Team Canada looks good for 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships: Will Canada hammer out a record number of medals?

From Athletics Canada’s website, the organization shared that for the first time in World Athletics Championships history, Canada will enter competition with four defending world champions on its roster. The champs are Ethan Katzberg Hammer, Camryn Rogers Hammer, Marco Arop, 800 metre and Pierce LePage Decathlon as members of the 59-person team that will compete at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

“Representing Team Canada on the world stage is always an incredible honour, and I don’t take that privilege for granted,” Katzberg said, as he prepares to defend his men’s hammer throw title. “I’m grateful for the chance to compete alongside so many great athletes and to wear the maple leaf with pride.”

Hey Tokyo,

It’s been a while since we last saw you — and a lot has changed. Things feel a bit different now, but one thing’s the same: we’re excited to be back. 🇨🇦❤️🇯🇵

Sincerely,⁰Team Canada pic.twitter.com/bNfbp5H8oo

— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) September 1, 2025

“I have always maintained the same process and preparation going into every competition and it has been the same when looking at Worlds. I think we’ve been building toward something really special, and I want to be able to leave every ounce of myself in the circle on comp day knowing I did what we have been working on for so long,” Rogers said.

“Being part of Team Canada again is something I’m very proud of, and I’m ready to give my best on the track,” said Arop, who will be defending his men’s 800 metre title from 2023 against a strong field of middle-distance superstars. “I trust the work I’ve put in and look forward to showing it against the best in the world.”

“The athletes at the level where they’re winning medals and trying to defend from the Worlds or the Olympics before – it’s a tall order. But it’s one that I think our athletes are more than prepared for and the more than capable of doing,” said Athletics Canada Olympic Head Coach Glenroy Gilbert “For others, who maybe didn’t do as well last year at the Olympic Games, this is an opportunity for them to step up and show that maybe last year was a bit of a fluke, and they’re more than ready. They’ve lived and learned through the experience of an Olympic Games, and now they’re ready to put themselves in a really good position at the World Championships.”

A compelling team

The makeup of the team is compelling for athletics fans. It was not that long ago that Canada was a sprint and middle-distance nation. With the likes of Hilary Stellingwerff (1500m), Diane Cummins (800m), Perdita Felicien (100mh), and Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (100mh) among others, leading the way.

Of course, there was the great Dylan Armstrong, who went on to medal in the Olympics and World Championships in the shot put. He is now coaching Paris Olympic gold medallist Ethan Katzberg.

Katzberg and Camryn Rogers will now lead Team Canada being Paris Olympic defending champions in the hammer throw. Katzberg and Rogers brought the hammer throw to the living rooms of Canada, just as Evan Dunfee had in the racewalk, medalling in the Olympics and breaking national records.

Dunfee is back. And he is mentoring Nanaimo’s Olivia Lundman. Lundman will compete in the 35km racewalk.

So is Cameron Levins, and Natasha Wodak in the marathon. They hold the current national records. The two veterans will put their best foot forward along with fellow marathoners, Ben Priesner and first-timer Justin Kent, all from British Columbia.

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford (GDS) is back. She has been down for over two years with a series of injuries and bad luck, but remarkably has re-entered the fray running at an international level again. GDS considered retirement in 2024, yet has patiently trained and raced her way back to competitiveness. She has also moved around, trying to find the best setting for her. It appears that after Scotland, Portland, OR, Victoria, BC, she is back in Scotland, and that seems to be working for her. While she is internationally fit, she has yet to race in a top-level field. Doing so should bring out the best in her; she is a seven-time national record holder. Sister Lucia is also racing in the 1500m.

All eyes will be on Canada’s all-time greatest 800 metre runner, Marco Arop from Edmonton, Alberta. He broke the Canadian and North American record during the Paris Olympic Games last year, going 1:41.20 to earn a silver medal. Arop is the defending 2023 Budapest World Champion.

Moh Ahmed is not done. In fact, the 34-year-old will be in Tokyo again. In 2021, he earned a silver medal in the 5000m. He also earned a bronze during the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships. The Canadian record holder in both the 5000m (12:47.20) and 10,000m (26:34.14) is up to compete in both events again.

Damian Warner, Tokyo Olympic Champion and two-time World Championships silver medallist, is back. At 35, he continues to be in range of lifetime peak performance and may return as a medal threat. His last two global championships included withdrawals during the competitions, but not due to fitness or ability, but injury. He is still in the running.

Does Andre de Grasse still have it? In Paris, the world watched him round into form and a peak in front of their very eyes. He started off the mark in the rounds and began to sharpen, just in time to anchor the 4 x 100 metre event to a shocking gold, looking like his old self.

The 30-year-old seven-time Olympic and six-time World Championships medallist is at the perfect age for competing over the 100m, 200m, and 4 x 100m. Perhaps, he will bring in three medals for Canada.

Team Canada

This team includes 12 World Athletics Championships medallists, 11 Olympic medallists, 37 World Athletics Championships veterans and 22 athletes making their Worlds debut.

The athletes announced today join those named in May to the World Athletics Championships team in the distance events. Two of the originally selected athletes, Malindi Elmore and Leslie Sexton, have since withdrawn from the team.

“To be the defending World Champion going into the Tokyo Championships is such an honour, and it does carry a certain pressure with it. This is going to be one of the strongest fields going into Worlds for women’s hammer ever, and I think the level of competition is going to be incredible. I have always loved high-pressure environments and stress; it helps me focus and get into the zone, so I’m excited to compete and am always aiming to make everyone who has helped me achieve this goal proud,” said Rogers.

The team

The following additional athletes are also subject to World Athletics Invitation, to be announced on Saturday, August 30^th. Athletes are ordered by event, then by rank within event: