Who is competing at World Athletics Championships? Which GB & NI stars are eyeing gold? Will Noah Lyles, Mondo Duplantis, Femke Bol all feature?

Here is a round-up of some of the biggest stars competing in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, which take place from September 13 to September 21, live on TNT Sports and discovery+. Team GB will feature Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson as well as the likes of Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Josh Kerr. Elsewhere, Noah Lyles, Mondo Duplantis and Femke Bol will all compete.

The 20th World Athletics Championships will take place in Tokyo, Japan from September 13 to September 21, live on TNT Sports and discovery+.

The season-ending track and field competition will see over 2000 athletes across 200 teams compete in 49 events.

Here are some of the star athletes who will be going for gold in Japan, and a selection of notable absentees.

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Which Great Britain and Northern Ireland stars will compete at the World Athletics Championships?

Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson will face a challenge from fellow Brit Georgia Hunter Bell in the 800m at the World Championships. 

Elsewhere, Jake Wightman has been included in the Tokyo team despite missing the 1500m trial at the UK Athletics Championships in August through illness.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s party also features Olympic silver medalist Matt Hudson-Smith, sprint sensation Dina Asher-Smith, pole vaulter Molly Caudery and long jump star Jazmin Sawyers, who is returning from a year-long injury layoff. 

Defending heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson and 1500m runner Josh Kerr have both been given wildcards.

Keely Hodgkinson

Image credit: Getty Images

Which stars will compete at the World Athletics Championships?

Two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will call time on her medal-laden sprinting career upon the conclusion of the World Championships. 

Having withdrawn from last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, the Jamaican 100m and 200m sprinter opted to go out on her own terms by competing in one more season. 

Elsewhere, Olympic stars Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (400m), Noah Lyles (100m and 200m) and Sha’Carri Richardson (100m and 200m) will headline a star-studded US squad for the upcoming World Championships.

Australian teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout, who has earned comparisons with Jamaican great Usain Bolt, is making his World Championships debut. The 17-year-old is taking time out from school to compete in the 200m in Tokyo. 

Furthermore, a spate of returning champions are competing in Tokyo, including Mondo Duplantis (pole vault), Faith Kipyegon (1500m and 5000m), Femke Bol (400m hurdles), Neeraj Chopra (javellin), and Yulimar Rojas (triple jump).

Which stars are missing out from the World Athletics Championships?

The USA's Olympic 200m champion Gabby Thomas is missing the World Athletics Championships as she continues to recover from an achilles tendon injury.

Meanwhile, Australian reigning Olympic pole vault champion Nina Kennedy has withdrawn after sustaining a setback in her recovery from a hamstring injury. 

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