Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

One of the best parts about this job is being able to speak to the people right in the thick of it. Those who get out there, experience it and do it – the hard training sessions that hurt, the competitions that can hurt even more or those sweet, sweet occasions when everything clicks and a long-term plan falls beautifully into place. With that in mind, this final issue of 2025 has been a pleasure to put together. Every year, we ask you to select the athletes who have excelled, made the biggest impression on you and that you feel are deserving of further recognition. Once those decisions are made, we then set about either documenting their achievements or, when we’re lucky, take the opportunity to sit down and talk…

Athletics hasn’t been without its challenges in 2025 but, when I think back on the past 12 months, I’m left with the strong feeling that it’s been a really good year overall. It very much helped, of course, to have had such a successful major showpiece – in this case the World Championships in Tokyo – and they absolutely nailed it in Japan. The positivity generated from those nine days of competition shone brighter than the negative headlines that we have had to wrestle with, such as the high-profile doping bans, the dreadful idea that is the Enhanced Games or Grand Slam Track’s failure not only to achieve its aim of changing the sport but even to simply pay the athletes. I also feel that 2025 reminded us about the…

The year is 2105 and the scene is the 60th World Athletics Championships in a packed Seb Coe Memorial Stadium in the megalopolis of London. Due to air pollution and intense heat, the entire championships are being held in an air-conditioned indoor arena. As athletes in the opening event of the women’s decathlon settle into their blocks, a golden statue of Usain Bolt, who died eight years earlier aged 110, towers over the competitors. Is this what athletics will look like in 80 years’ time? Probably not. In fact, maybe that is all beyond our imagination. Yet this doesn’t stop us speculating and posing some genuine questions. Will world records continue to fall, for example, or will they reach their ceiling at some point? If so, which marks have scope…

Once again, our knowledgeable AW readership responded magnificently to the challenge of deciding the outcome of our annual Readers’ Choice Awards. It was no easy task, given the range of top class performers and performances to take into account, but your choices have been made and, over the coming pages, we hear from and profile each of the winners. Reliving 2025 through the eyes of the athletes is the perfect way to look back on another highly eventful 12 months in athletics so sit back and enjoy… Your 2025 AW Readers’ Choice Awards Athletes of the Year International Male 1 Mondo Duplantis 2 Jimmy Gressier 3 Emmanuel Wanyonyi International Female 1 Faith Kipyegon 2 Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 3 Beatrice Chebet British Male 1 Jake Wightman 2 Tom Evans 3 Jeremiah Azu British Female 1 Amy Hunt 2 Georgia…

Kelly Doualla turned 16 last month, another celebration to add into a year that on one hand must almost feel like dream and, on the other, entirely earned. Named AW’s International Female Under-20 Athlete of the Year, she has spent 2025 exceeding expectations, collecting medals, breaking records and demonstrating a talent on the track far beyond her years. Born in Pavia to Cameroonian parents, Doualla's path in athletics seems to have almost been pre-destined. Her full name – Kelly Ann Maevane Doualla Edimo – and middle name, “Ann,” honors Jamaican sprint legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, a hero she has followed since childhood thanks to her mother’s admiration for the sprinter. By the time she was 12, Doualla had already made her mark, running the outdoor 60m in 7.94 seconds – an…

Last year was always going to be a hard one to follow. Boasting both a World Para Athletics Championships and the Paris Paralympic Games, 2024 was a season bursting with opportunity, challenge and a unique chance to complete “the double” within a year. Throw in a wedding and a honeymoon, the once in a lifetime moments just kept coming. So, it should come as no surprise that I found it difficult to motivate myself for the 2025 season. With the promise of another World Para Athletics Championships only being confirmed in December last year, I had to pull myself away from the festivities and push myself back into the harsh realities of winter training. Due to playing catch-up after the disruption of the pandemic, we have seen three World Para…

DECEMBER 6 • USATF Cross Country Championships Portland usatf.org • Lanazarote International Marathon lanzaroteinternationalmarathon.com • Northern Athletics December Indoor Open Sheffield northernathletics.co.uk DECEMBER 6-7 • Loughborough Indoor Open lboro.ac.uk DECEMBER 7 • Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich valenciaciudaddelrunning.com • Barbados Marathon visitbarbados.org • Myerscough 10 Preston garstangrc.co.uk DECEMBER 13 • GAA Yuletide Open Graded Meeting Emirates Arena, Glasgow glasgowathletics.org.uk • ADNOC AbuDhabi Marathon adnocabudhabimarathon.com DECEMBER 13-14 • SEAACombined Events Championships inc. SEAA Indoor Middle Distance Championships Lee Valley seaa.org.uk DECEMBER 14 • 31st SPAR European Athletics Cross Country Championships Lagoa, Portugal european-athletics.com • Cardiff Met Indoor Christmas Classic cardiffmetathletics.co.uk • Stockport 10 stk10.co.uk DECEMBER 21 • Manchester Indoor Open meeting saleharriersmanchester.com DECEMBER 28 • Ribble Valley 10km Clitheroe ribblevalley10k.co.uk JANUARY 3 • GAA Indoor Miler Meet 2026 Emirates Arena, Glasgow…

