- Chase Jackson has broken her own US record this season in her quest for a third world title
- Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany will be going for gold once more
- China’s Gong Liljao will aim to continue her remarkable feat of being on the podium at every World Championships since 2009
“I’m riding that disappointment into something good instead of something bad,” said US shot putter Chase Jackson after an Olympic Games to forget in which she failed to even qualify for the final.
True to her word, she threw a distance of 20.64m two weeks later which would have won her gold in Paris by some distance.
And she has continued to back that up in 2025, most notably with a national record of 20.95m, breaking her own mark and putting her in the top spot comfortably this season. In fact, she owns the top four throws in the world this year.
Jackson is bidding for a hat-trick of world titles having won gold in 2022 and 2023 and, ominously for her rivals, warned: “I’ve got more in the tank” following that 20.95m.
While Jackson is the benchmark, her rivals are well aware anything is possible simply by casting their eyes back to the events of the qualification competition at the Paris Olympics.
Also in the field in Tokyo is Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany, who peaked at just the right time to win her first ever major title.
She may not have had the same consistency this year as Jackson, but Ogunleye knows how to peak when it counts. Last year she set an indoor PB to take world indoor silver and an outdoor PB to win Olympic gold. She improved her PB earlier this year to 20.27m.
Two-time European champion Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands is another in good form this season, having won the European Indoor Championships with a career best throw of 20.69m. She followed that with a national outdoor record of 20.47m, making her the top European in the world order this season.
Two-time world indoor champion Sarah Mitton is another contender. The Canadian extended her outright best to 20.68m during the indoor season, putting her a centimetre shy of Schilder on this year’s combined indoor and outdoor list.
More recently, Mitton thought she had won the Diamond League Final and was pictured celebrating with trophy, flowers and national flag in hand. But following a successful protest, the judges ruled that she had in fact stepped out of the throwing circle before her shot hit the ground. Her next best throw was a mere 19.99m which dropped her back to third.
Schilder benefited from the decision to take the win but Mitton has pledged to bounce back and show herself to be the world’s best in Tokyo.
Two of Jackson’s US compatriots – Jaida Ross and Maggie Ewen – will be hoping to be in contention as well. Ewen has produced two of her three best career throws this year, while Ross set a lifetime best of 20.13m.
The Chinese contingent is led by 2021 Olympic champion Gong Lijiao, who heads to Tokyo with a season’s best of 19.79m. The 36-year-old will be making her 10th World Championships appearance, having earned medals every year since 2009.
Olympic silver medallist Maddison Lee-Wesche is another proven championship performer. The New Zealander set lifetime bests at the 2023 World Championships, 2024 World Indoor Championships and 2024 Olympic Games. If that trend continues in Tokyo, she could improve on the 20.06m PB she set earlier this year.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics