Five rising stars looking to sparkle at Tokyo worlds

Noah Lyles, Armand Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon headline the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, but it is an opportunity for new stars to emerge and challenge the established order.

Here are five prospects who could do just that:

Cooper Lutkenhaus

A loaded 800m with Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and Canada's defending titleholder Marco Arop makes it one of the standout races — and United States teenager Lutkenhaus adds even more spice to the field.

At 16 and 272 days, when he runs in his heat he will be the youngest athlete to compete for the US at the world championships.

Lutkenhaus earned his ticket with a brilliant effort to finish second at the US trials in an under-18 world record time of one minute, 42.27 seconds.

He has turned professional, signing a contract with Nike — becoming the youngest American athlete to do so.

While his rivals have the advantage of experience, his coach believes his attitude will help him.

"He doesn't make the bad or the good too high or too low," his high school coach Chris Capeau told trackandfieldnews.com.

"He loves celebration and loves being hyped up about it. But if it's a bad day, he still loves it."

Niels Laros

It could be a case of double Dutch in Tokyo — Femke Bol in the women's 400m hurdles and Laros in the 1,500m.

The 20-year-old is the great male hope for the Netherlands, and the form one, too, as he arrives armed with the Diamond League title.

There are question marks over Norwegian Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen after an injury-plagued season, his successor as Olympic gold medalist Cole Hocker of the US and Britain's defending world champion Josh Kerr.

Laros, who was sixth in the Olympic final, could have opted for the 800m or the 5,000m — both Hocker and Ingebrigtsen are eyeing the 1,500m-5,0 00m double — but has decided not to overreach.

"In Tokyo I will focus on the 1,500m," said Laros. "My coach and I know that there will be high expectations, we want to be realistic. But, of course I am dreaming about the podium."

Oleh Doroshchuk

The Dutch may entertain hopes of a track double, but the Ukrainians have similar aspirations in the high jump.

World record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh is favored to retain her title and Doroshchuk has an excellent chance of becoming the first man from his country to be crowned champion since Bohdan Bondarenko in 2013.

Based on his season so far, Doroshchuk could deliver, as Mahuchikh has constantly done since 2022.

The 24-year-old comes into the championships after victory in the Brussels Diamond League meet, beating Olympic champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand, who then avenged that at the Diamond League finals in Zurich.

He is building up his medals collection: European outdoors bronze last year and gold in the European indoors earlier this year. The only slight worry is the knee injury he suffered earlier in the season.

Audrey Werro

The 21-year-old could break a glass ceiling for Swiss women and become the first to win an 800m medal in a world or Olympic final.

Werro, daughter of a Swiss father and an Ivorian mother, has transferred seamlessly into the senior ranks after an impressive junior career.

Twice European under-20 champion, she won under-20 silver in the 2022 championships in Colombia, and this year won the European under-23 title.

She rounded off her Diamond League campaign in fine style, winning in front of her home crowd in Zurich, becoming the first Swiss woman to lift a Diamond League trophy.

Only British Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has run faster than Werro's winning time of 1:55.91 — also a Swiss record — this season.

Despite that, she is measured in her ambitions for Tokyo.

"I want to make the final, and then, after that, run my best and see what happens."

Leyanis Perez Hernandez

The 23-year-old has restored some luster to Cuban women's triple jumping. Her bronze in the 2023 world championships in Budapest ended a 14-year hiatus from the championships podium in the event.

Perez Hernandez topped that with the world indoor title this year, she is the world leader in the event this season and collected a Diamond League trophy.

However, if she is to become the first Cuban to win the women's title since Yargelis Savigne retained her crown in 2009, she might have to battle Venezuelan great and four-time champion Yulimar Rojas, who is still seeking her best form after injury deprived her of the 2024 Olympics.

It should be some spectacle, and Perez Hernandez will know the 29-year-old Rojas never gives up, having been present when she won gold in Budapest.

AFP