The 2022 track and field world championships has been a fantastic meet. It’s going to be even more so once the final finals are run on Sunday, the last day of competition. The women’s 800 meters features at least five runners with a strong claim to one of three medals. The men’s 5,000 meters pits the world-record holder and Olympic champion against the year’s best field. The day—and the meet—ends with the always-dramatic 4 x 400-meter relays, in which the U.S. squads will seek to top off Team USA’s lead in the medal tally. Here’s a quick guide to the day’s top events.
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Races to Watch Today
Women’s 800-Meter Final
When: 6:35 p.m. PDT/9:35 p.m. EDT
Broadcast: NBC
Streaming: Peacock, NBC Sports
Athing Mu hasn’t lost an 800-meter race since she started to focus on the distance in 2021. In that time, she has won the Olympic title and two U.S. championships, and set the American record of 1:55.04. On paper, she seems as sure a bet to win her first world title as Best Running Shoes 2025.
And yet...
Mu has looked ever so slightly vulnerable this year, perhaps in part because since December she’s twice had mild cases of Covid. She opted for the mile rather than the 800 at the Millrose Games in January and dropped out with one lap to go. At the U.S. championships last month, she had to dig deeper than ever to hold off the woman whose U.S. record she broke, Ajeé Wilson. In her two qualifying races at this meet, she had unusually close company at the line. Sure, it doesn’t really matter who wins those qualifying rounds as long as you advance. But it feels like the rest of the world’s top 800-meter women are starting to explore how Mu might be beaten.
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How might that happen? One possibility is going out really hard and forcing Mu to commit to a faster pace than she might want. A good candidate for that strategy is this year’s new star in the event, Mary Moraa of Kenya. Like Mu, she combines world-class 400-meter speed with endurance. She has run the first 200 meters of some of her races this year, including her first round in Eugene, almost recklessly, perhaps as practice at employing this strategy in the final.
The other obvious strategy is to let Mu do her usual front running between 400 and 600 meters, and then run her down in the final 100. That almost worked for Wilson last month. Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain, last year’s Olympic silver medalist, has a strong kick when she doesn’t go out too fast. And if there’s anyone you can count on passing people in the final straight, it’s the third American in the field, Raevyn Rogers. The University of Oregon alum won bronze at the Olympics and silver at the 2019 world meet with just such a sprint.
As the British television commentators might say, five into three does not go. This race will leave at least two of the best in the world without medals. It should be one of the highlights of the meet.
Men’s 5,000-Meter Final
When: 6:05 p.m. PDT/9:05 p.m EDT
Broadcast: NBC
Streaming: Health - Injuries
The temperature is forecast to be close to 90 when this race is run. That’s more reason to believe it will follow a typical championship pattern of an extremely fast final two kilometers after a more moderate opening pace.
Who will prevail in a race like that depends on when things really start to get going. A longer push for home favors Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway, seeking revenge after finishing second in the 1500 on Tuesday; American Grant Fisher, who has closed many races this year with a final mile near 4:00; and world record-holder and reigning Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda. (That said, Cheptegei won the 10K last Sunday in a sprint.)
If, instead, the race comes down to a furious last lap, watch for Olympic 10K champion Selemon Berega and the winner of the last two world 5K titles, Muktar Edris, both of Ethiopia, and Mo Ahmed of Canada, last year’s Olympic silver medalist.
Two wild cards are the two fastest men of the year, Jacob Krop and Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya. Neither has medaled at a global meet, but are clearly in shape to take on their more credentialed competitors.
Men’s and Women’s 4 x 400-Meter Finals
When: 7:30 p.m. PDT/10:30 p.m. EDT (men)/7:50 p.m. PDT/10:50 p.m. EDT (women)
Broadcast: NBC
Streaming: Health - Injuries
The meet concludes with these fan favorites. U.S. teams have historically excelled in the long sprint relays, and there’s no reason to think both squads can’t medal here.
That’s the case even though U.S. runners took only one of the six medals (Michael Norman, gold) in the open 400 meters. The U.S. bench is deep enough to overcome not having several world-beaters, and there’s much less risk of a botched baton pass in this event than in the 4 x 100-meter relay.
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Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Races - Places, Advanced Marathoning, and Meb for Mortals. Health - Injuries Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
