Olympic medallists Rhydian Cowley and Jessica Hull will launch Australia’s campaign at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Saturday, in a day that will also see Australia’s fastest athletes Torrie Lewis and Rohan Browning and global pole vault medallist Kurtis Marschall in action.
The nine-day championships begin with the 35km Race Walk finals, entrusted as the first medals of Tokyo 2025. The Men and Women will start together in the Japan National Stadium, and after completing 16 laps near the Stadium will finish back inside the famous venue.
Due to the warm weather in Tokyo these events will start at 7:30am local time (8:30 AEST). National record holders Cowley (VIC, Brent Vallance) and Olivia Sandery (SA, Jared Tallent) lead Australia’s contingent, taking their place among the world’s premier road athletes.
Cowley, who won Olympic bronze in Paris last year in the inaugural Mixed Marathon Walks Relay alongside Jemima Montag, brings a wealth of experience to his sixth World Championships, as well as a 2:25.21 best from March, ranking him 9th in the compact field.
Aiming for a top-8 position, the Melbourne local will take on the likes of friendly foe in Canada’s Evan Dunfee who spends each summer training in Australia has clocked times under the 2:23:00 mark this year.
“We recently had the news that the world record holder (and world leader) Massimo Stano (ITA) is out so it’s a bit disappointing to lose him in terms of the field quality, but there’s going to be a dozen guys or so all betting on themselves to be in the front group, including myself, and we’ll see how that shakes out on the hot streets of Tokyo,” Cowley said.
“I think we’ve done a lot of good preparation for it this year, and certainly we’re preparing for the weather. I’m in as good a shape as possible to get a good result.”
The experienced campaigner will be joined by World University Games medallist Will Thompson (VIC, Brent Vallance) and Canberran Mitchell Baker (Jared Tallent) who will dip their toes into their first Open age teams, while Sandery will be joined by two-time Olympian Rebecca Henderson (VIC, Simon Baker)and Alannah Pitcher (NSW, Frank Overton) – who made her debut in the same event in Budapest in 2023.
The first Australian field athlete will see Olympian Taryn Gollshewsky (QLD, Les Kuorikoski) chases qualification in the Discus from Group A in the morning session. The 32-year-old threw a personal best in qualifying at Paris 2024 and another personal best here in Tokyo will see her pushing for a finals spot.
The last event of the morning session will see Australia compete for the first time in the Mixed 4x400m Relay at the World Championships. The exciting and talented new generation of quarter milers go in heat 2 with the order expected to be Luke van Ratingen (NSW, Ben Liddy) to Mia Gross (VIC, John Nicolosi) to Thomas Reynolds (VIC, Matthew Oakley) and Carla Bull (QLD, Brett Robinson) to anchor. The top 3 in each heat and next two fastest progress to the evening final.
Continuing the finals action on Day One will be two of Australia’s fastest distance stars, with Lauren Ryan (VIC, Lara Rogers) racing 25 laps of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium in the grueling 10,000m alongside Isobel Batt-Doyle (SA, Nic Bideau). Ryan storms in with a 30:35.66 this season to be second fastest Australian in the event. Compatriot Batt-Doyle (30:51.27) adds depth and versatility, taking advantage of track qualification after also qualifying for the women’s marathon. Both are capable of top 10 finish. The best ever finish at a World Championships in this event for Australia was Benita Willis when 8th in 2003. Australian Record Holder Rose Davies is running the 5000m here at Tokyo.
Earlier in the evening Australian fans will be cheering for the three outstanding women in the 1500m, an event that has become the jewel of the nation’s middle-distance resurgence. Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) spearheads Australia’s charge in heat 1. Hull rewrote history last year, winning Olympic silver in Paris to end a 56-year drought for Australian middle-distance medals at the pinnacle event, and now arrives as the fifth-fastest woman in history with her 3:50.83 national record.
Olympic finalist Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams), fresh off a career-best of 3:56.39 in Silesia at the age of 34 races in heat 2, and Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau) races in heat 3. Billings has had an outstanding year and is one of only five Australian women to ever break the four-minute barrier. There are four heats and the top six in each heat progress to the semi-finals on Sunday evening.
To start the track session in the evening, Tokyo Olympian Ed Trippas (VIC, Craig Mottram) will race in the heats of the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase. Despite suffering a minor back injury earlier in the week, 2025 has been a memorable year having broken Shaun Creighton’s 32-year-old Australian record when he ran 8:13.15 last month.
On the field, Kurtis Marschall (WA, Paul Burgess) takes centre stage in the Men’s Pole Vault, chasing back-to-back World Championships medals in Budapest. Ranked fourth in the world, Marschall will make light work of the qualification round, having reached the podium in all but three of his Diamond League appearances this year.
In the Long Jump, World U20 champion Delta Amidzovski (NSW, Becky Amidzovski) makes her senior debut, alongside Samantha Dale (NSW, Andrew Murphy), a 6.71m jumper who famously beat now-Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall at the Maurie Plant Meet in 2023.
Australia’s sprinting stocks will be on show with a quartet of the nation’s fastest taking on the 100m heats, led by Australian champion Rohan Browning (NSW, Jack Edwards) and Australian Record Holder Torrie Lewis (QLD, Laurent Meuwly).
After running 11.10 for the Australian record last year, and taking the global stage by storm, Lewis has had a much quieter year after facing injury but is in peak shape just in time for Tokyo, having posted an 11.16-performance in Slovakia last month. She joins Bree Rizzo (QLD, Ryan Hoffman), Australia’s first woman to advance through to the semifinals at the Olympic Games since Sydney 2000, as well as Australian 60m record holder Ella Connolly (NSW, Andrew Murphy).
Rizzo has drawn American flyer Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and Zoe Hobbs (NZL) in her heat. Lewis has drawn defending champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) and Jamaican superstar Shericka Jackson. Connolly will race three women who have broken 11 seconds. The first three in each of the seven heat and the next three fastest times will progress to the semis.
Back with his best season yet in 2025 after an unlucky few years, Browning chases a semi-finals berth and his first legal sub-10 performance. Joshua Azzopardi (NSW, Rob Marks) is also chasing a semi-final berth after strong showing but a first-round exit at the Olympic Games last year. The heat draws won’t be known until after the morning preliminaries but whoever the two Aussie men draw, we know it will be scorching fast.
Australian fans can catch every session of the 2025 World Athletics Championships from September 13-22 live and free on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand, as well as the Nine Network.
NOTES:
The Women’s 5000m selections have now been finalised, with Rose Davies (NSW, Scott Westcott), Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) and Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau) selected to compete.
By Sascha Ryner and Andrew Reid
Posted: 13/9/2025
