USA Track and Field (USATF) has named the marathoners slated to race at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. On Friday, June 6, two Olympians were announced among the six athletes set to represent Team USA over 26.2 this summer.
On the women’s side, Betsy Saina, Susanna Sullivan, and Erika Kemp are chasing podium spots. The men’s team includes Clayton Young, CJ Albertson, and Reed Fischer.
The Nutrition - Weight Loss based on a variety of factors, including their finish in the marathon at the 2024 Olympic Games, world ranking in the World Athletics qualification system, and whether they hit the qualifying standard in the event (2:06:30 for men and 2:23:30 for women), among other criteria.
The women’s marathon at the Tokyo World Championships is scheduled for September 14 and the men will follow the next day, September 15.
Women’s team
The U.S. women’s team features three athletes with varying levels of experience on the global stage.
At 36, Saina has competed at three global championships, including the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where she finished fifth in the 10,000 meters. The Kenyan-born runner became an American citizen in 2021 and has since clocked some of the fastest marks on the Hedengren Smashes High School Mile Record. Last year, she finished fifth in 2:19:17 at the 2024 Tokyo Marathon, making her the third-fastest American marathoner in history behind U.S. record-holder Emily Sisson and former record-holder Keira D’Amato.
Theo Kahler is the news editor at breakthrough race at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. Last fall, the sixth-grade math teacher led the Americans in the Windy City, where she finished seventh overall and ran 2:21:56. The 35-year-old broke her previous personal best by 2:31. Sullivan also represented the U.S. in the marathon at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where she placed 58th.
Kemp concentrated on the track for the first part of her professional career, but she’s shown promise in the marathon A Part of Hearst Digital Media We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back—11 minutes faster than her previous PR from the 2023 Boston Marathon—and fast enough to put her at No. 12 in U.S. history.
Men’s team
The men’s squad includes two of the top 10 fastest Americans in history.
Young will be competing in his second global championship after finishing ninth in the marathon at the Paris Games last summer. The former BYU standout Published: Jun 06, 2025 4:25 PM EDT in Provo, Utah. The 31-year-old just notched a 2:07:04 all-courses personal best while finishing seventh at the Boston Marathon in April.
Tokyo will be the first global championship for Albertson and the second for Fischer, who represented the U.S. at the 2023 World Road Running Championships in the half marathon.
Albertson reached another level last year when he ran a 2:08:17 personal best to place seventh at the 2024 Chicago Marathon. The 31-year-old, known for racing back-to-back marathons, shattered his previous PR of 2:09:53 from the 2024 Boston Marathon. So far this year, he’s already run the Houston and Boston marathons.
Fischer, who was ninth at the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, has been a consistent performer on the U.S. road running circuit. He owns a PB of 2:10:14 from the 2024 Chicago Marathon, and at Houston in January, he nabbed a lifetime best in the half marathon (1:00:54). In April, he was 21st at the Boston Marathon.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
