World Athletics Championships | Field Events Preview: Athletes, Storylines To Watch

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Today, we complete our CITIUS MAG event previews as David Melly breaks down the field events and multis. You’ll be an expert on all things World Championships after this, with a detailed analysis of all 45 track and field events taking place at Hayward Field over 10 days starting Friday, July 15, plus the men’s and women’s marathon winding through the towns around Eugene.

In case you missed it, you can catch up on our previews of the sprint events and distance events as well. If you’re reading online, make sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter to get daily updates during Worlds in your inbox and pass our name along to any fellow track and field fans who might be tuning in. And be sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for interviews and insights from the mixed zone.

FOLLOW ALONG WITH OUR SPECIAL COVERAGE:

CITIUS MAG LIVE AT WORLDS: Think of the TODAY Show but for track and field die-hard fans. Every day of the World Championships, we will invite athletes, coaches and fellow media members to kick back for fun interviews with Chris Chavez, Kyle Merber and ESPN SportsCenter host John Anderson. The show will air on the CITIUS MAG YouTube Channel between the morning and evening sessions of competition (most days from 5:30 pm to 7 pm ET).

CHAMPS CHATS ON THE CITIUS MAG PODCAST DAILY: The CITIUS MAG team of me, Kyle Merber, Dana Giordano, Jasmine Todd and Katelyn Hutchison unpack all of the day’s biggest surprises and offer up their insights and analysis from being at Hayward Field and interviewing athletes each day.

DAILY MORNING RUNS: If you’re in Eugene, catch some miles with The CITIUS MAG team in partnership with Garmin and Tracksmith Running. We’ll have giveaways, coffee and treats for people in town. On most days, we will meet in front of the CITIUS MAG House at 1981 Moss Street and go for some easy miles along Pre’s Trail, the Amazon Trail. We’ll also have a special day at Dorris Ranch.

Here’s the full broadcast schedule and how to watch as shared. 

Women’s High Jump (1st round Sat 7/16 2:10p ET):

The women’s high jump got a shakeup this year for unavoidably tragic reasons as Mariya Lasitskene, the four-time defending world champion and Olympic champion, will be barred from competing due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s worth noting that Lasitskene has been competing as an authorized neutral athlete since 2017 following Russia’s ban from international competition for state-sponsored doping and she posted a heartfelt letter on social media decrying the decision by World Athletics as well as expressing solidarity with her Ukrainian competitors and her personal opposition to the invasion. It’s certainly worth a read as a timely reminder that, regardless of an athlete’s nationality, we are, at the end of the day, all human.

As a result, there will be a new world champion crowned in the women’s high jump for the first time since 2013, and the main players appear to be World Indoor champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, U.S. phenom Vashti Cunningham and an Australian duo of Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers (née McDermott), who both landed in the top five in Tokyo.

Mahuchikh is the world leader at 2.03m and, in addition to her gold in Belgrade, she picked up a bronze in Tokyo and a silver in Doha, so she’s got a good track record of delivering when it counts. Cunningham, on the other hand, has yet to truly deliver on the world stage as effectively as she has on the U.S. circuit, picking up a bronze in Doha and a world indoor championship back in 2016 but finishing only 6th in Tokyo. Hopefully, home-field advantage plays into her favor when she travels back to Hayward.

Men’s High Jump (1st round Fri 7/15 1:10p ET):

The men’s high jump was one of the most memorable events of Tokyo as Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Barshim made headlines by choosing to share the gold medal. Both men are back to try and claim an outright victory this time around. Neither has had a stellar season so far, however. Barshim took second in the Doha Diamond League meet in 2.30m but competed only one other time this season, a disappointing 2.15m showing in Kuwait. He hasn’t jumped since May, and the injury-prone jumper may be hard pressed to produce the 2.37m jump that secured him the gold in Doha in 2019. Tamberi has competed frequently, but he hasn’t been jumping up to his usual standard, with only one 2.30m mark to date outdoors. His best leap of the year, however, was a 2.31m bronze effort in Belgrade indoors, so perhaps once medals are on the line he’ll deliver.

