TOKYO -- Noah Lyles has a mountain to overcome if he's to defend his 100m world championship crown and retain the title as fastest man on the planet.
The American showman has endured an injury interrupted 2025. As a result, he hasn't won a 100m final this year and has a season-best time of only 9.90s; just one hundredth of a second quicker than last place in the Olympic final he famously won gold in 13 months ago. But his greatest concern at this year's World Athletics Championships might just be the fact there have been 11 men run the 100m quicker than him this year.
Lyles clocked a 9.95s to comfortably take out his heat in Tokyo on Saturday evening and secure his passage to Sunday's semifinals. The final of the event will also be staged on night two of the championships. But when the stakes are ratcheted up in 24 hours' time, will there be enough in reserve for Lyles to challenge star Jamaican pair Kishane Thompson and Oblique Seville? Or what about South Africa's Gift Leotlela, who just emerged as a gold medal chance after a blistering heat run?
"Everybody else has had probably eight, 10 races already," said Lyles last month. "I'm coming in [on] a rushed schedule. I know something great is going to happen. My body is showing that it's adjusting to the speed."
Both Thompson and Seville have made significant gains on Lyles in the 100m this season. Thompson, who collected silver behind the American in that Olympic race in Paris last year, has posted a world-leading time of 9.75s this season. Meanwhile, Seville, the fourth-place finisher at the world championships two years ago, has already beaten Lyles twice over the 100m distance this year.
"Kishane and Oblique have really shown this season that they're really doing extremely well," athletics megastar Usain Bolt said of his compatriots on the eve of competition in Japan. "They should be one-two, at least, because they have proven throughout the season that they are at the top, and they're running fast times. So it's just all about execution."
Thompson breezed through his heat, also in a time of 9.95s. Seville overcame a horrid start to finish third-fastest in the opening heat -- taken out by Leotlela in a session-best 9.87s -- but still good enough to advance. It sets up two enthralling 100m semifinals on Sunday evening in Tokyo.
READ: Everything you need to know about the world champs
Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred remains the favourite to take gold in the women's 100m, which will also be contested on night two. The reigning 100m Olympic champion took out her heat in 10.93s, moments after Australia's Torrie Lewis had shaved 0.02s off her own national record with a blistering run of 11.08s. Lewis, 20, finished third in her heat, behind sprint greats Sha'Carri Richardson and Shericka Jackson, and will feature in Sunday night's hotly contested semifinals.
Fellow Australian sprinters Rohan Browning, Joshua Azzopardi, Bree Rizzo, and Ella Connolly failed to advance.
Also on opening night at the World Athletics Championships, Jess Hull cruised into the semifinals of the women's 1500m, winning her heat in 4:04.41. The runner-up in Paris last summer is searching for her first medal at a world championship meet. Hull will once again have to contend with Faith Kipyegon -- the greatest 1500m runner in history -- who breezed through the final heat, but crucially not Ethiopia's Diribe Welteji, who was banned from competing in Tokyo at the eleventh hour amid a legal dispute over allegedly missing a drug test.
Men's pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis comfortably progressed from the qualification phase, as did fourth-ranked Australian Kurtis Marschall. The pair were two of five jumpers to clear 5.75m, booking their tickets to Monday evening's final.
Earlier in the day, Canada's Evan Dunfee and Spain's Maria Perez took out the men's and women's 35km race walks. Australia's Rhydian Cowley finished the drama-filled men's race in 11th place, while Rebecca Henderson and Olivia Sandery finished the women's event ninth and 14th, respectively.
Here's how day one of the World Athletics Championships unfolded: