Koech dreaming big ahead of Tokyo Championships
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 30.08.25. | 09:40
Training alongside the likes of Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Diamond League 1500m champion Nelly Chepchirchir, both of whom will be joining him in Tokyo, has made him more ambitious
Breakout star Phanuel Koech is heading to the 2025 World Athletics Championships as one of the favourites after a stellar show in the just-concluded Wanda Diamond League series.
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Koech says his run in the series against world-class fields has been a confidence boost that has opened his eyes to the potential he holds in the distance. The 18-year-old had represented the country at the African U18 Championships in 2023 and the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima last year.
As he makes his senior team debut at the grandest stages, Koech says his junior career achievements are behind him. He broke the world U20 record with 3:27.72 when he finished second to Azeddine Habz in Paris in June, in what was just the second 1500m race of his career.
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Wins in Lucca International, Ostrava Golden Spike, and London Diamond League (DL), where he beat world champion Josh Kerr, among others, a second-place finish to Niels Laros in Brussels, and third in the DL Final, on his debut senior season, put the teenager on a pedestal ahead of Tokyo.
“I am looking ahead; I am no longer focusing on the U20 category,” he told World Athletics. “While I value the world record I ran in Paris, which will stay in the history books as a great moment in my career, beating Kerr at the London Diamond League was a greater moment for me as it shows the potential I have, and that I am now able to compete against senior athletes.”
Timothy Cheruiyot is the last Kenyan to lift the 1500m title in Doha, 2019, which was also the last podium for the country, with Jake Wightman and Kerr winning the last two titles.
The veteran joins Koech and DL silver medalist Reynold Cheruiyot, as they look to reclaim a title that Kenya has won five times before, Asbel Kiprop having won three in a row (2011,2013,2015) with Elijah Manangoi clinching the 2017 title.
“The World Championships will be another new experience for me, but I believe I have the potential to earn a medal,” a confident Koech offered. “I know the kind of experienced runners I’ll be competing with there, like Kerr and Cole Hocker, the Olympic champion. But I don’t feel intimidated in any way, as I know the training I’ve done, and the advice I’ve received will be enough to achieve good results in Tokyo. I’ll just take it one round at a time.”
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