With no one jumping crazy high this year, the U.S. trio of Shelby McEwan, JuVaughn Harrison, and Vernon Turner have a good shot at picking up a medal or even the victory but in addition to the Olympic co-champs, they’ll also have to go through World Indoor Champion Sanghyeok Woo of South Korea. In addition to taking down Barshim in Doha, Woo has won 8 of his 9 competitions this year, and he owns the three highest jumps of the year (albeit all indoors). Unless the Olympic champs return to form, he has to be considered the favorite.

Women’s Long Jump (1st round Sat 7/23 3:00p ET):

No matter how you look at it, the favorite in this one has to be German Malaika Mihambo. She is the defending world champion, the defending Olympic champion, and, until last weekend, the world leader at 7.09m. She’s won five of her seven competitions outdoors this year, but if there’s one cause for concern, it’s that her most recent competition at the Stockholm Diamond League meet was her worst of the season and finished only fifth in 6.72m. Still, until she’s knocked off the podium, we have to assume she’ll get back up there in Eugene.

If she is dethroned, it will most likely be at the hands of Ivana Vuleta (née Spanovic), the world indoor champion who became a national hero by picking up gold on her home turf in Serbia. Another contender may be Brooke Buschkuehl, the new world leader thanks to a wind-legal 7.13m leap in Chula Vista last weekend. However, Vuleta hasn’t been jumping well outdoors this season and Buschkuehl’s second-best mark of 2022 is well back of her big PB, only 6.61m.

Monae’ Nichols of Texas Tech and Team USA is the third seed in the competition at 6.97m, but assuming Mihambo can find a 7-meter jump, as she usually does, she should be able to defend her title.

Men’s Long Jump (1st round Fri 7/15 9:00p ET):

In 13 competitions this year, Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglu of Greece has won 12 and his shortest jump of the season has been 8.05m. He launched a massive leap of 8.55m to win gold indoors in Belgrade, but most of his jumps have been in the 8.20-8.40m range, which only a handful of men in the field can match on their best day.

Defending champ Tajay Gayle of Jamaica hasn’t been up to form since winning in 2019 and only has a season’s best of 7.97m, so it would be a surprise to see him in the mix.

Tokyo silver medalist Juan Michel Echevarria, who has an 8.68m personal best, is in the process of relinquishing his Cuban allegiance so he won’t be competing.

Regardless, the Americans have their work cut out for them to land on the podium, with Steffin McCarter’s outdoor season’s best of 8.15m only 15th on the 2022 world list. Marquis Dendy jumped farther indoors, with an 8.27m for bronze in Belgrade. A jump on that scale could land Dendy back on the podium outdoors, but we haven’t seen it yet this season.

Interestingly, two of the big players in this event come from India, a nation not usually associated with the long jump. Jeswin Aldrin Johnson and Murali Sreeshankar (who is sometimes known mononymously by his last name) have jumped 8.26m and 8.36m, respectively, the latter of which is a national record. India has only had one medalist at the World Championships in its history, when Anju Bobby George took bronze in the women’s long jump in 2003, so if India doubles or triples its medal count in the long jump alone, it may become the new jumps capital of the world.

Women’s Triple Jump (1st round Sat 7/16 1:30p ET):

Two words: Yulimar Rojas. The indoor and outdoor world record holder and undisputed greatest triple jumper of all time has the farthest season’s best in the field by almost a full meter. Rojas has too many superlatives to list, but the best stat I found was that she currently owns eight of the top ten jumps of all time, indoors or out. With golds at the 2017 and 2019 World championships along with her Olympic gold and silver medals, Rojas is quickly entering the conversation as one of the most dominant athletes in any event in track and field history.

The question that remains is who will fill out the other two spots on the podium. In Tokyo, Patricia Mamona of Portugal became the first woman not named Yulimar Rojas to jump 15 meters in six years with her 15.01m silver medal jump, but she’s only jumped 14.42m this season.

Team USA has a shot at at least one medal between Keturah Orji, Tori Franklin, and Jasmine Moore – all of whom have PBs north of 14.50 meters, but they’ll have to also take down Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, who finished second to Rojas indoors and in Doha in 2019. Bekh-Romanchuk has the third best season’s best on the entry list behind Orji and Rojas. She’s cleared 14.70 meters twice this year.

