British Athletics World Champs Team - Olympic 1500m medallist Hunter-Bell is ONLY doing 800

Prediction:

Keely- gold

GHB- bronze

Reekie- Semis

Muir - 8th

Walcott-Nolan - Semis

Wallace - Heats

All 5000m Women- Heats

10,000- 10th-15th place

Burgin - 4th

Corken- Heats

Pattison - Semis

Giles - Heats

Gourley/Wightman - Semis

Kerr - Bronze

Mills - 4th

Hunter-Bell not entered in the 1500 could really open up the podium I think. Kipyegon of course has the gold all but locked up, but it was really GHB, Hull, and Welteji most majorly in contention for the podium. Without GHB, only one athlete needs to falter in order to open up the last medal to any of those in the 3:54-56 area who had previously needed way more to go wrong. Surely gives Hiltz, Hall, Haylom, Johnson, etc. much greater hopes for a medal.

GHB doesn’t want to be too big of a freak getting two medals and catching AIU’s attention more than she already has with her Olympic bronze.

her bronze last time was lucky and down to others blowing up trying to win it. she was racing for bronze. unlikely she will get as lucky this time and the 800m is a lot weaker, she wont win that either but has a solid shot at getting silver.

the womens 1500m team is very weak. Muir may sneek in the final but the other 2 are poor racers and have no chance, will be surpised if they get out of the heats

the 5000m is bizarre, Courtney has not raced for months and didnt turn up at the trials, i wouldnt have picked her without proving any recent form. Fitzgerald looks cooked but Nuttall may sneek into the final.

the 10km girls will likely get lapped. I thought Thackery was doing the marathon but she is probably saving herself for a pay-day in an autumn race.

the mens team is pretty weak bar Burgin, Kerr and Mills - all medals shots/likely top 6. Wightman and Gourley have been getting battered in diamond league, they arent going to suddenly improve. even last year, Pattinson didnt make the final, cant see him or any of the other progressing past the heats

will be good if Seddon gets a spot in the steeple but not sure if hes is in a qualifying position? he could sneek in the final as is in good form and steeple is very tight

Not enough respect for Muir here- she was overshadowed by Hunter-Bell at the Olympics but remember that she PB'd with 3:53 only last year after a non-ideal build up. Once again she's had a less than ideal build up but within a couple of serious races back she has already finished 4th in Brussels the other day in 3:57 after leaving herself with way too much to do in the final lap. She closed in 61, going from 11th to 4th, and faster than the entire rest of the field minus Hiltz, and she probably would have had a faster last lap than her too if she hadn't got clipped and lost momentum with 300m to go.

I don't predict a podium in Tokyo but given how quickly she is returning to form I predict much better than 'sneaking into the final'.

On the topic of Hunter-Bell, I'm genuinely surprised that she hasn't gone in for the 1500m. Some politics going on with Erin Wallace being a teammate?

I thought the same, he's way down the rankings in 83rd I think so bit of a long shot unfortunately

They really ought to change the schedule to allow 800/1500 doubles. It's like having the first round of the 200m heats before the 100m final.

No doubt it was the influence of the African EPO lobby that caused the change to 1500/5000 scheduling.

I wouldn't say Fitzgerald is cooked, she's ran 14:39 this season and won the U20 Euros by over 30 seconds - I reckon she makes it to the final

Muirs been a great athlete and will be missed when shes gone but has had a very tough year. she would usually have dominated the british trials but didnt offer anything to the race. she also ran 1:57 last summer, this summer its 2:00...

she finished well in brussells to give a glimmer of hope which is why is can see her sneeking into the final with a 4th/5th in the semi. but i cant see her having anything to challenge the big dogs in the final. shes getting old and injury prone now so will struggle more with the rounds. i dont see her having the burst of pace to impact the race, her best chance is to hang back and pick off people who blow up

One more medal threat not on your list.

Marathon
Emile Cairess (Renato Canova, Leeds City)

If her PB had been 4 years ago I'd probably agree with you. But she was 5th in the Olympic final in 3:53 just 12 months ago. After rounds of sub-4s. She beat the Brussels winner Hiltz by 3 entire seconds in the final. So was she 'old and injury-prone' 12 months ago too? I agree, she's not shown the same form yet this year, but she already looks like a different athlete from that 4:16 British champs loss in early August to a much more promising 3:57 that still had meat on the bone, given the tactical errors and a trip.

Like I said, I don't predict a podium, but I still expect her to defeat many of these supposed 'big dogs' when it matters.

I think Droopy Muir has been allowed the final 1500m place as a last hurrah.

she was 2nd at the trial and ran the time, she was an auto pick. the other 2 1500m on the team are very lucky to get the call. i wouldnt have picked Wallace - gets so many opportunities cos shes in M11, no doubt Trevor had a hand in swinging this with the selectors

i dont think 3:57 is anything to get excited about here, many girls have ran faster this year. you have all the EPOthians, a couple of kenyans, americans & aussies ahead of her to start with, then you have the odd random french, spanish pop up and suddenly, making the top 10 would be a good effort

What are you talking about? The 1500 is on the 13th, 14th and 16th. The 800 is on the 18th, 19th and 21st. There is no overlap

I'm surprised GHB is only doing one event. She must deep down love the 800.

In the 1500, are we sure Welteji is healthy? She hasn't raced since Pre.

It really opens up the medals for Hiltz. If you lined all of the best female 1500 runners on planet earth and had them race at peak fitness, I think Nikki might not even be in the top 8 but I think Hiltz has a great chance of medalling

She's the 7th fastest woman of 2025 but 3 of the women faster than her - maybe 4 if Welteji is out - won't be racing.

1 3:48.68 WR Faith Kipyegon KEN
2 3:50.62 Gudaf Tsegay ETH 23
3 3:51.44 Diribe Welteji ETH 13
4 3:52.67 Jessica Hull AUS 22
5 3:54.73 Beatrice Chebet KEN
6 3:54.76 Georgia Hunter Bell
7 3:55.94 Nikki Hiltz USA

As an objective observer I will say the following are medal contenders:

Keely and Bell

Max Burgin (outsider)

Kerr

Mills (outsider). If Jakob is healthy Mills shall "just" follow him closely as that tactic has given him 2 silver medals so far.