Three of the four fastest women in history clash again
World and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi starts as the second-fastest woman of all time
Diamond League title winner Faith Cherotich leads four-strong Kenyan line-up
Three of the four fastest women in history – all three Olympic medallists in Paris – will renew their rivalry in the 3000m steeplechase at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.
The world and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain, Uganda’s Tokyo Olympic gold and Paris Olympic silver medallist Peruth Chemutai, and Kenya’s world and Olympic bronze medallist Faith Cherotich will clash again, all now with incredible sub-8:49 PBs on their CVs.
The trio has guarded the top three spots on the season list and world ranking through their consistency, and WCH Tokyo 25 is expected to be no different.
Yavi has competed in only four steeplechase races this season, placing second in the Diamond League events in Doha and Oslo, and winning in Eugene and at the Night of Athletics meeting in Belgium. She then took on the newly introduced mile steeplechase, clocking 4:40.13 at the Brussels Diamond League. She is the second-fastest athlete in history with 8:44.39 – only world record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech has run faster.
Kenyan trials winner Cherotich sits between Yavi and Chemutai on this season’s top list with 8:48.71. Another candidate for gold, the 21-year-old beat Yavi to the 2024 Diamond Trophy and in her first two races of 2025, in Doha and Oslo. Yavi got revenge in Eugene, running a world-leading 8:45.25.
Of Cherotich’s five Diamond League appearances, she also notched wins in Paris and Zurich, where she retained the Diamond League title as well as receiving the Jesse Owen Rising Star Award. The Diamond Trophy earned Cherotich a wild card entry for Tokyo, so Kenya can enter four athletes.
The Kenyan line-up also includes Doris Lemngole, the Lausanne Diamond League winner and two-time NCAA champion, plus Pamela Kosgei, who is a double NCAA champion and younger sister of former marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei, and Celestine Biwott, making her global debut.
Chemutai, seventh in Budapest, aims to become only the second Ugandan woman to win a world title in this event after Dorcus Inzikuru in 2005. Chemutai opened her season with seventh place in Doha and bounced back to win at the FBK Games before placing second in Paris and third behind Cherotich in Eugene.
Ethiopia will field world U20 silver medallist Sembo Almayew, who finished fifth in Paris, plus African Games bronze medallist Lomi Muleta and African silver medallist Alemnat Walle.
Tunisia’s Marwa Bouzayani returns for her fourth World Championships. Her latest performance was a third-place finish at the Zurich Diamond League Final and that followed two Continental Tour Gold meeting wins.
Other athletes to watch include 2022 world champion and Zurich runner-up Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan, USA’s Kaylee Mitchell and Lexy Halladay-Lowry, France’s Alice Finot, Germany’s Lea Meyer and India’s Parul Chaudhary.
Michelle Katami for World Athletics
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