Reigning world 800m champion Mary Moraa has thrown down the gauntlet, warning her rivals of her intent to defend her crown when the World Athletics Championships get underway in Tokyo on Saturday.
Moraa stormed to the two-lap title at the previous edition in Budapest 2023, stopping the clock at 1:56.03. She outkicked Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, who settled for silver in 1:56.34, while American Athing Mu bagged bronze in 1:56.61.
The 25-year-old is confident she can replicate her Budapest brilliance and mount a successful defence of her world title. "I am the 2023 champion, and as we head to Tokyo, I am going to defend my title," Moraa said. The women’s 800m, set to be one of the highlight events of the championships, kicks off on September 18 with the heats.
The semifinals will take place on September 19, with the grand finale set for the championships’ closing day on September 21. Moraa heads into Tokyo looking to rediscover her winning rhythm after an inconsistent 2025 season.
She kicked off her season in April with the Grand Slam Track in Kingston, featuring in the 800m and 1,500m. In her preferred 800m event, Moraa fizzled out to an eighth-place finish, clocking 2:00.97 before opting out of the 1,500m citing illness. Later that month, she anchored Kenya’s 4x400m relay team, alongside Esther Mbagari, Mercy Oketch and Mercy Chebet, to victory at the 5th Athletics Kenya Weekend Meeting in Nairobi, clocking 3:25.80.
In May, she struck form at the Miami Grand Slam, powering to victory in the 800m in 1:59.51 ahead of America’s Nikki Hiltz (1:59.75) and Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu (1:59.84). However, her 1,500m outing again proved tough, finishing eighth in 4:24.44.
On May 31, she missed the 800m podium at the Philadelphia Grand Slam after clocking 4:25.79 to finish fifth. Her Diamond League season began in Stockholm on June 15, where she finished second in 1:57.83, narrowly behind Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell (1:57.66). However, in her next Diamond League appearance at the Prefontaine Classic, Moraa faded to ninth in 2:00.51 as Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma stole the show in 1:57.10.
She endured another setback in Monaco on July 11, placing 12th in the rarely run 1,000m (2:48.67). Yet just over a week later, she rebounded in style, storming to victory in the 400m at the Night of Athletics meeting in Zolder, Belgium, with a 50.49 finish.
In Tokyo, Moraa’s stiffest rival will be Hodgkinson, who has underlined herself as the woman to beat this season.
The Briton, whose last race was when she clinched Olympic gold in Paris last year, returned devastatingly at the Silesia Diamond League on August 16, clocking a world-leading 1:54.74. Kenya’s Lilian Odira (1:56.52) and Botswana’s Oratile Nowe (1:56.76) followed her home.
Hodgkinson maintained her dominance in Lausanne, stopping the clock in 1:55.69, ahead of Switzerland’s Audrey Werro (1:57.34) and Bell (1:57.55). As Kenya’s assistant captain, deputising javelin legend Julius Yego, Moraa is bullish about the team’s prospects. "We are very ready, we have been training hard for almost the whole year," she said. "I am sure we are going to Tokyo to fight and bring back the medals and good results."
"As a team, we are more than ready to go to Tokyo for glory," she added. Kenya will be aiming to better its Budapest tally of 10 medals (three gold, three silver, and four bronze), which saw the nation finish fifth overall. In the all-time medal standings, Kenya sits second with 171 medals (65 gold, 58 silver, 48 bronze), trailing only the USA’s staggering 443 medals.
