The World Athletics Championship is the third-largest sporting event in the world, behind the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games. The championships are held every four years and feature all the world’s top athletes. The last edition, in Budapest 2023, broke records with record-setting attendance, and spellbinding performances. It is the event where you will see some of the best athletes ever compete, with awe-inspiring displays of power, speed, agility and grace.
Before the World Championships started in 1976, the only place where the elite athletes of the sport gathered was the Olympic Games, but there was growing demand for a tournament that really decided the world’s greatest runners. The IAAF responded by creating the World Championships, held separately from the Olympics and featuring more athletes than the Olympic Games.
This year’s championships take place in Tokyo from 13-21 September. Canada has 59 athletes set to compete, including the defending world champions Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers. The country will also field a men’s and women’s 4x100m relay team for the first time at a major championship.
Canada has two non-travelling reserves – Erin Friel in the women’s and Ciaran Carthy in the mixed 4x400m – while Mark English, Sarah Healy, Kate O’Connor and Colin Mawdsley have secured their spots on automatic standards. Canada’s other entry, Marco Arop, has qualified for the 5,000m by finishing inside his quota at the recent World Indoor Championships in China. He will need one athlete ahead of him to drop out before he can secure his spot on the starting line in Tokyo.