Men’s Triple Jump (1st round Thu 7/21 9:20p ET):

With three-time defending champion Christian Taylor on the road to recovery after rupturing his Achilles tendon last year, it looks likely that there will be a new world champion crowned in the men’s triple jump. Taylor is entered by virtue of his position as defending champion but the double Olympic gold medalist hasn’t quite shown flashes of his former self so far this season. His season’s best is only 16.54m (his personal best is nearly two meters farther). It’s hard to fully count out one of the all-time greats of the event, but barring a Lazarus-esque revival, the gold medal is up for grabs.

The co-favorites in the event are probably Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, the 2021 Olympic champion, and Lazaro Martinez of Cuba, the World indoor champion and 2022 world leader indoors. The two farthest jumps of the year outdoors also belong to a pair of Cubans, but the ongoing tensions between Cuban athletes and their federation have kept them out of the competition.

The American contingent of Donald Scott, Chris Carter, and Will Claye sit at 7, 8, and 9 on the entry list, but Scott and Claye in particular have plenty of championship experience and know how to deliver when it counts. Scott picked up a bronze at World Indoors this year and Claye has a set of silvers from Worlds in 2017 and 2019 and the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

Women’s Pole Vault (1st round Fri 7/20 8:20p ET):

It’s been a relatively quiet year for the women’s pole vault as Sandi Morris is the world leader at only 4.82m – a mark that was bettered by five athletes in 2021. 2019 World champ Anzhelika Sidorova jumped 4.87m indoors, but the World Athletics sanctions against Russian athletes competing internationally will keep her out of the competition as well, although she currently competes as an authorized neutral athlete.

Morris should be well-positioned to pick up her first global gold medal outdoors after taking silver in 2016, 2017, and 2019 and coming off a victory at World Indoors in March she surely is the favorite. Her teammate and training partner, Katie Nageotte, is the reigning Olympic champ, but health has been a concern for Nageotte this year and after taking second behind Morris at World Indoors, she’s only managed an outdoor season’s best of 4.65m at USAs.

Men’s Pole Vault (1st round Fri 7/22 8:05p ET):

Another event with a heavy, heavy favorite is the men’s pole vault where Mondo Duplantis is expected to continue to win big in his specialty event. The 22-year-old Swede (by way of Louisiana) has the world record and outdoor world best in the event and most recently jumped 6.16m in front of the home crowd at the Stockholm Diamond League meet. The foregone conclusion doesn’t mean the event isn’t worth watching, however - Duplantis is a thrilling athlete to watch and every time he heads down the runway, magic could happen.

Defending champ Sam Kendricks gave up his spot on Team USA due to injury, so the country’s medal hopes again fall on Tokyo silver medalist Chris Nilsen, who has been jumping better than ever before. Nilsen has cleared six meters three times this year, the only athlete besides Duplantis to break the barrier in 2022. He also took third at World Indoors in Belgrade behind Rio Olympic champion Thiago Braz. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Nilsen, Braz, and Duplantis again make up the podium in some order, although you can’t count out a clutch performance from a veteran like Piotr Lisek of Poland or one of the LaVillenie brothers of France.

Women’s Shot Put (1st round Fri. 7/15 8:05p ET):

Chase Ealey of the USA appears to be coming into her prime at just the right time. Ealey is the world leader and No. 2 all-time U.S. shotputter, and she owns three of the six 20+ meter throws by women this season. With Olympic and World champ Lijao Gong competing only once this year, a modest 18.40m effort, and silver medalist Raven Saunders still recovering from surgery, Ealey has to be considered the favorite. Gong, who is 33 years old, has been a fixture on the international scene as far back as 2009, when she won bronze at Worlds in Berlin, so this may be something of a swan song for her.

Her compatriot Jiayuan Song, has the second-farthest throw of the year outdoors at 20.38m, and if anyone takes down Ealey, she’s the most promising candidate. The other big threat would be Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo, who finished fourth in Tokyo before winning World Indoors this past winter. Her outdoor season’s best is only 19.68m, but if she picks up another big throw as she did in Belgrade, she could take the crown.

Men’s Shot Put (1st round Fri. 7/15 9:55p ET):

The crowd will surely be going wild for hometown hero Ryan Crouser, an Oregon native who lives a few hours from Eugene and will be the heavy favorite to win gold. If you haven’t gotten enough Ryan Crouser content in your life lately, I highly recommend the World Athletics feature on his training setup from earlier this month featuring photos from CITIUS MAG’s Justin Britton.