GLORIOUS MUD The Liverpool Cross Challenge threw up its traditional mix of mud and great racing at Sefton Park on November 22 as competitors battled it out for honours and places on the British team for this month’s European Cross Country Championships in the Algarve. In the senior men’s race, Scott Beattie got the better of his training partner and Morpeth Harriers clubmate Rory Leonard, while victory in the senior women’s race went to Cari Hughes, who edged out Poppy Tank by just two seconds.…

I was very young when I went to my first major championships, the 1982 Europeans, where I ran the 1500m. When I was 16, I’d come eighth in the 3000m at the European Juniors in Bydgoszcz in 1979 in 8:10.64 (behind winner Steve Cram) and people were saying: “You’re the new Jim Ryun.” People pushed me to step up but my coach, Federico Leporati, was very strict. He told me I had a lot of road to cover. That is why I stayed with him for 20 years. He didn’t want me to move up in distance just yet because I had an Achilles issue at the end of races where I could pass people but never kick. I see these athletes who leave one coach for another so quickly…

The clock had already struck 11pm Tokyo time, long after the rest of the night’s events had ended inside the National Stadium. And still an estimated 55,000 people stayed behind with all eyes on the man in the yellow vest. Twice Mondo Duplantis had knocked over the bar, and he hada last chance to become the first man to clear 6.30m, a height that seemed unthinkable before his career took off. It was apt that the person he idolised as a wannabe athlete, Renaud Lavillenie, should be the one closest to him, standing just a few metres behind and clapping along with a boisterous crowd to get him into the rhythm on the runway. By this point, Duplantis already had a laser-like focus on what lay ahead of him. The…

At the beginning of the year, Innes FitzGerald was looking at British Milers Club (BMC) race options, planning the season in the way she usually did. Even though she was already a double European under-20 cross country champion and one of Britain’s most established young middle-distance talents, the early structure of her season felt familiar: choose the BMCs, build the rhythm, sharpen for the summer. But, this time, her coach Gavin Pavey wasn’t offering the usual guidance. “I remember I was trying to plan out what races I was doing,” she says. “I was saying to my coach: ‘Should I enter these BMCs?’ And he was keeping quite quiet. I was like: ‘What’s going on? Surely we need to have a bit more of a plan’. And now I know…

Of all forms of running, cross country arguably remains the most elemental. Away from the roads and synthetic tracks, it’s a return to nature. While running itself stretches back to antiquity, cross-country competitions only emerged in early 19th century England. Their origins lie in the Victorian public school system. In 1819, students at Shrewsbury School, barred from forming a fox-hunting club, created their own alternative: a running club that mimicked the chase on foot. Two boys acted as “hares” or “foxes”, setting off ahead and dropping paper scraps as a trail, while the rest – the “hounds” – gave chase across the countryside. Andrew Hutchinson, author of the definitive history of cross-country, described it as a sport born “out of imitation” – boys imitating their fathers hunting. By the mid-19th…

This updated max-cushioned shoe arrived late in the year, but the original version was already a strong contender in this category. The updates in this second-generation model are only minor but they improve the fit and overall feel of the shoe. The DNA Tuned, nitrogen-infused foam provides great cushioning on impact and a responsive toe-off that makes it a great choice for those steady paced daily miles. The Glycerin Max delivers exceptional levels of cushioning, absorbing shock for mile after mile without any noticeable loss of impact protection or its smooth toe-off spring. When it comes to a daily training shoe, you want durability and this will keep you going! Want to pick up the pace on those daily miles? The Megablast is the perfect shoe for doing just that.…

1 Name the American who broke the world indoor records for 3000m and 5000m within the space of five days back in February? 2 Who were the athletes to break the British women’s indoor 300m and men’s 1000m records at the Keely Klassic in Birmingham? 3 The then 15-year-old New Zealander Sam Ruthe made history on the track in March. What did he do? 4 Where were the host venues for the European and World Indoor championships respectively? 5 After winning the 1500m and 3000m titles, how many European Indoor gold medals does Jakob Ingebrigtsen now own? a) 5 b) 6 c) 7 6 Which Norwegian won heptathlon gold at both the European and World Indoor Championships? 7 Can you name Great Britain’s sole gold medallist at the European Indoor…

As we prepare for the 31st staging of the European Athletics Cross Country Championships on December 14, a look back to the very same date in 1994 saw the publication of AW’s coverage of the event’s first ever appearance. The cross country special issue focused on what unfolded in the shadow of Alnwick Castle a little over three decades ago. While the championships now features seven races, back then it was just two – a 9km contest for the senior men and 4.5km for the women. Portugal’s Paul Guerra and Catherina McKiernan of Ireland wrote their names into the history books by becoming the inaugural champions. Guerra finished fully 16 seconds ahead of his fellow countryman Domingos Castro, while Spaniard Antonio Serrano took bronze. Andrew Pearson was the first British…

