The 32-year-old heads to Tokyo for her third World Championships but her first competing in the 5,000m – having run the 1500m in her previous two editions.
Courtney-Bryant booked her ticket as far back as May after clocking 14 minutes 48 seconds at the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles.
She managed to complete the race, where she finished second, despite running the final two laps with a torn calf, which put the Poole AC product’s trip to Japan in jeopardy, but was able to recover in time to make the trip to Tokyo.
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The confirmed @_Novuna GB & NI Team for the 2025 World Championships 👊#WCHTokyo25 pic.twitter.com/7N7y26mtaI
— British Athletics (@BritAthletics) September 1, 2025
Courtney-Bryant said: “It was hard, it was definitely more challenging than I thought, and calf injuries can be quite challenging.
“I had a really good support system and my coach, Rob Denmark, has just been so adaptable the whole season.
“We’ve always had to change plans, and I’ve come at this differently than how I would perhaps normally prepare – my mileage isn’t as high because I’ve been cross-training more – but I’m in good shape regardless of doing different mileage or doing a bit more cross-training.”
The World Championships will be Courtney-Bryant’s first competition since she sustained her injury, but if she needs any inspiration, she only needs to look at her indoor season this year.
She won silver over 3000m at the European Indoor Championships in March after winning the Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston over the same distance the previous month.
It was a timely confidence boost after injuries and illness scuppered her chances of competing in the 1500m at last year’s Olympics in Paris.
It means her expectations remain high in the Japanese capital despite a lack of time on the track.
“I really want to make the final, I want to be as competitive as I can,” she said, speaking at a Novuna-backed British camp – with the company financing the ambitions of millions across the UK, from helping business grow and individuals plan for the future, to backing British Athletics on the global stage.
“It’s never easy to make a world final, and it shouldn’t be easy because you’re competing with the best in the world and there’s only 15 or 16 in the women’s final.
“It’s going to be difficult because everybody is running very fast and the heat and humidity will obviously factor in, but I feel I can be competitive in a fast heat or a slow heat.
“I’m hoping that does enough to get in the final and then I’ll see how high up I can finish.”
While Courtney-Bryant has focused on running long distances this season, she aims to move back to competing in the middle distances as well as the 5,000m next year.
She said: “I think it’ll be the first year since I was about 12 that I haven’t run a 1500, and it is quite sad, but I definitely will run both next years.
“I’m not sure which one I’ll aim for at the Commonwealths and Europeans – I may mix-and-match, I may decide to double at Commonwealths, depending on the timetable, but I will definitely be running them both.”
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