World Athletics Championships: 5 athletes to keep an eye on in Budapest
- Planet Sport writer
- 17 August 2023
The World Championships start in Budapest on Saturday – just a year after the rearranged 2022 edition in Eugene.
Here, we look at the five international stars to watch at the World Athletics Championships in Hungary.
Shericka Jackson (Jamaica)
Jackson continues to impress and is the fastest in the world this year after clocking 10.65 seconds over 10 metres at the Jamaican championships.
It put her joint fifth on the all-time list, 0.16 seconds off Florence Griffith-Joyner's 35-year-old world record.
Jackson won silver in the 100m at last year's Worlds and will be gunning for Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's title this time around.
Wayde Van Niekerk (South Africa)
The 2016 Olympic and 2017 world champion has fought back from a ruptured ACL, which he suffered playing a charity touch rugby game in 2017.
His 400m time of 44.17secs puts him second on the list this year, behind Zambia's Muzala Samukonga.
He missed the 2019 World Championships and failed to reach the 400m final at Tokyo 2020 but finished fifth in the final at last year's Worlds.
Mondo Duplantis (Sweden)
The Swede broke his own world pole vault record at last year's Championships in Eugene, clearing 6.21 metres, and registered 6.22m earlier this year to increase the mark.
Duplantis, who was born in the United States, is also the reigning European outdoor and indoor champion to hold all the major titles available to him.
It would be a major shock if the 23-year-old was beaten in Budapest.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (United States)
Not content with dominating the 400m hurdles, the 24-year-old has a world-leading time in the 400m this year.
Last year's 400m hurdles world champion - where she broke her own world record - and 2021's Olympic champion is yet to race in the hurdles this year, instead focusing on the flat distance.
She ran 48.74secs in the 400m at the US championships in Eugene in July.
Femke Bol (Netherlands)
A world-leading time of 52.30secs in the 400m hurdles has the 23-year-old clear favourite for the title.
With McLaughlin-Levrone having focused on the 400m this year, the path is clear for Bol to improve on last year's silver.
A bronze in Tokyo and last year's European gold in Munich marks Bol as one of the world's best.
