Canadians in Tokyo: Who, what and when to watch at the World Athletics Championships

Fifty-nine track and field athletes, the most Canada has sent to a World Athletics Championships, will try to top the six medals the 2023 team earned in Budapest, Hungary.

Competition begins Friday evening and continues through Sept. 21 in Tokyo. Watch all the action on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem, and click here for the full broadcast details.

Canada has sent four defending champions for the first time in world championship history: Hammer throwers Ethan Katzberg and Camryn Rogers, 800-metre runner Marco Arop and decathlete Pierce LePage.

Athletics Canada also named four athletes in an individual event, also a first, in the men's 800.

Visit here each day for details on the notable events featuring Canadian athletes, including the time of their competition and brief summary of their season.

Men's 35 km race walk — 7 p.m. ET

Evan Dunfee, the third-ranked athlete in the event, set the world record in March, posting a time of two hours 21 minutes 40 seconds and surpassing the previous mark by seven seconds. At the 2023 worlds, he was fourth in the men's 20 km and 35 km races, running a Canadian record in the former (1:18:03) he has since lowered to 1:17:39.

Women's 35 km race walk — 7 p.m. ET

Olivia Lundman hasn't competed in the distance since March 22 in Slovakia, where she set the Canadian record of three hours 11 seconds. Lundman teamed with Dunfee in the first mixed relay at the Olympics last summer in Paris, doing two legs of a little more than 10km each to place 20th.

Men's 100m heats — 7:35 p.m. ET

Andre De Grasse skipped the Canadian track and field championships due to hamstring tightness. In four 100 finals this season, he has yet to run under 10 seconds or place above fifth, but the Markham, Ont., sprinter and seven-time Olympic medallist has a knack for saving his best races for major championships.

WATCH | De Grasse 3rd in men's 100m in return from injury:

Andre De Grasse of Markham, Ont., ran to a 100-metre time of 10.16 claiming third place Sunday at the World Athletics Continental Tour stop in Beijing.

Jerome Blake has five victories over eight 100 finals in 2025. He also went sub-10 in the 100 for the first time in his career on June 21, running 9.97 in Germany. Blake lowered his PB to 9.95 at the NACAC championships last month in the Bahamas.

Mixed 4x400m relay heats — 10:55 p.m. ET

Austin Cole, Lauren Gale, Nathan George and Zoe Sherar are expected to represent Canada after taking nearly 10 seconds off their season best at the World Relays in May, clocking a national record three minutes 12.95 seconds in the second round of qualifying. George and Cole finished second and fourth at nationals, as did Sherar and Gale on the women's side.

Men's 3,000m steeplechase heats — 5:05 a.m. ET

On June 17, Jean-Simon Desgagnes secured his spot for Tokyo with an 8:14.40 effort in Finland, his second-fastest time ever, to dip under the 8:15 automatic world championships qualifying standard. It was six seconds faster than his previous best. He won his third straight Canadian title in the event on July 31 in Ottawa.

Women's 100m heats — 5:55 a.m. ET

Audrey Leduc lowered her own national record of 10.96 seconds, winning at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational in 10.94 on July 13. She also prevailed three weeks later at the national championships, stopping the clock in 11.06 for her second title in a row.

Sade McCreath won a gold medal in the inaugural mixed 4x100 event at the World Relays in Guangzhou, China. A month later, the Ajax, Ont., sprinter delivered a 10.95-second personal best to meet the 11.07 world championships entry standard and went on to place second at nationals.

Women's 1,500m heats – 6:50 a.m. ET

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford is in Tokyo to double in the 1,500 and 5,000 for the first time at a world championship or Olympics after winning both races at nationals. A year ago, the Toronto native failed to qualify for her second Olympics and first since 2021 by one world ranking point after two injury-marred seasons. But the 29-year-old hit the ground running early in this outdoor campaign, meeting the 5,000 world standard in her first race and qualified for the 1,500 in July.

Lucia Stafford, DeBues-Stafford's younger sister, was second only to Gabriela in the 1,500 at the Canadian championships. Stafford, 27, followed with a third-place showing on Aug. 16 at the NACAC championships in her most recent race.

WATCH | Aaron Brown & Perdita Felicien give their podium predictions for Tokyo:

Women's marathon — 7 p.m. ET

Natasha Wodak is representing Canada in the marathon for a second time at the world championships after placing 15th (2:30:09) two years ago in Budapest, Hungary. The 43-year-old will try to complete her first 42.2 km race since finishing second in the Toronto Waterfront event last October. Wodak was second (1:11:40) at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships on Aug. 17 in Edmonton.

Two-time Olympian and former Canadian record holder Malindi Elmore withdrew recently from the team for worlds, along with longtime distance runner Leslie Sexton. Elmore suffered an injury at the beginning of July that was slow to heal and didn't allow her to properly train for worlds.

Men's 1,500m heats — 8:35 p.m. ET

This will be the third and final world championships for the retiring Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, and the 34-year-old will attempt to make his first final at the event. The Quebec City runner has four top-three finishes this season at different distances, including two in the 1,500. On May 24, the two-time Olympian won his first Ottawa 10K in a record 28 minutes six seconds.

Vancouver's Kieran Lumb won the 5,000m at the recent national championships and was third in the 1,500. But his biggest news of the season is his recent move to Norway to join the newly formed Vikings Athletics Club, coached by Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the estranged father of two-time Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.