went on to finish fourth in the 400m at the Paris Olympics last summer, and again with the 4x400m relay, before cutting short her 2025 season last month due to injury and loss of form. For Mageean, who went on to win European gold last summer, Tokyo was already ruled out after she required surgery on the Achilles injury which forced her out of Paris, before the shock announcement in July that she had started treatment for cancer.
In which specific events have the Irish athletes qualified?
In the 400m, we have Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker. In the 800m, Mark English and Cian McPhillips, and in the 1,500m, Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan, and Laura Nicholson, and Cathal Doyle and Andrew Coscoran.
In the 5,000m, Coscoran, Brian Fay and Darragh McElhinney all qualified, and in the 10,000m, Efrem Gidey. In the 100m hurdles, Sarah Lavin. In the shot put, Eric Favors, in the hammer Nicola Tuthill, and in the heptathlon, Kate O’Connor.
In the 20km walk, David Kenny, and in the 35km walk, Oisín Lane. The mixed 4x400m relay will come from Mawdsley, Becker, Rachel McCann, Jack Raftery, Conor Kelly and Cillín Greene. And the women’s 4x400m from Mawdsley, Becker, McCann, Cliodhna Manning, Michelle Duggan, Jenna Breen. In the marathon, Fionnuala McCormack, Hiko Tonosa, and Peter Lynch will all set off on the 26.2 mile run around Tokyo.
In all, the Tokyo programme features 49 events, 24 each for men and women, plus the mixed relay event, which means a total of 147 medals will be awarded across the nine days of competition.
What about the Irish medal chances?
Irish medals have been few and far between over the years. Since Eamonn Coghlan’s gold in the 5,000m in the inaugural championships in Helsinki in 1983, only six Irish medals have ever been secured by five different athletes.
Sonia O’Sullivan won 1,500m silver in 1993, then 5,000m gold in 1995. The last three medals have come in the race walks, Gillian O’Sullivan winning 20km silver in 2003, Olive Loughnane promoted to 20km gold in 2009 (after Russia’s Olga Kaniskina was later banned for doping), before Rob Heffernan won the 50km gold in Moscow in 2013.
In the absence of Adeleke and Mageean, the Irish medal chances are clearly weakened, although Kate O’Connor isn’t without a chance in the heptathlon. Her Irish record of 6,487 points, set when winning gold at the World University Games in July, ranks her fifth best in 2025 – although Olympic champion Nafi Thiam from Belgium and Britain’s World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson have yet to score this season.
Any other outside chances?
Sarah Healy and Mark English have been enjoying excellent seasons since winning European indoor medals back in March. English has broken the Irish 800m record three times, lowering it to 1:43.37, but the 800m has never been stronger. For the first time, 15 men have broken 1:43 in the same season, led by Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi with his 1:41.44. Making the final would be a brilliant achievement for English.
For Healy, who won European indoor 3,000m gold, making the 1,500m final is certainly within her reach. Ranked 10th of the Tokyo entries, if she can make the final, there’s the old cliche that anything can happen.
What about the prize money?
With a total pot of $8,498,000, each gold medal winner gets $70,000, down to $5,000 for eighth place. There is also a world record bonus of $100,000.
Some of the athletes eyeing up those top prizes will be Sweden’s world pole vault record-holder Mondo Duplantis, Kenya’s world 1,500m record-holder Faith Kipyegon, USA’s double sprint champion Noah Lyles, Dutch world 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol, and Norwegian multiple world record-holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
Where can we watch in Ireland?
As mentioned, RTÉ have secured the live TV rights, the studio analysis provided by Sonia O’Sullivan, Rob Heffernan and Derval O’Rourke (Sunday’s session will only be available on the RTÉ player).
Tokyo is eight hours ahead of Irish time, and the six road events will all be held in the Tokyo morning, with start and finish lines for marathon races in the National Stadium.
Who are the first Irish athletes in action?
It will be busy start over the weekend, with 13 individuals, plus the mixed relay, all in action. The schedule (Irish time) as below.
(* Pending qualification)
Saturday – Morning Session
11.30pm (Friday) Oisín Lane – Men’s 35km Race Walk
2.55am Eric Favors – Men’s Shot Put – Qualification
3.55am Mixed 4x400m Relay – Heats
Saturday – Evening Session
11.50am Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan, Laura Nicholson – Women’s 1,500m – Heats
1.10pm Eric Favors – Men’s Shot Put – Final *
2.20pm Mixed 4x400m Relay – Final *
Sunday – Morning Session
11.30pm (Saturday) Fionnuala McCormack – Women’s Marathon
1am Nicola Tuthill – Women’s Hammer Throw – Qualification
1.35am Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle – Men’s 1500m – Heats
3.28am Sarah Lavin – Women’s 100m Hurdles – Heats
Sunday – Evening Session
11.25am Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker – Women’s 400m
1.05pm Healy, O’Sullivan, Nicholason – Women’s 1500m – Semi-finals *
1.30pm Efrem Gidey – Men’s 10,000m – Final
Monday – Morning Session
11.30pm (Sunday) Peter Lynch, Hiko Tonosa – Men’s Marathon
Evening Session
1pm Nicola Tuthill – Women’s Hammer Throw Final *
1.05pm Sarah Lavin – Women’s 100m Hurdles SF*
1.30pm Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle – Men’s 1500m SF*
2.20pm Sarah Lavin – Women’s 100m Hurdles – Final*
Tuesday – Evening Session
11.35am Mark English, Cian McPhillips – Men’s 800m Heats
1.05pm Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker – Women’s 400m SF *
2.05pm Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan, Laura Nicholson – Women’s 1500m Final *
Wednesday – Evening Session
2.20pm Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle – Men’s 1500m Final*
Thursday – Evening Session
1.45pm Mark English, Cian McPhilips– Men’s 800m SF*
2.24pm Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker – Women’s 400m –Final *
Friday – Evening Session
9.33am Kate O’Connor – 100m Hurdles – Women’s Heptathlon
10.20am Kate O’Connor – High Jump – Women’s Heptathlon
12.05pm Brian Fay, Andrew Coscoran, Darragh McElhinney – Men’s 5000m – Heats
12.30pm Kate O’Connor – Shot Put – Women’s Heptathlon
1.38pm Kate O’Connor – 200m – Women’s Heptathlon
Saturday, September 20th – Morning Session
1.50am David Kenny – Men’s 20km Race Walk
3.30am Kate O’Connor – Long Jump – Women’s Heptathlon
Evening Session
11am Kate O’Connor – Javelin – Women’s Heptathlon
12pm Women’s 4x400m Relay – Heats
1.11pm Kate O’Connor – 800m – Women’s Heptathlon
2.22pm Mark English, Cian McPhillips – Men’s 800m Final *
Sunday, September 21st – Evening Session
11.50am Brian Fay, Andrew Coscoran, Darragh McElhinney – Men’s 5000m Final*
12.40pm Women’s 4x400m Relay – Final*
