Masai Russell opens up on Olympic pressure and personal growth
Hurdler Masai Russell reflects on how winning the Olympics brought pressure and shaped her confidence.
- Team USA will send 141 athletes to the 2025 World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo.
- Sprinter Noah Lyles aims to win both the 100 and 200-meter races at consecutive world championships.
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has switched from the 400-meter hurdles to the open 400-meter race.
The best in the world title is up for grabs at the 2025 World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo.
A total of 141 athletes will represent Team USA. The U.S. routinely boasts the top track and field team in the world. Team USA is just a year removed from winning an Olympic-high 34 track and field medals at the Paris Olympics. Two year’s ago the U.S. squad won the medal count at the 2023 World Track and Field Championships.
“Following Team USA’s world-leading 29 medal performance in 2023, we are proud to send this incredible roster of athletes to Tokyo,” USA Track and Field CEO Max Siegel said in a statement. “We have increased our investment in high performance to levels never before seen by this organization and U.S. athletes have responded with performances that make us medal contenders in nearly every discipline.”
USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon provides his top U.S. athletes to watch at the 2025 World Track and Field Championships.
Noah Lyles
Events: 100, 200, 4×100
Lyles looks to become the second sprinter to accomplish the sprint double (win the 100 and 200) at consecutive world championships after track and field legend Usain Bolt accomplished the feat in 2013 and 2015. Lyles also has an opportunity to match Bolt’s four world titles in the 200.
The American sprinter has the fastest 200 time (19.63) and is tied for the 12th fastest 100 time (9.90) in the world this year.
Lyles’ main competition will be Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who has fastest 100 time (9.75) in the world. Lyles beat Thompson in a thrilling photo finish at the Paris Olympics. Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who topped the Paris Olympic podium over Lyles in the 200, and fellow American Kenny Bednarek are gold medal contenders in the 200.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Events: 400, 4×400
The two-time gold medalist and world record holder in the 400 hurdles switched to the open 400. McLaughlin-Levrone can become the first person to win world championship gold in both one-lap events.
McLaughlin-Levrone enters the track meet with the third fastest time (48.90) in the world this year. Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser (48.67) and Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino (48.81) are the top gold medal contenders in the 400.
Paulino is the reigning Olympic and world champion in the event.
Ryan Crouser
Event: Shot put
The three-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time world champion and world-record holder will make his season debut in Tokyo.
Crouser’s battled injuries this year, but he’s the undisputed top shot putter in the world when healthy.
Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri’s throw of 74 feet, 10½ inches is the top mark in the world this year.
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
Events: 100, 200, 4×100
Jefferson-Wooden has been the fastest woman in the world this year. She enters the meet undefeated in the 100 in 2025. Her season-best and personal-record of 10.65 is tied for the fifth fastest time ever in the women’s 100.
Jefferson-Wooden was a bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, finishing behind Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred and U.S. teammate Sha’Carri Richardson. All three of them will compete for the fastest woman on the planet this year.
Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are also legitimate threats. For Fraser-Pryce, a 10-time world championship gold medalist, it’s her world championship swansong.
In the women’s 200, Jefferson-Wooden, Alfred and Jackson are the podium favorites. Alfred’s 21.71 is the top time in the field.
Masai Russell
Event: 100 hurdles
Russell hasn’t looked back after winning gold in the 100 hurdles at the Paris Olympics. She won the U.S. championships in Eugene last month and her season-best 12.17 is the No. 1 ranked time in the world this year. It’s also the second fastest time ever in the event.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, the world-record holder in the 100 hurdles, figures to be Russell’s main competition. Amusan is tied with the fourth fastest time (12.24) this season.
Rai Benjamin
Events: 400 hurdles, 4×400
The men’s 400 hurdles event is shaping up to be one of the most competitive races at this year’s championships.
Benjamin captured his first ever individual Olympic gold medal in Paris, but he’s never won a world championship in the 400 hurdles.
Benjamin’s chief competition will be Norway’s Karsten Warholm and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos. The three men have a competitive rivalry. Warholm owns the world record (45.94), dos Santos has the championship record (46.29) and Benjamin is the defending Olympic champion. The three of them own the top three times ever in the event and have the best three times in the world this year.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.
