Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

It can be easy to forget just how vast a sport athletics is, but putting together this issue of AW has served as a timely reminder. From compiling the shortlists for our annual awards through to taking a closer look at the world of trail running, the breadth of skill and variety of brilliance that continues to take place across the globe really is remarkable. It’s amazing to think that throwing a heavy implement as far as possible can come under the same sporting banner as covering great distances on the roads or in the mountains, but it does and we’re delving into all of the above over the coming pages as we turn our gaze away from the track a little. There’s a profile of the throws set-up in…

In recent years, I’ve heard a number of people saying that Femke Bol would make a great 800m runner – it’s an idea that’s been bandied about for a while now. Even still, when she announced recently that she is leaving the 400m hurdles behind and will be moving to the two-lap event, I must admit to having been really surprised. I thought she would have at least another season at the hurdles and, given Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s focus on the 400m, the opportunity would be there to rack up more titles and achieve a few more things over the barriers first. But I’m certainly not complaining about her decision – I think it’s massively exciting – because I suspect she’ll get very, very good at the 800m very, very quickly.…

It’s easier to write this now, following a successful return to the very extroverted world of racing through city streets for all to see, but the comeback to this point following four months of injury rehabilitation has felt devastatingly insular. We often acknowledge the pressure of standing on a start line knowing that it’s all down to us – and us alone – in that moment, but we forget the pressure of knowing that the only person who can do all of the work to get back on that start line is also just us. It takes a lot more discipline, belief and willpower to stick out a lengthy rehabilitation programme than it does to spring out of the door feeling fit and fabulous. Getting back to competition can feel…

In the throws events, you would need to go all the way back to 1997 in Athens, when Steve Backley took javelin silver, to find Britain’s last world championships medallist. In Olympic terms, it’s Sophie Hitchon’s bronze in the women’s hammer throw at the Rio 2016 Games. When it comes to para athletics, however, the success has been far more recent and widespread. A long-term project based in Wales has been bearing fruit for some time, but the scale of it is really starting to grow. At the World Para Athletics Championships that ended last month in Delhi, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team featured no fewer than eight throwers who have been part of a training set-up based at Cardiff University that has not only brought like-minded individuals…

The brakes are well and truly off and Conner Mantz, for one, is delighted about it. The 28-year-old American has always been an athlete who preferred to push the pace, so to see the world’s best marathon runners continually throwing caution to the wind and attacking the distance head on rather than fearing it brings a smile to his face. Advances in a number of areas, but most noticeably shoe technology, have changed the game to such an extent that, on the men’s side, the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record of 2:00:35 is consistently, and openly, being placed front and centre as the target to beat. Sabastian Sawe made no secret of going after it in Berlin in late September and reached the halfway mark on course to do just…

Trail running used to be a way to get away from it all. Now it’s where everyone seems to be going. Races sell out in minutes, brands build marketing calendars around mountain events, and a sport once defined by independence is learning to live with TV rights, global circuits, and prize purses. Growth has been both remarkable and destabilising, leaving many trail runners wondering what happens when a pastime becomes a commercial event – and maybe even an Olympic sport. A perfect storm of timing and culture Trail running’s rise was not a single event but a convergence of culture, storytelling, and timing. Participation has been slowly growing over the past decade, but surged during the pandemic as people sought open spaces and self-directed challenges. Strava data shows that, between…

“Find trait, not times” ROSS CAIRNS Inverness Harriers’ endurance coach Ross Cairns is best known for coaching Great Britain and Northern Ireland internationalists Megan Keith – 2024 European 10,000m bronze medallist and 10th in the 2025 World Athletics Championships – and Mhairi Maclennan, first British finisher at the 2024 TCS London Marathon on her marathon debut. Brought up in Fort William, Cairns initially favoured rugby. He took up running when he moved to Glasgow to study there in 1993. A lecturer in Architectural Technology at the University of the Highlands and Islands for almost 20 years, he now coaches a range of athletes across Scotland – from Keith and Maclennan at elite level, to national standard athletes throughout the age groups. In 2025, Inverness Harriers’ senior women’s teams –guided by…

