World Athletics Championships 2025: Who Are Kenya’s Gold Medal Prospects in Tokyo?

The countdown is on to the 2025 World Athletics Championships where the creme dela crème of track and field will descend on Tokyo from September 13-21.

Team Kenya athletes are among those looking to win medals and after managing 10 in Budapest, Hungary two years ago, there is hope that the tally will increase this year.

Kenya has a continent of 61 athletes to Tokyo but from the team, just a few will emerge as world champions by winning gold medals in their respective disciplines.

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Heading to the 2025 World Championships, who are Kenya’s gold medal prospects in Tokyo?

The three-time world 1,500m champion is the woman to beat over the distance as she has been dominant in the race at various championships and is also the world record holder.

Few will bet against Faith Kipyegon winning a fourth world title, and a third in a row, given the form she has shown over the distance in recent years.

Kipyegon will also be doubling in the 5,000m, where she is also the defending champion, having floored her rivals in 2023.

This race will prove tough, however, due to the presence of her best friend Beatrice Chebet, who beat her at the Paris Olympics, while there is also Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay.

Another gold medal contender is Olympics 5,000m and 10,000m champion Beatrice Chebet, who showed class and tact in Paris last year.

Chebet has continued the form in 2025 where she has stayed unbeaten in 5,000m and also broke the world record while in 10,000m, she is still firm favourite.

The 24-year-old won 5,000m silver in 2022 and bronze in 2023 but there is a feeling that this is the year when she finally strikes gold over the distance and potentially a double by winning the 10,000m as well.

Olympics 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi is Kenya’s biggest hope on the men’s side as he has shown remarkable consistency in the last two years.

Wanyonyi is not just the Olympics champion but is also the second fastest 800m runner in history with David Rudisha’s world record under threat in Tokyo where the pace will be fast.

The 21-year-old seems to bring out his A-Game when he is under pressure and Tokyo will be another high-pressure moment where a first world title could arrive.

Meanwhile, youngster Faith Cherotich is another gold medal prospect following her emergence this year where she has been dominant in the 3,000m steeplechase.

The 21-year-old won bronze in Budapest two years ago and did the same at last year’s Olympics but with three wins out of four Diamond League races, the only loss being second place, added to a Diamond League Trophy, Cherotich looks to be ready.

Her good run in 2025 also includes wins over world and Olympics champion Winfred Yavi which should give her confidence of doing the same in Tokyo, if she gets her tactics right.

Still just 18, could Phanuel Koech pull off the unexpected and win the 1,500m gold in Tokyo?

Koech’s form suggests that is within reach and there are some factors that could play to his advantage.

One is that he has already beaten defending champion Josh Kerr this year, having floored the Briton in London in July, while Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen has missed a large chunk of the season with injury and might not be at his best.

Koech has three wins, two runners-ups and one third place finish in his last six international races and that kind of form could just propel him to gold in Japan.

The other rank outsider for gold in Tokyo is 22-year-old Nelly Chepchirchir whose great performance has gone under the radar this season.

Chepchirchir has won all but one of the eight races she has featured in this year, seven being in 1,500m, including four five Diamond League wins, among them the final.

Those are scary statistics but her main problem is the presence of Faith Kipyegon in the race but if the 1,500m GOAT has an unexpectedly bad day in Tokyo, Chepchirchir could be the one to win gold for Kenya.