• Defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen returns following a season marked with achilles injury
• Grant Fisher and Nico Young lead US challenge
• 10 men in the field have broken 12:50 this year

World and Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen will open his season at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25.

In an uninterrupted year, the Norwegian would have been the pre-race favourite for a third consecutive world title in Tokyo, a venue where he claimed the Olympic 1500m title in 2021. Though his current form and fitness is unknown, he still cannot be ruled out.

The four-time world champion kicked off the year by winning the 1500m and 3000m titles at the European Indoor Championships, followed two weeks later by the same double at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. An achilles injury has since interrupted his season and has prevented him from racing outdoors.

The net for the 5000m medal contenders stretches far and wide.

Double Olympic bronze medallist Grant Fisher, who earlier this year set world indoor records at 3000m (7:22.91) and 5000m (12:44.09, is joined on the US team by national champion Nico Young, who set an outdoor US record of 12:45.27 to win in Oslo.

Sweden’s Andreas Almgren is another Diamond League winner heading to Tokyo. He triumphed on home soil in Stockholm, breaking the European record with 12:44.27. He pulled out of the 5000m in Monaco one month later, but more recently he finished third over 3000m at the Diamond League Final.

France’s Jimmy Gressier will be inspired by his 3000m victory at the Diamond League Final in Zurich. To date, his highest placing in a global track final was his ninth-place finish over 5000m in 2022.

The Ethiopian squad, tasked with reclaiming the 5000m title they last won in 2019, features two of the fastest athletes of all time: Hagos Gebrhiwet (second) and Yomif Kejelcha (fourth).

Gebrhiwet, the world road 5km champion, placed sixth in Budapest and fifth in Paris last year. This will be his ninth appearance at an outdoor global championships, and he'll be keen to improve on the silver and bronze medals he won in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Kejelcha is a two-time world indoor champion at 3000m, but is yet to earn a global medal over 5000m. That said, his form this year has been impressive with victories at the Diamond League meetings in Monaco and Paris, both times breaking 12:50.

Jacob Krop, the bronze and silver medallist in 2022 and 2023, will lead the Kenyan team alongside Matthew Kipsang and Cornelius Kemboi in their bid to end a 20-year gold medal drought.

Watch out for Great Britain’s George Mills, Frenchman Yann Schrub, European 10,000m champion Dominic Lobalu, Spanish record-holder Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Belgium's Isaac Kimeli, winner in Lausanne.

Michelle Katami for World Athletics