Five athletes who could sparkle at World Athletics Championships

PARIS – Noah Lyles, Armand Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon headline the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo but it is an opportunity for new stars to emerge and add a freshness to the established order.

Here are five prospects who could achieve just that.

1. Cooper Lutkenhaus (USA)

A loaded 800 metres with Olympic gold medallist Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and Canada’s defending champion Marco Arop makes it one of the standout races – and the American teenager adds even more spice to it.

At 16 years and 272 days when he runs in his heat, he will be the youngest athlete to compete for the United States at a world championships.

Lutkenhaus earned his ticket with a brilliant effort to finish second at the trials in an under-18 world mark of 1min 42.27sec.

He has turned professional, signing a contract with Nike – becoming the youngest American athlete to do so.

While his rivals have the advantage of a wealth of experience, his coach believes his attitude will help him. “He doesn’t make the bad or the good too high or too low,” his high school coach Chris Capeau said.

“He loves celebration and loves being hyped up about it. But if it’s a bad day, he still loves it.”

2. Niels Laros (NED)

It could be a case of double Dutch in Tokyo – Femke Bol in the women’s 400m hurdles and Laros in the 1,500m.

The 20-year-old is the coming man, and the form one too as he arrives armed with the Diamond League title.

There are question marks over Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen after an injury-plagued season, his successor as Olympic gold medallist Cole Hocker and defending world champion Josh Kerr.

Laros, who was sixth in the Olympic final, could have opted for the 800m or the 5,000m too – both Hocker and Ingebrigtsen are eyeing the 1,500m-5,000m double – but has decided not to overreach.

“In Tokyo I will focus on the 1,500m,” said Laros. “My coach and I know that there will be high expectations, we want to be realistic. But of course I am dreaming about the podium.”

3. Oleh Doroshchuk (UKR)

The Dutch may entertain hopes of a track double but the Ukrainians have similar aspirations in the high jump.

World-record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh is favoured to retain her title and Doroshchuk has an excellent chance of becoming the first man from his country to be crowned champion since Bohdan Bondarenko in 2013.

Based on his season so far, Doroshchuk could deliver as Mahuchikh has constantly done since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, giving a welcome morale boost to their compatriots.

The 24-year-old European indoor champion comes to Tokyo after victory in the Brussels Diamond League meet, beating Olympic champion Hamish Kerr, who then avenged that at the Diamond League finals in Zurich.

The only slight worry is the knee injury he suffered earlier in the season.

“The World Championships are all I think about. I just want to compete there. From the start, all the work has been done only for this,” he said.

4. Audrey Werro (SUI)

The 21-year-old could break a glass ceiling for Swiss women and become the first to win an 800m medal in a world or Olympic final.

Werro has transferred seamlessly into the senior ranks after an impressive junior career.

Twice European Under-20 champion, she won silver in the 2022 world Under-20 championships in Colombia, and in July won the European Under-23 title.

She rounded off her Diamond League campaign in fine style, winning in front of her home crowd in Zurich, becoming the first Swiss woman to lift a Diamond League trophy.

Only Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has run faster than her winning time of 1:55.91 – also a Swiss record – this season.

Despite that, she is measured in her ambitions for Tokyo.

“I want to make the final and then after that run my best and see what happens,” she said.

5. Leyanis Perez (CUB)

The 23-year-old has restored some lustre to Cuban women’s triple jumping. Her bronze in the 2023 world championships in Budapest ended a 14-year medal drought in the event.

Perez topped that with the world indoor title in 2025, she is also the world leader in the event this season and collected a Diamond League trophy.

However, if she is to become the first Cuban to win the women’s title since Yargelis Savigne retained her crown in 2009, she might have to battle Venezuelan great and four-time champion Yulimar Rojas, who is still seeking her best form after injury deprived her of competing at the 2024 Olympics.

It should be some spectacle and Perez, who was only fifth in Paris, will know the 29-year-old Rojas never gives up, having been present when she won gold in Budapest. AFP