Eight Athletes Will Go the Distance at the 2025 World Athletics Championships

Athletics Canada announced today the team of eight athletes who will compete at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships in the marathon, 10,000 metres, and 35 km race walk events.
 
The marathon qualification period concluded on May 4, and therefore the full complement of six marathon athletes is now final. Additional athletes may be added in the 10,000 metres and 35 km race walk when the remainder of the World Championships team is announced on August 28^th.
 
“The group that we have selected today have a lot of experience. We’re looking for them to perform at their very best, and be prepared to go after personal bests, season’s bests, top 8 finishes and even the podium,” said Athletics Canada head coach Glenroy Gilbert. “The athletes will have everything that they need by way of support. The team around them are there to provide an environment of high performance.
 
Meet Team Canada
Featuring four members of the team that represented Canada at the Paris Olympics last summer, there is plenty of star power on the squad competing again this year. Five members of the team are returning from the last edition of the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

“This will be my 7th World Championship representing Canada and the program continues to build towards one of the top athletics nations in the world,” said Evan Dunfee.  “It’s really exciting to be heading back to Tokyo for another major championships. With the 2020 Olympics happening without fans and the race walk and marathons taking place 800km away in Sapporo, it is going to be great getting out on the streets of Tokyo. Japan fully embraces the endurance events so we know the crowds will be lining the streets to cheer us on. This for me is maybe one of the first times I’m heading into a global championship as a favourite. In the past I have thrived on being the underdog so I am looking forward to taking on this new challenge and navigating in these new uncharted waters for myself.”
 
About Tokyo 2025
The 2025 World Athletics Championships will be held in Tokyo for the first time since 1991, this September 13-21.
 
More than 2000 athletes from some 200 countries will descend on the Japanese capital to take part in one of the world’s biggest sporting events and compete for medals, records, and the immortal title – World Champion.
 
Get more details on Tokyo 2025.

Budapest 2023 Recap
Evan Dunfee was 4^th in both the men’s 20km and 35 km race walk events at the last edition of the World Athletics Championships, hosted in Budapest, Hungary. He set a new Canadian record in that 20km race (1:18:03), which he has since lowered to 1:17:39. The Olympic and Worlds  medallist broke the world record in the 35 km race walk event this spring, heading to the World Athletics Championships with the unprecedented mark of 2:21:40 on his resume.
 
Mohammed Ahmed finished 6^th in a stacked men’s 10,000 metre final with a time of 27:56.43 two years ago. He raced in both the 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres in Budapest – a feat he equalled at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games the next summer.
 
Natasha Wodak and Sasha Gollish finished 15^th and 61^st, respectively, in the women’s marathon in 2023. Both racers set season-best times in the race through the streets of Budapest. Wodak will take to the streets at Tokyo 2025, where she finished 13^th at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
 
Canada had three racers in the top 30 of the men’s marathon in Budapest: Rory Linkletter (18^th), and 2025 returnees Ben  Preisner (27^th) and Justin Kent (29^th).

MEDIA CONTACT:

Caroline Sharp, National Teams Communications Specialist
Athletics Canada
WhatsApp: (613) 323-5605 / Cell: (214) 601-8024
E: Caroline.Sharp@athletics.ca