Noah Lyles Set for Major Season Test as Tokyo Grand Prix Brings Together Global Stars

Olympic champions Noah Lyles, Rai Benjamin, Rumesh Pathirage and Haruka Kitaguchi are set to headline the Seiko Golden Grand Prix this Sunday, as the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting returns to Tokyo's National Stadium.

The event offers many top athletes an early-season opportunity to compete at the same venue that hosted last year's World Athletics Championships. For others, it's a chance to build on strong starts to their 2026 campaigns.

Noah Lyles, a four-time world 200m champion and the reigning Olympic 100m champion, will contest his first 100m of the season.

The US sprinter returns to the stadium where he claimed his first Olympic medal five years ago. He began his outdoor season last month in Gainesville with a 19.91-second performance in the 200m and a 37.78 victory in the 4x100m relay.

He will face stiff competition from Canada's Jerome Blake, an Olympic 4x100m champion who recently set a personal best of 9.93 seconds.

Blake will be eager for a strong performance after being forced to pull up with a cramp at the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone earlier this month.

The home crowd will be cheering for Ryota Yamagata, Japan's 100m record-holder (9.95) and a member of the 2016 Olympic silver medal-winning 4x100m team.

Also in the field is 17-year-old prodigy Sorato Shimizu, who set a world U18 best of 10.00 last year and will face one of the toughest tests of his young career.

The men's 200m features a formidable US contingent led by Courtney Lindsey, a world 4x100m champion with a personal best of 19.71.

He will be running his first 200m of the year after clocking 10.02 in the 100m last month. He will be challenged by compatriot Jordan Anthony, the world indoor 60m champion, who has already posted a 9.91 personal best in the 100m and a 20.07 season's best in the 200m this year.

In the men's 400m, world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin will make his 2026 season debut. The American, who holds a 400m flat personal best of 44.21, has not competed since last year's World Championships.

Benjamin will line up against Zambia's Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga, who boasts a personal best of 43.74 and recently ran 44.55 in Nairobi.

Samukonga also turned heads with a 31.38-second 300m in Pretoria, the sixth-fastest time in history. Japan's national record-holder Yuki Joseph Nakajima and Australia's Reece Holder will also be in the mix.

The women's 400m will feature two-time world 4x400m champion Britton Wilson of the USA, who is set for her first outdoor 400m of the season.

She will be joined by teammate Bailey Lear, fresh off a victory in the mixed 4x400m at the World Relays, and Britain's Yemi Mary John, a world and Olympic relay medallist.

On the track, Rachid Muratake will carry the hopes of the home nation in the hurdles, aiming for a standout performance in front of the Tokyo crowd.

Japan's top hurdlers are set to face a host of international talent at an upcoming meet, with the men's 110m hurdles promising a particularly thrilling contest.

The home nation's hopes will be pinned on their national record holder, who boasts a personal best of 12.92 seconds. The reigning Asian champion, who secured fifth-place finishes at both the 2024 Olympics and the 2023 World Championships, is in formidable form. He recently opened his season with a blistering 13.05, the second-fastest time of his career.

He will be challenged by Freddie Crittenden of the USA, a world and Olympic finalist with a personal best of 12.93. The field also includes another top Japanese athlete, Shunsuke Izumiya, who competed in the 2023 world final.

In the women's 100m hurdles, US indoor champion Alia Armstrong leads the entries. Armstrong, who finished fourth at the 2022 World Championships, brings a formidable personal best of 12.32 to the competition. She will line up against Jamaica's NACAC champion Amoi Brown and Japanese record-holder Maku Fukube.

The men's 400m hurdles will feature a compelling duel between American Chris Robinson and Japan's Ken Toyoda. Meanwhile, the middle-distance events will also provide plenty of excitement for the local crowd.

Australia's Jude Thomas, who set a meeting record in the 3000m last year, returns to compete in the men's 1500m. In the women's 1500m, Japan's Nozomi Tanaka is slated to race against Shelby Houlihan of the United States.

Local hero Haruka Kitaguchi is expected to receive immense support from the home crowd. Japan's Olympic and 2023 world javelin champion will be making her first appearance since her world title victory last year.

She will face a strong field that includes Ecuador's Juleisy Angulo, the surprise world champion in Tokyo last year, and Colombia's Flor Denis Ruiz Hurtado, the 2023 world silver medallist. Greece's Elina Tzengko, the world No. 1 and Diamond League Final winner, will also compete.

The men's javelin competition will feature current world leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka, who has thrown over 89 meters twice this year.

He aims to continue his undefeated streak against a field that includes Czech star Jakub Vadlejch and Brazil's Luiz Mauricio da Silva.

In the men's high jump, South Korea's Woo Sanghyeok, a world silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion, will go head-to-head with US Olympic silver medallist Shelby McEwen.