Jacory Patterson has gone from packing boxes for a delivery company in his native US to eyeing world title glory in Tokyo.
Surprise form man over one lap of the track this season has been South African Zakithi Nene.
Matt Hudson-Smith, silver medallist at the past two major outdoor championships, also has his eye on gold.
Olympic champion Quincy Hall, ruled out because of a hamstring injury, is a big miss from the start lists for the men’s 400m in Tokyo.
And yet his less heralded US compatriot Jacory Patterson is hoping to pull off one of the feel-good stories of these upcoming championships over one lap of the track.
A college track star, Patterson failed to earn himself a lucrative shoe contract when he entered the pro ranks so last summer took a job with delivery company UPS to help fund his track and field career.
The job was to pack boxes into the back of trucks from 10.45pm until 5am back in his home town of Columbia in South Carolina. His pattern would then follow three hours of sleep before heading to training from 8.30am until the early afternoon followed by a nap and then back to work.
This treadmill of toil off track has been hard. He admitted: “I can definitely say it’s a little tougher being unsponsored for sure because you have no money. Everything is coming out of your pockets. And then having to balance that with getting into meets, paying for gear, paying for spikes and all the things that go into track. And then having to pay your own bills, too, you know, rent, car bills, gas, groceries.”
Despite the setbacks, he has shone and is one of only three men this year to have broken 44 seconds, clocking a PB of 43.85.
Only South African Zakithi Nene has run faster in 2025. The former economics student’s 43.76 moved him to 16th on the world all-time list as he took half a second off his own PB set earlier in the year. He has comfortably been the revelation for the event this season having not even made the final in Paris a year ago.
Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith has been a silver medallist at the past two global championships and would dearly love to go one better. His best for the season of 44.10 puts him fourth on this year’s world list, but he was pipped to the Diamond League win in London by compatriot Charlie Dobson, who clocked a 44.14 PB.
Both should challenge in Japan but there are plenty others in the mix, including potentially defending champion Antonio Watson, who made the Jamaican team for this championships having missed out on selection for the Olympics.
Another likely to challenge is 2022 world indoor champion Jareem Richards of Trinidad & Tobago, who also has a best this year of 44.14.
US duo Khaleb McRae, the other sub-44 man in the field this season, and world indoor champion Chris Bailey will hope to push their medal causes at the business end of these championships as will Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga, the Olympic bronze medallist.
Kirani James, winner of the world title back in 2011 while still a teenager, has reached the final of every global championships he has contested. He produced a 43.78 clocking, just 0.04 shy of his lifetime best, in the Olympic semifinal last year, and heads to Tokyo with a season’s best of 44.48.
AloJapan.com