Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet and defending champion Faith Kipyegon are among the fastest women in the history of the 5000m set to light up the 2025 World Championships from September 13 to September 21, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan.

At the competitions, the focus will be on global champions Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet in what will be their first clash since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Chebet, the double Olympic champion, became the first woman to cover 5000m within 14 minutes with her world record of 13:58.06 at the Prefontaine Classic in July.

The race, which doubled as the Kenyan trials, also featured Agnes Ngetich and Gudaf Tsegay, who clocked 14:01.29 and 14:04.41, respectively. The 2022 silver medallist and a bronze medal winner a year after that, Chebet will be keen to complete her set of World Championship medals when she takes on Kipyegon, her idol and the defending champion.

Kipyegon, 31, hasn’t raced in the 5000m since the Paris Olympics, where she took silver behind Chebet. Three weeks ago in Silesia, she threatened the long-standing world 3000m record with 8:07.04, the second-fastest time in history, bumping Chebet’s 8:11.56 down to third on the world all-time list.

Chebet and Kipyegon will have reinforcement from Agnes Ngetich and Japan-based Margaret Akidor. Ngetich, the third-fastest woman in history at 5000m and world record-holder for 10km, has grown in confidence on the track this year with wins in Brussels and Miramar.

Podium sweep

The Kenyan quartet is aiming for a sweep of the medals, but Tsegay may have something to say about that. The Ethiopian, who won the world 5000m title in 2022 and the world 10,000m crown in 2023, will be keen to make amends after coming away from the Paris Olympics without a medal.

Tsegay is joined on the Ethiopian team by world indoor 3000m champion Freweyni Hailu, who set a PB of 14:19.33 in Rome earlier this year, world U20 record-holder Birke Haylom, and two-time world U20 champion Medina Eisa.

This year’s World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, will provide a perfect platform for the rivalry between Kenya and Ethiopia to be renewed.