132 Great Britain returned from last month’s European Masters Championships in Madeira with a remarkable 132 gold medals–311 medals in total – to easily top the table. Masters athletics sees competitors across multiple age-groups and unlike senior athletics there are no qualifying standards or team limits. W40 Ellie Stevens won six individual gold medals from 800m to half marathon, while Sarah Roberts won five individual gold medals in the middle and long distance races and three in team or relay events. W85 Evaun Williams won all six throwing events open to her, while M65 world recordholder John Wright won a sprint treble and two relay golds. Fellow M65 Paul Mingay won three endurance races (5000m, 10km and halfmarathon) and two team golds. Britain’s oldest team member, 91-year-old Colin Spivey, set…

The Greek capital was the scene of only the Briton’s second outing over 26.2 miles after landing the Olympic qualifying time on her debut in Berlin 11 months previously. While she finished almost 14 minutes adrift of Japanese gold medallist Mizuki Noguchi, lasting the distance was an accomplishment when others – notably team-mate Paula Radcliffe – came unstuck in the punishing heat I got an injury early in 2003 when I tore my Achilles during a really hilly cross-country race. I wasn’t able to befit enough in time for the track season because of it, so it forced my hand to think that a marathon would be pretty well-timed in terms of the recovery. Berlin came to mind. It was always in the third week in September, so the date…

It barely feels like five minutes ago that the calendar was turning over to 2025 and another fascinating year of athletics all lay ahead of us. Who would recover best from the Olympic hangover? Who had a point to prove at the Tokyo World Championships? Which athletes might break through and make a name for themselves? Well, we get our answers on the track, trails and roads, as well as in the field as records were broken and titles were won. Now comes one of the final tasks of the year – to decide on the winners of our 2025 AW Readers’ Awards. As ever, we are handing the job over to you, our knowledgeable readership, to decide the outcome across a variety of categories from the shortlists that appear…

Victoria Levitt didn’t know how to feel. She hadn’t ever thought about – let alone been prepared for – becoming a world champion so the swirl of emotions that enveloped her when she achieved just that in New Delhi last month were extremely powerful. “I’ve connected with my therapist because I was like: ‘Look, there are just too many emotions going around here’,” says the 29-year-old. “‘There are positives, there are negatives. I think I need help working this out’. So I reached out and that’s been a really positive step to try and process everything. “When I see ‘Victoria Levitt, gold medallist’, I can’t believe it was me that did that. It’s almost like I’m watching it as somebody else rather than accepting ‘no, that was you. You did…

“So, what are the goals?” asks the doctor, while an alarmingly emaciated James Ellington sits in a wheelchair pushed by his then coach Linford Christie. “To be back on track next year,” replies Ellington instantly. Emotionless, not missing a beat. “What do you mean by back on track?” responds the confused consultant. “Full training. Competing,” says Ellington, prompting an interminable pause as the audacity of his statement hangs in the air. Eventually, so quietly that he has to repeat himself to be heard, Christie breaks the silence to gently offer a more realistic ambition for Ellington’s future: “Just to be able to walk around unsupported.” The clip has sat at the top of Ellington’s Instagram page for close to seven years now, offering a permanent reminder of the athlete who…

BROOKS Brooksrunning.com GHOST TRAIL £135 Taking your best-selling daily training shoe and giving it a trail makeover is a sure-fire winning formula – and that’s exactly what Brooks have done here. The great, nitrogen-infused midsole from the Ghost road shoe has been retained, but there has been an upgrade on the upper to a double-jacquard mesh design with 3D rubber toe and mudguard prints for flexible durability. The shoe’s 3mm outsole lugs provide the perfect solution for a wide variety of trails and, with flex grooves that mirror the foot, it is as happy on the road as it is on light trails. The cushioning and drop have been adjusted a touch for a little more balanced off-road feel, but fans of the regular Ghost will find this a great…

GET IN TOUCH: Email us at haveyoursay@athleticsweekly.com or via our social media channels Chepngetich conflict The news of Ruth Chepngetich being banned for three years after testing positive for a banned substance is hugely conflicting if you’re an athletics fan. On one hand it is entirely positive that another athlete has been caught but, when that dubious marathon world record of 2:09:56 she ran is still allowed to stand, it does leave a sour taste. I know the Athletics Integrity Unit is looking further into the evidence they have so there may well be more to come in this story and I hope we’re not left with another record in athletics that is mired in controversy and could potentially take years to be overtaken. The fact that she can serve…

