From the early morning grind of the Women’s Marathon to an electric in-stadium program across two sessions, Day Two of the Tokyo World Athletics Championships will be full of action as teen prodigy Cameron Myers takes his first strides at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, Reece Holder has another shot at the 400m National Record and Torrie Lewis targets the 100m finals.
The morning session belongs to the Women’s Marathon, where a full squad of three take on a course in central Tokyo starting at Japan National Stadium before running through some of the cities most famous districts and ending back at the stadium. Marathon running in Japan is a national sport so big crowds are expected on the course which has a challenging climb less than four kilometres from the finish.
Melbourne PE teacher, 42-year-old Vanessa Wilson (VIC, Paul Wilson) who holds the fastest personal best of 2:28:34 will race her eighth marathon, while three-time Australian representative Sarah Klein (VIC, Peter Shuwalow) brings a wealth of experience and a best of 2:30.10 from the Oregon World Athletics Championships in 2022, proving her ability to perform on the big stage. Tara Palm (SA, Peter John Bosch) makes her World Athletics Championships debut in her sixth marathon, having previously represented the country at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships and the World Athletics Road Running Championships.
The Women’s 1500m semi-finals will be a highlight for fans around the country, with Olympic silver medallist Jessica Hull (NSW, Simon Hull) and Olympic finalist Linden Hall ready for round two after advancing from the heats overnight.
Hall will race in semi 1, and has drawn Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon (KEN). On paper Hull is the stand-out in semi 2, with her national record of 3:50.83, ranking her the fifth fastest over the distance in global history. But she is not getting head of herself.
“I’m definitely thinking about medals, but I want to focus on the semi finals first and definitely take care of business there, and then we’ll start looking at Tuesday night once we have a spot on the line,” Hull said.
The track session opens with one of the most compelling storylines of the championships for Australian fans, with the first round of the Men’s 1500m. At just 19, teen prodigy Cameron Myers (ACT, Dick Telford) has already made history over the distance as the third-fastest Australian and the fourth-fastest Under-20 runner of all time at 3:29.80, and now makes his Senior team debut.
In one of the most tactical events of the Tokyo program, Myers along with Adam Spencer (VIC, Mick Byrne) and Jude Thomas (QLD, Collis Birmingham) will look to take on three-rounds en route to the 1500m final and together they represent the new-wave of Australian middle-distance athletes ready to extend the nation’s resurgence in the event.
“Every athlete’s going to have their different strengths and skillset. You look at the guys that run really well really young and you look at guys that run well as they’re getting to their late 20s and early 30s and I think that’s just showing that it doesn’t really matter what age you are. You’ve got a career length and career span and I think that you’ve just got to take advantage of the time that you’re running well,” Myers said.
“I had a bit of a year of consolidation last year and potentially didn’t get the best out of myself and that was probably what caused me to make some slight changes to what I was doing. I think that’s really helped me unlock and realise my potential.”
The blue ribband event promises pure theatre as Australia’s fastest woman in history, 20-year-old Torrie Lewis looks to build on her brand new national 100m record of 11.08 for a chance to progress to the final, after finishing 10th overall in last night’s heats.
“I’ve been running faster times in training, so I just needed to come here and not get nervous and run, and it was great test (last night) to have Sharika Jackson next to me. I proved myself that I can sit on her shoulder and do it,” Lewis said.
“I get a lot of confidence from training and with my injury this year, I did miss a lot of training but the comps I have done leading into Tokyo, I was just getting better and better so I hoped I could just continue that for this last one.”
Lewis will race in semi-final 3, against American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Tina Clayton (JAM) the Dina Asher-Smith (GBR) as the form athletes. The top-2 and the next two fastest from all three semis progress to the final.
Also on the track for their respective heats are Liz Clay (QLD, Andreas Behm) in the 100m Hurdles, Ellie Beer (QLD, Brett Robinson) in the Women’s 400m, along with Cooper Sherman (VIC, Neville Down) and Reece Holder (QLD, Christopher Dale) in the Men’s 400m. At their best all athletes are capable of teaching their respective semi-finals, with Holder having the potential to become Australia’s newest record holder, 37-years after Darren Clarke powered to 44.38 in Seoul.
The qualifying rounds on the field will see five Australians chasing progression to the finals. Brandon Starc (NSW, Alex Stewart) is back for his fifth World Championships in the Men’s High Jump, alongside landscaper and ‘King of Ballarat’ Yual Reath (VIC, Mike Barber) and Roman Anastasios (VIC, Sandro Bisetto). It is Anastasios first senior Australian team after claiming bronze at the FISU World University Games with a 2.20m clearance.
National record holder at 73.63m, Stephanie Ratcliffe (VIC, Dale Stevenson) will contest the Women’s Hammer Throw alongside Texas State University product Lara Roberts (QLD, John Frazier), with Harvard graduate Ratcliffe out for redemption after missing the Olympic final by 99cm.
The 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo continue until September 21, with all sessions available live and free in Australia on both SBS and the Nine Network.
By Sascha Ryner, Australian Athletics
Posted: 14/9/2025