Crouser is, of course, the world record holder indoors and out and the two-time Olympic champion, but he is not the defending world champion. That honor belongs to Joe Kovacs, who, in one of the most dramatic moments of Doha in 2019, picked up the victory by one centimeter in the final round of the competition as three men - Kovacs, Crouser, and Tomas Walsh - threw 22.90m or farther for the first time in history. In fact, while Crouser has the two Olympic golds, Kovacs has two World Championship golds and a silver to his name. For whatever reason, Worlds seems to go well for Joe.

The one man who could break up the trio from the Tokyo and Doha podiums is Darlan Romani of Brazil, who finished fourth in Tokyo but upset Crouser in Belgrade with his World Indoor-winning 22.53m haul. He hasn’t thrown over 22 meters outdoors yet this year, but if he finds the magic again, he’ll be a threat.

Women’s Hammer Throw (1st round Fri 7/15 3:05p ET):

Sadly, the GOAT of the women’s hammer throw, Anita Włodarczyk of Poland, won’t be in Eugene to contend for an astonishing 8th global gold medal. The three-time Olympic champ was forced to end her season with an injury after getting hurt chasing and apprehending a would-be carjacker who attempted to steal her vehicle. No, I am not making that up. The defending champ, American DeAnna Price, also announced her withdrawal from Worlds after picking up a particularly nasty case of COVID a few weeks ago.

The good news is that the top two seeds are also Americans, Brooke Andersen and Janee’ Kassanavoid, and either woman has a decent shot at the title. The third seed behind them should also be a familiar name to American track fans as it’s Canadian Camryn Rogers of Cal Berkeley, the three-time NCAA champ and collegiate record holder who’s a finalist for the Bowerman Award this year. That trio has season’s bests around 2 meters ahead of the rest of the field, so it’s likely that some or all of them will end up on the podium.

Men’s Hammer Throw (1st round Fri 7/15 12:05p ET):

Six men have thrown over 80 meters in this event so far in 2022, and five of them are entered here. The battle for gold looks like it’ll be between two Polish throwers, defending world champ Paweł Fajdek and Olympic champ Wojciech Nowicki. Both men are throwing well this year, and although Fadjek has the lifetime edge (these two have competed against each other over 100 times!), Nowicki has won 4 of their 6 matchups in 2022.

The U.S. duo of American Record holder Rudy Winkler and Daniel Haugh have a decent shot of cracking the podium if they can manage a throw or two over 80 meters. I will admit bias here as Rudy is a college teammate and good friend of mine, but I’ll be happy to see an American in the medals regardless!

The two other names worth mentioning are Quentin Bigot of France, the 2019 silver medalist, and Eivind Henrikson of Norway, the runner-up in Tokyo. Their proven championship credentials should make them a factor in the competition and it wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of them back on the podium.

Women’s Discus (1st round Mon 7/18 8:10p ET):

Can U.S. Olympic champion Valarie Allman withstand the assault of a talented field of throwers in Eugene? All signs point to yes, but anything can happen at Worlds. Allman is the world leader at 71.46m, a mark that some consider the “clean” world record as 13 of the 14 throwers ahead of her on the all-time list are Soviet athletes who competed between 1980 and 1990, and the 14th + Chinese thrower Yanling Xiao, was busted for doping the same year she threw her best.

But to claim her crown, Allman has to take down the great Sandra Perkovic, the 4x global champion and the only woman to beat Allman head-to-head since Tokyo. At 32 years old, Perkovic’s 71.41m personal best is five years old and her best throwing days may be behind her, but she’s still a formidable competitor and her season’s best of 68.19 is No. 2 on the entry list. Other major players include 2019 World champ Yaime Perez of Cuba, who hasn’t quite thrown up to par this season but did take bronze in Tokyo last summer, and Germany’s Kristin Pudenz, the No. 3 seed who finished second in Tokyo. American Rachel Dincoff is the No. 5 seed by season’s best and could sneak onto the podium if one of the heavy hitters falters.

Men’s Discus (1st round Sun 7/17 8:05p ET):

On the surface, it looks like the discus title is Daniel Ståhl’s to lose. The reigning World and Olympic champion is also the world leader in 2022 with a 71.47m throw, so why would anyone bet against him?