The 2026 European Championships in Birmingham will hit the ground running next summer, with the Alexander Stadium crowd set to be treated to some brilliant 100m battles that will see British athletes right at the heart of the action. On opening night – Monday August 10 – the women take centre stage as the 100m semi-finals and final unfold. As reigning European 100m champion Dina Asher-Smith put it: “Running in front of a home crowd is one of the biggest privileges,” and she will be looking to add to her tally of six continental titles. The 29-year-old was the fastest European in the world in 2025, thanks to a run of 10.93 at the Stockholm Diamond League, with her compatriots Daryll Neita (10.94) and world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt…

ASSEFA OUTSTANDING In London, the Olympic and world silver medallist Tigist Assefa broke the women’s-only marathon world record as she pulled away in the closing miles to clock 2:15:50, well inside the mark of 2:16:16 set by Peres Jepchirchir. HALL’S GREATNESS IN GÖTZIS Anna Hall won her first global title this year but her best performance of 2025 came in winning the Hypo Meeting in Götzis with a score of 7032 that moved her to equal second on the heptathlon world all-time list. She set PBs in the high jump, shot put, javelin and 800m. KIPYEGON’S 1500M WORLD RECORD Just a few days after running the fastest mile ever, albeit unofficially as part of the Breaking Four project in Paris, Faith Kipyegon broke her own world 1500m record with 3:48.68…

Anyone who watched the London Athletics Meet earlier this year will have seen how the fireworks can fly when Matthew Hudson-Smith and Charlie Dobson face each other on the track over 400m. And that mouthwatering prospect lies in store once again at the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham. The evening session of Wednesday August 12 at the Alexander Stadium will feature the men’s 400m final and, once again, should have all the ingredients of another truly memorable occasion. Belgium’s 2024 world indoor champion Alexander Doom struck gold at the last edition of European Championships in Rome but Hudson-Smith, himself a two-time European champion (2018 and 2022) will have a point to prove after missing out on the podium at this year’s World Championships. The US-based Olympic and world silver medallist…

“The short answer is yes,” says Jakob Larsen, responding to the question of whether or not he feels there is untapped potential in cross country running. At its core, the discipline that has been used by so many athletes as a foundation stone of endurance running is largely unchanged from its inception in the 19th century. It remains a mainstay of the calendar, too, but Larsen – the man who led the organising committee behind the innovative 2019 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark – believes it is one of the areas of athletics that has been “left behind” down the years. “I think the world cross country championships and the 1500m are the Blue Riband distances,” he adds. “They are always extremely competitive, very hard to predict,…

NOVEMBER 8 • Cardiff Cross Challenge Llandaff Fields cardiffcrosschallenge.co.uk • Lindsays scottishathletics National Short Course Cross Country Championships Kirkcaldy scottishathletics.org.uk NOVEMBER 9 • BAA Half Marathon Boston baa.org • Athens Marathon. The Authentic athensauthenticmarathon.gr • BMAF Open 10km Road Championships Newcastle bmaf.org.uk • Strathclyde Park 5km, 10km& Half Marathon Motherwell upandrunningevents.co.uk NOVEMBER 15 • British & Irish Masters International Cross Country Roundhay Park, Leeds bmaf.org.uk NOVEMBER 16 • Brampton to Carlisle 10 miles borderharriers.co.uk • Derby 10 Mile derby10.co.uk • Preston 5 & 10 Mile Road Race prestonharriers.co.uk NOVEMBER 22 • Liverpool Cross Challenge Sefton Park britishathletics.org.uk • Benidorm Half Marathon & 10km benidormhalf.com NOVERMBER 23 • Sunderland 10km runthrough.co.uk NOVEMBER 30 • British Masters Open 5km Road Championships Battersea Park, London bmaf.org.uk DIAMOND LEAGUE DATES The dates for next…

The late Grete Waitz was one of the greatest female distance runners the world has ever seen. She won European medals at 1500m and 3000m, as well as breaking the world record at the longer event, and off the track she was a serial world cross country championships winner. It was in the marathon, though, where the Norwegian found her sweet spot. She won New York nine times, London twice and the inaugural world championships title in 1983 – breaking the world record on a number of occasions. However, an interview in the December 21 issue of AW from 1985 reveals that she nearly left the sport before any of her road racing prowess became known to the world. “In 1978 I had run several very good 3000sand then I…