Sally Pearson and Christian Taylor have been announced as World Athletics ambassadors for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, with two months to go until the 20th edition of the global showpiece in Japan.

Australia’s Pearson and USA’s Taylor have claimed a sensational six World Championships titles between them, and they will both be in Tokyo to see the sport’s current stars go for gold medals of their own during nine days of action from 13-21 September.

It was in Japan that Pearson made her individual World Championships debut, reaching the semifinals of both the 100m and the 100m hurdles at the 2007 edition in Osaka. She had formed part of Australia’s 4x100m squad as a 16-year-old at the World Championships in Paris four years earlier.

She went on to win two world 100m hurdles titles, in Daegu in 2011 and in London in 2017, as well as world silver in 2013, Olympic gold in 2008 and Olympic silver in 2008. At the time, her 12.28 in Daegu placed her fourth on the world all-time list. Indoors, she secured the world 60m hurdles title in 2012 and silver in 2014.

“I remember, as a 16-year-old, racing at my first World Championships way back in 2003 in Paris,” said Pearson, whose first major medal was the world U18 gold she gained in Sherbrooke the same year she made her senior World Championships debut.

“There I was, standing on the side of the track, getting ready to anchor the 4x100m relay. I look up and there are 80,000 people in the stands. That’s when I decided I wanted that as my career; I wanted to be a professional athlete. My dreams came true, and I represented Australia at six editions of the World Championships. Being at peak performance at the highest level of our sport is something dreams are made of and I am so glad that I got to experience it. That’s why being selected as an athlete ambassador is a huge honour. This sport is so important to me, and I can’t wait to see you all there in Tokyo in September.”

Taylor’s global journey also began at the World U18 Championships and he soared to triple jump gold and long jump bronze at the 2007 edition in Ostrava.

He started his senior World Championships career in style, winning triple jump gold in Daegu on his debut in 2011. After claiming the first of his two Olympic titles in London in 2012, he regained his world title in Beijing in 2015 and repeated the feat in London in 2017 and in Doha in 2019 to become a four-time winner and the most successful athlete in the history of the men’s triple jump at the World Championships. He won his second Olympic title in 2016 and claimed world indoor silver in 2012.

The North American record of 18.21m that Taylor achieved to win his second world title in Beijing places him second on the world all-time list, just eight centimetres behind the world record Jonathan Edwards set at the World Championships in 1995.

“I am very excited to announce that I have been selected as one of the World Athletics athlete ambassadors for the World Championships in Tokyo, my absolute favourite city in the world,” said Taylor.

“As a World Athletics athlete ambassador, I have the privilege of cheering on and witnessing my fellow athletes in phenomenal performances which will be held on the runway, in the circle and on the track. One of my favourite World Championships experiences has to be my first World Championships, because I went there with everything to gain and nothing to lose, and I came out with a world title. That was the snowball effect that really changed the trajectory of my career. Reflecting on that and passing that positive energy towards you athletes, I just wish you nothing but the absolute best.”

[World Athletics]