The answer to that question lies in Slovenian Kristjan Čeh’s performances this season. He’s won 12 of his 13 competitions and thrown over 70 meters three times (Ståhl has done it twice), and while Čeh had never beaten Ståhl head-to-head before this year, he’s won 5 of their 6 matchups in 2022. The battle for gold in an event often overlooked by American track and field fans may end up being one of the most epic of the entire championships.

If the Americans land on the podium, it will most likely be thanks to Sam Mattis, the Penn grad who threw 68.69m earlier this season. Mattis only finished third at USAs behind Andrew Evans and Dallin Shurts (who didn’t have the standard or ranking and won’t be at Worlds), but it will likely take a 68+ meter throw to medal and Mattis is the only one who’s shown himself capable of such a mark this year.

Women’s Javelin (1st round Wed 7/20 6:20p ET):

It’s entirely possible that American women could sweep the throws as the current world leader in the javelin is Maggie Malone, but longtime veteran Kara Winger beat her at USAs to pick up her 9th national title in the event. Winger has said this is her final season as a pro and what better way to go out than with a World title? Even if she doesn’t win, Winger has never won a medal at a global championship so seeing her on the podium would be a beautiful end to a long career.

To get there, however, Malone and Winger will have to go through reigning world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber of Australia, Olympic champion Shiying Liu, and Germany’s Christin Hussong, who threw a monster 69.19m personal best last year. But Barber and Hussong have not performed up to their best in 2022 so far and Liu has not competed at all, so based on recent results, the Americans may be the ones to beat.

Men’s Javelin (1st round Thu 7/21 8:05p ET):

One of CITIUS MAG’s favorite athletes of the 2021 Olympics was Neeraj Chopra, the javelin thrower who became India’s first Olympic champion in any sport last summer and has amassed a huge social media following from the world’s second-largest nation. Chopra has continued to throw well this season, setting a PB of 89.94m just a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately for him, defending world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada is throwing better than ever as well, launching the No. 5 all-time throw of 93.07m in May. Neither of the two active throwers ahead of him on the list, Germans Johannes Vetter and Thomas Rohler, will be in Eugene. Their compatriot Andreas Hofmann will be, however, and if he performs up to his 92.06m PB he’ll be in contention. The other name worth mentioning is Tokyo silver medalist Jakub Vadlejch of the Czech Republic, who enters with the No. 2 seed behind Peters.

Heptathlon (1st event Sun 7/17 1:35p ET):

Nafi Thiam of Belgium enters the competition the favorite despite having no marks on the year as the double Olympic champion, the 2017 world champion, and the runner-up in 2019. Her biggest rival is Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands, who took silver behind Thiam in Tokyo is the world leader with a season’s and personal best of 6693 points. Thiam’s strongest event is the high jump, where her personal best of 2.02m could vie for a medal in the open event. Vetter’s strengths are more evenly distributed, but she is a strong hurdler and short sprinter.

A pair of Americans could land in the medals: Kendell Williams finished 5th in Tokyo and then picked up the bronze in the pentathlon at the World Indoor championships, and U.S. and NCAA champ Anna Hall could extend her already-impressive season with another big performance in Eugene.

Decathlon (1st event Sat 7/23 12:50p ET):

Damian Warner of Canada is the favorite in this one as the reigning Olympic champion and World Indoor champion in the heptathlon. Warner’s personal best of 9018 points is No. 4 all-time, and he holds the “decathlon bests” in the 100m and 110m hurdles.

Kevin Mayer, the current world record holder in the decathlon from France, should give Warner a run for his money. Why is he not the favorite ahead of Warner? Well for one, Warner beat him head-to-head in Tokyo just 11 months ago, and while Warner is the paradigm of consistency, Mayer has dealt with injury issues and inconsistent results for years. He’s competed in a range of events this year but hasn’t finished a multi yet, which isn’t unheard of but does raise some concerns. Hopefully, both titans of the event are in top shape so we get a real battle in Eugene.

The defending champ Niklas Kaul of Germany is entered, although he hasn’t been up to form lately. In fact, the best bet for third would be one of the Americans, Kyle Garland or Zach Ziemek, who sit at No. 3 and 4 on the 2022 list. Unfortunately, U.S. champion Garrett Scantling, the current world leader, has withdrawn from the competition.

🙏 Thanks again for reading and sharing. Follow along on Twitter: @chrischavez and Instagram: @chris_j_chavez. Tell your friends to sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know on what and how to watch the best track and field action.