So to mark your cards, in the women's 800m there are seven heats featuring eight or nine athletes each.

The top three in each heat, plus the three other fastest athletes, qualify for the semi-finals.

Jemma Reekie will be in heat five, Georgia Hunter Bell is in heat six.

Forgive us Harry, but there's a pretty big race about to take place in the actual championships.

We are almost ready to go with heat one of seven in the women's 800m.

Thirteen months, two torn hamstrings and two races after becoming Olympic champion, Keely Hodgkinson begins her bid for a first world title after successive silvers.

Image source, Getty Images

Harry Poole
BBC Sport in Tokyo

Whatever happens tonight, the big event on the track today was the media race.

BBC Sport's Stef Reid absolutely smashed her heat, bringing home gold for the squad out here in Tokyo.

Thank goodness she did, given some members of the team really let the side down because they didn't consider the increased risk of injury following a 14-hour flight...

Someone who certainly hasn't let their side down here is Japan's Nozomi Tanaka. She gave that 5,000m heat absolutely everything - and the home supporters an effort to really get behind as she took that race on, and some!

The big three of four-time 1500m world champion Faith Kiypegon, 2022 world champion Gudaf Tsegay and in-form Kenyan Agnes Ng’etich are all safely qualified for the final.

Britain's Innes FitzGerald is out.

Image source, Reuters

Final lap, and there are a good 12 or so athletes still in contention to qualify.

Sadly, Innes FitzGerald is not among them.

Two laps to go, and Ririka Hironaka has been caught.

If there is one person you do not want chasing you down, it is Faith Kipyegon.

The gap to Ririka Hironaka is being closed slowly but inevitably, with three laps to go.

It is a very congested pack among the rest, they will have to be careful not to get tripped up.

Well, Japan's Ririka Hironaka is still way ahead of the rest. What an effort this has been, inspired by her home crowd.

Into the final 1500m, Innes FitzGerald is 16th but still up with the pack.

They're training partners and close friends, but Great Britain's 800 medal hopefuls have experienced highs and lows on their way to Tokyo.

A knee issue ended Keely Hodgkinson's 2024 season after the Olympics and she tore the hamstring in her left leg in February and then in her right leg in May. The latter happened soon after her back stiffened up during an eight-hour round trip to Windsor Castle to collect her MBE from Prince William.

Hodgkinson’s coach Trevor Painter has praised her resilience and composure and he believes it stems from her dealing with an operation to remove a tumour aged 13, which has left her 95% deaf in one ear.

Georgia Hunter Bell was a promising junior athlete but took a five-year hiatus after college to pursue a career in cybersecurity. She got back into running during the Covid pandemic and only returned to serious training in late 2022.

After winning 2024 European silver and Olympic bronze – in a British record 3:52.61 – during a summer sabbatical from her full-time job, she turned professional as an athlete.

Hunter Bell says of taking on Hodgkinson in Tokyo: “We obviously are very good friends…if [our training group] M11 could go one-two that would be just the coolest thing ever.”

A slightly bizarre sight in this heat, as home hope Ririka Hironaka has absolutely stormed out ahead of the field. She was around 200m ahead of the pack early doors, and for now is setting the pace. Still seven laps to go though.

Innes FitzGerald is still in touch, and in with a chance of qualifying for the final.

Tsige Duguma set a personal best to win Olympic silver in Paris but the 24-year-old from Ethiopia has twice run faster this year, including a national record 1:56.64 at a Diamond League meeting in China.

Mary Moraa of Kenya is the reigning world champion but only the joint-16th fastest female 800m runner of the year. Her season’s best is 1:57.83, when runner-up to Georgia Hunter Bell in Stockholm three months ago.

Moraa, 25, finished strongly to take the world title in Budapest in a 1:56.03 PB. She had won bronze the previous year, and claimed a medal of the same colour in Paris after fading in the final.

Prudence Sekgodiso became world indoor champion in March. The 23-year-old South African, who came last in the Olympic final in Paris, ran a PB of 1:57.16 outdoors in June and equalled that time in her next race at the Prefontaine Classic.

Audrey Werro, 21, ran two Swiss national records in four days last month – in the second of those she clocked 1:55.91 in front of a home crowd to beat Georgia Hunter Bell in last month’s Diamond League Final. Only Keely Hodgkinson has run quicker this year.

Meanwhile Jemma Reekie, who finished fourth in the Olympic final in this stadium three years ago, is the third British runner in the field. 18-year-old prospect Phoebe Gill, who ran in this event in Paris, is out injured.