4 Jakob Ingebrigtsen endured a frustrating summer. Struggling with Achilles problems, he was unable to race on the Diamond League circuit and was eliminated in the 1500m heats at the World Championships in Tokyo before finishing an underpar 10th in the 5000m final. He has clearly got back into better training this autumn, though, as he has been named in the Norway team for the European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal on December 14. The Olympic 5000m champion has been preparing at altitude in Sierra Nevada and carefully stepping up his harder sessions. He has also had his tonsils removed recently in order to minimise the chances of falling ill at crucial periods in future. If he wins gold in Portugal, the 25-year-old will become just the third four-time…

There’s no avoiding it at Sefton Park, the beating heart of British running will embrace you. Whether it’s the thundering pack or the sticky mire that chews you up and spits you out, you’ll finish rosy-cheeked and festooned in filth from head to toe either broken or triumphant, and there will always be somebody waiting to hug you anyway. It’s a rite of passage for most middle to long distance runners growing up in the UK, and as I walked through the melee of club tents again this year, I saw myself in the small faces of all the younger girls perhaps here for the very first time, streaming through the finish line with mingled tears and grins. It’s 16 years since I first raced on this course in Liverpool…

Day one (August 10) Dina Asher-Smithv Amy Hunt Women’s 100m and 200m There has been much discussion recently about the release of the athletics schedule for the LA28 Olympics and particularly the plan for all of the heats, semi-finals and final of the women’s 100m to take place on the opening day. That is precisely the challenge that will also lie in wait for the competitors in Birmingham as the European Championships gets off to what promises to be a spectacular, and fast-paced, start. That first day of competition at the Alexander Stadium has the potential to be truly explosive and home athletes will be in the thick of the women’s 100m action. British record-holder Dina Asher-Smith, with no fewer than six European titles to her name, will be front…

“I still feel like 2023 was the most special year for me,” says Faith Kipyegon as she considers where the last 12 months rank in the exceptional body of work she has put together since first representing her country back in 2010. “Breaking three world records [1500m, mile and 5000m] and winning two gold medals [world 1500m and 5000m] in a championship was really amazing.” But 2025 has been different. For the 31-year-old, it represented more than just the sport, and was about using her athletic talents as a vehicle to spread a wider message. “It was really [about] bigger goals, like: ‘What else can I do in this sport? What else can I achieve to still be inspirational to young girls around the world and be a role model?’,”…

School’s out for Gout Gout. The 17-year-old Australian sprinter graduated from historic Ipswich Grammar School, just 40km south-west of 2032 Olympic Games host city Brisbane, late last month, marking the end of his time as a schoolboy phenomenon. And what a phenomenon. A silver medallist at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima last year, aged just 16, he officially became the fastest 200m runner Australia and Oceania has ever produced earlier this year. His outstanding performances mean he has finished 2025 by being voted AW’s International Male U20 Athlete of the year. Gout’s domestic season took off when he ran 20.05 in the heats at the Queensland Championships in March, which bettered 1968 Olympic silver medallist Peter Norman’s 57-year-old Australian benchmark and area record (20.06), and the qualifying standard for…

It’s a truth in this sport that some of your biggest breakthroughs often grow out of your biggest disappointments. For Tom Waterworth, that moment arrived at the European U18 Championships last year. He went into the race confident, fully aware of what he was capable of and ready to make a mark on the international stage. But, when it was all over, he was fifth – outside of the medals and left with the feeling that months of work hadn’t translated into the result he’d hoped for. The 18-year-old chose not to dwell on it, though. Instead, he used it as a springboard. One year later, he was standing on the podium at the European U20 Championships, a silver medal around his neck and a 1:46.73 personal best to close…

The French 400m runner and his Italian counterpart were left rather disappointed. As they prepared to start the M90 age group contest at the European Masters Championships in Madeira in October, they were under the impression that it would be a straight shootout between the two of them for gold. But they had reckoned without the arrival of Colin Spivey. The 91-year-old was trying something new. Having become a regular at his local parkrun in Huddersfield since 2012 after being persuaded by his daughter to head along, he went on to discover that he was one of the fastest athletes in his age group. “We’re only here once so make hay while the sun shines. Do it as long as you can Last year he represented Great Britain for the…

Made with a luxurious blend of Merino wool and polyester, this hat and glove combo provides highly comfortable warmth and protection, as well as great moisture management regardless of the weather. The gloves feature a super-soft Merino lining fora great feel against the skin and have silicone grippers to enable phone use while wearing them. These open-ear air conduction earbuds offer premium sound quality in a compact design, with an adjustable fit to create the ultimate sports earbud. Offering 12 hours of continuous playback and up to 48 hours via the included case, you’ll be covered for sound from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day without charging! The sound quality is superb, giving a full, surround-like experience and, with built-in noise cancellation, there’s no distraction. IPX5 waterproofing means they are okay…