The World Athletics Championships will kick off on Saturday in Tokyo, with plenty of exciting showdowns expected to unfold over the next nine days.
Here’s a look at some of the top athletes from the Middle East and North Africa, looking to score big in Japan.
Soufiane El Bakkali
(Morocco – 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m)
Moroccan star Soufiane El Bakkali has dominated the 3,000m steeplechase since 2022, winning four gold medals across the past two World Championships and Olympic Games.
The 29-year-old, who is also entered in the 5,000m, has clocked the fastest time of the year in the steeplechase, posting 8:00.70 in May in Rabat.
Can he make it five consecutive global titles in his signature event? It will take a monumental effort to stop him.
Schedule
3,000m steeplechase: Heats – Saturday, September 13; Final – Monday, September 15
5,000m: Heats – Friday, September 19, Final – Sunday, September 21
Djamel Sedjati
(Algeria – 800m)
The Olympic bronze medallist will renew his three-way rivalry with Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Canada’s world champion Marco Arop in the 800m event, where a strong field will be looking to break David Rudisha’s world record that has stood since the London 2012 Olympics.
Sedjati hasn’t raced much this year – just five times – but the 1:42.20 he clocked in Monaco in July makes him the third-fastest entrant in this year’s field.
A World Championship silver medallist in Eugene three years ago, Sedjati, 26, is one of the fastest ever 800m runners, but will have his work cut out when he takes on Wanyonyi, who has won five of his past six races and has successfully defended his Diamond League crown.
Schedule
800m: Heats – Tuesday, September 16; Semi-finals – Thursday, September 18, Final – Saturday, September 20
Salwa Eid Naser
(Bahrain – 400m)
Paris Olympics silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser arrives in Tokyo in red-hot form, having gone under 49 seconds on four occasions so far this year in the 400m, including a world-leading 48.67 in Jamaica in April.
The Nigerian-born Bahraini clocked 48.70 to win the Diamond League Final in Zurich two weeks ago and will be targeting a second world title in Tokyo, having clinched gold in Doha back in 2019.
Many eyes will be on the women’s 400m this year given the tight rivalry between Naser and Olympic and world champion Marileidy Paulino, who is 3-2 in their head-to-head this season, but lost to the Bahraini by more than half a second in Zurich.
Another exciting factor is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The American hurdles superstar has decided to run the 400m flat this year and holds the third-fastest time of the season (48.90).
Egypt’s Bassant Hemida is also one to keep an eye out for in this event. After a lengthy battle with injuries sidelined her from major competitions last year, the 28-year-old has returned to action this season stronger than ever.
She set a new national record of 50.53 in the 400m in Madrid in July and is currently ranked 24 in the world in the event.
Schedule
400m: Heats – Sunday, September 14; Semi-finals – Tuesday, September 16; Final – Thursday, September 18
Marwa Bouzayani
(Tunisia – 3,000m steeplechase)
Tunisia has a rich history in women’s steeplechase, with Habiba Ghribi picking up gold at both the Olympics and the World Championships before she retired.
Her compatriot Marwa Bouzayani is now looking to take over the baton and she heads into these World Championships in Tokyo ranked No 7 in the world in the 3,000m steeplechase.
The 9:06.84 she clocked in June in Oslo places her eighth among the world-leading times for the season and her last outing pre-Worlds was a bronze medal-winning performance in the Diamond League Final in Zurich.
Schedule
3,000m steeplechase: Heats – Monday, September 15; Final – Wednesday, September 17
Abderrahman Samba
(Qatar – 400m hurdles)
Owner of the fourth-fastest time of the season in the 400m hurdles, Abderrahman Samba will try to get in the mix and disrupt the three-way rivalry between Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin, and Alison dos Santos that has dominated the event in recent years.
A bronze medallist at the World Championships on home soil in 2019, the injury-prone Samba is enjoying an impressive resurgence this season.
The 30-year-old Asian record-holder clocked 47.09 in a meet in Paris in June and he most recently took silver in the Diamond League Final in Zurich behind Warholm.
Schedule
400m hurdles: Heats – Monday, September 15; Semi-finals – Wednesday, September 17; Final – Friday, September 19