Harry Poole
BBC Sport in Tokyo

We know that Keely Hodgkinson is back and not far off her best after running a world leading time on her return to action last month.

But making her way through the heats, semi-finals and final to achieve her objective of a first world title will be the acid test of her fitness.

Her coaches and team-mates in Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows' M11 Track Club have dubbed her Keely 2.0, with the Olympic champion smashing PBs in the gym during her time away from the track.

That increased strength was evident in her form as she recorded back-to-back dominant wins in August - the only two races she has managed to fit in since last year's Olympic Games.

Once again able to trust her body following two torn hamstrings, these next two days are all about arriving safely at Sunday's final.

Keely Hodgkinson's coach Jenny Meadows on their build-up to the championships: "Incredibly difficult. And there definitely has been a time where we actually thought: 'Is Tokyo even going to be a realistic aim?' Keely wants to go there and she's not afraid of saying she only wants to get that gold medal.

"Anything less than a gold medal wouldn't be good enough for her. But thankfully, around a month ago she did get a couple of opportunities to compete and they were amazing. She almost matched her national record. She is in shape, but still it is a task. She's got to do three races in four days, which she's not done for 30 months since the Olympics.

"Gold is realistic. I still think a medal would just be amazing, but seeing that she has put the two fastest times in the world out there this year, she can look to try and win."

On her relationship with Georgia Hunter Bell: "I think it's one of mutual respect. And we've had to work with Georgia as well to make sure Georgia thinks that gold medal is possible for her as well, which is very hard to manage and navigate as coaches.

"Two medals would be amazing. I'd love it to be a gold and a silver. Both of those athletes want it to be gold and silver, but of course each of them wants themselves to have that gold medal."

Image source, Getty Images

They're underway in the second 5,000m heat, we'll keep you updated on how Innes FitzGerald goes.

But in 20 minutes or so, Keely Hodgkinson takes to the track...

The athletes are on track for the second heat. Once again, the top eight reach the final.

In this heat is four-time 1500m world champion Faith Kiypegon. The Kenyan won her first major 5000m title in Budapest two years ago but the defending champion hasn’t raced over the distance since coming second at the Paris Olympics.

Gudaf Tsegay, the 2022 world champion, and in-form Kenyan Agnes Ng’etich are also in this heat, along with 19-year-old British hope Innes FitzGerald.

Devonian Fitzgerald has broken Zola Budd’s 40-year-old European under-20 5000m record this summer and won the 3000m and 5000m European under-20 double in Finland.

Great Britain's Hannah Nuttall speaking to BBC Two after qualifying for the women's 5,000m final: "I felt like at the start it went off a bit hot. I just tried to relax, it worked out in the end, I was able to catch them up a bit.

"We did think potentially it could go out quicker. I was just prepared for everything, the aim was to stay calm throughout.

"I was trying to keep focused, I didn't know if there was anyone behind me, I just tried to keep pushing the whole way."

Here's how the medal table looks as we truly get going on day six of the World Championships.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Our first medal event of the day, the men's javelin final, sees two titans of the sport collide.

India's Neeraj Chopra made history two years ago in Budapest as he became India's first world champion, with Pakistani rival Arshad Nadeem finishing second.

Nadeem got his revenge at Paris 2024 by claiming gold, with Chopra having to settle for silver after winning gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Chopra is one of just three men to break the 90 metres barrier this season - however, Nadeem has thrown further.

Germany's Julian Weber has enjoyed an impressive season and threw the second furthest distance during Wednesday's heats (87.21m), bettered only by two-time world champion and Paris Olympic bronze medallist Anderson Peters of Grenada.

This promises to be a fascinating final.

Image source, Getty Images

Let's look ahead to the women's high jump qualification.

Great Britain's Morgan Lake features and could be in contention for a medal position. She became the first British woman ever to clear two metres when she finished third at the Diamond League Final in Zurich in August. Could she do even better?

Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh is both the Olympic champion and defending world champion. She is also the world record holder and favourite to take gold.

Australia’s Nicola Olsylagers took the gold in Zurich, however, clearing 2.04 - an Oceania record - so she will be hoping to challenge for the title.

USA's Sanaa Barnes and Australia's Eleanor Patterson also feature.

Five women have cleared two metres this year so qualification promises to be an exciting watch.

A really well-judged run by British champion Hannah Nuttall, who finishes seventh to earn her place in the medal race.

Olympic champion and world record holder Beatrice Chebet turned on the afterburners to win this heat, while the Tokyo crowd are delighted as Japan's Nozmi Tanaka qualifies in fourth.

Britain's Melissa Courtney-Bryant finishes 17th and is eliminated.