The Athlete Refugee Team -ART- will once again take part in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, scheduled from 13 to 21 September. The delegation will consist of six runners who have found in athletics a path towards competitive development and social integration, supported by the Refugee Athlete Scholarship Programme, an initiative of the Olympic Refuge Foundation, World Athletics, and several national federations.

The programme provides structured support to displaced athletes, granting access to training, stability, and opportunities to compete at the highest level. In Tokyo, the ART will feature middle- and long-distance runners, most of them already experienced Olympians and World Championship competitors, alongside one debutant on the global stage.

Perina Lokure Nakang aiming for a final

Farida Abaroge, 31, was born in Ethiopia and has lived in France since 2017, where she was granted refugee status and began formal athletic training. She competed in the 1500m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and will line up in the 5000m in Tokyo. Her international background and ability to adapt make her a key figure within the team.

South Sudanese runner Perina Lokure Nakang, 22, discovered athletics at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya before moving to a specialised training centre in Kapsabet. A member of the World Athletics U20 refugee programme, she reached the semifinals of the 800m in Paris 2024 with a personal best of 2:08.20. In Tokyo she will return to that distance, looking to strengthen her position among the world’s emerging middle-distance athletes.

Youth and experience in the team

Musa Suliman, originally from Sudan and now based in Switzerland through a resettlement initiative by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees -UNHCR-, is the youngest member of the delegation. At just 21, he already competed in Paris 2024 and set a personal best of 1:48.06 over 800m in Germany in 2024. Tokyo will mark his first appearance at a World Championships.

By contrast, marathoner Omar Hassan, 34, brings experience and consistency in endurance events. Now residing in Denmark, he finished 40th at the Budapest 2023 World Championships and competed earlier this year at the Berlin Half Marathon, recording 1:05:53. His background and resilience add depth to the team’s marathon line-up.

A World Championships debut at 36

Fellow marathoner Emmanuel Kiruhura Ntagunga, 36, fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now lives in Norway. His integration into his new country has gone hand in hand with steady progress as an athlete, highlighted by an 11th-place finish at this year’s Copenhagen Marathon with a personal best of 2:17:48. Tokyo will be his first World Championships appearance.

Completing the team is Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed, born in Sudan and now based in Israel, with an extensive international record. A two-time Olympian at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, where he contested the 10,000m, he has also represented the ART at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022. His proven experience in distance running makes him an important reference point for the team’s younger members.