World Athletics Championships | Sprints Preview: Athletes, Storylines To Watch

This is the CITIUS MAG Newsletter by Chris Chavez. If you’ve been forwarded this email or stumbled upon a link online, you can sign up and subscribe here:

I can’t believe it’s finally here. The World Championships are upon us. It’s felt like so much of our coverage and our efforts have been building toward this historic moment. The World Athletics Championships will be taking place on U.S. soil for the first time in history. We’re sending our full team to Eugene to bring you the most comprehensive coverage from July 15-24.

Starting with this newsletter, I will be handing off the keys to David Melly, who will recap all of the biggest moments, highlighting his must-watch athletes and events for each day while also pulling together some of our best content, photos and social moments that we capture. Make sure you’re subscribed and pass it along to any fellow track and field fans. Be sure to follow along on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for interviews and insights from the mixed zone.

Here are some of our content plans for the World Championships…

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.

Let’s get into some track and field…

Here’s the full broadcast schedule and how to watch as shared. | A full schedule of events and results can be found here via World Athletics.

Men’s 100m (1st round Fri. 7/15, 9:50p ET):

The big question looming over this event is whether Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will be healthy enough to defend his title as the world’s fastest man. The Tokyo gold medalist withdrew from the Prefontaine Classic in May and the Stockholm Diamond League in June with injury issues. While the latter was reported as “precautionary,” it doesn’t instill confidence to have Jacobs pulling out of races so close to Worlds. As it stands, his season’s best of 9.99 (wind-aided) won’t instill much fear in any of his American rivals.

If Jacobs isn’t up to form (and even if he is), the favorites will be a trio of Americans: U.S. champion Fred Kerley, defending world champion Christian Coleman and Prefontaine Classic champion Trayvon Bromell.

Kerley looked phenomenal cruising to victory and a new PB of 9.76 in the U.S. Championships, so if he retains his form, he’ll be the man to beat. Coleman has not quite looked like the same runner since returning his suspension in 2021 but he did run a big season’s best of 9.87 in the semifinals at USAs before opting out of the final. The dark horse to watch in this race is Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who ran an altitude-aided 9.85 to upset Kerley at the Kip Keino Classic in May.

Women’s 100m (1st round Sat. 7/16 8:10p ET):

With almost absolute certainty, the gold medal will stay in Jamaican hands as the defending world champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and two-time-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah are as sharp as ever. Their compatriot from the Tokyo podium, Shericka Jackson, has also only gotten better as the season progressed.

Fraser-Pryce has the world-leading time with a pair of 10.67s, one from Nairobi and the other from Paris. She also ran a 10.70 in the first round of the Jamaican trials for good measure. No one has run faster than her third-fastest 100m of the year so far.

Jackson may be on the upswing as her season’s best of 10.77 comes from the Jamaican championship final, which she won. With Thompson-Herah, you can never count out the double-gold medalist

While the win may be elusive, Team USA has a good shot at a medal with Aleia Hobbs returning to her 2018 form this season and surprise U.S. champ Melissa Jefferson of Coastal Carolina University keeping a long NCAA season rolling into July. Another collegian, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia, may have an eye on a medal as well with her 10.81 season’s best as a Texas Longhorn.

Men’s 200m (1st round Mon. 7/18 8:05p ET):

All eyes will be on the men’s 200m as the big rematch between Noah Lyles and Erriyon Knighton.

Lyles is the U.S. champion, defending world champion and Tokyo bronze medalist. At the U.S. Championship, he proved that he is still at the top of his game. Still, he seems like a seasoned veteran at just 24 years old when he lines up next to the 18-year-old Knighton. The high school phenom first landed on the radar by making the Tokyo team at 17 and anyone who wasn’t paying attention sure learned his name in a big way in April when Knighton ran 19.49, for the No. 4 all-time mark (0.01 second ahead of Lyles) that broke the U20 world record held by some guy named Usain Bolt.

The duo caused some fireworks at USAs with a cheeky finish-line grin and a spicy post-race interview. But their drastically different race styles make for an entertaining show as Knighton runs the first 100 meters better than anyone in the world but Lyles’s top-end speed is unmatched.

They’ll have great teammates backing them up as Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek are both medal threats as well. The absence of Cuba’s Reynier Mena (who ran 19.63 last week but is currently transferring national allegiances and is ineligible to compete) will clear some of the path for a possible American podium sweep. Guys like NCAA champ Joe Fahnbulleh and Olympic champion Andre DeGrasse will surely threaten the U.S. dominance.

Women’s 200m (1st round Mon 7/18 9:00p ET):

The women’s 200m got quite the shakeup in the last few weeks, as reigning Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas failed to make the U.S. team due to a lingering hamstring injury and Olympic silver medalist Christine Mboma of Namibia recovers from a muscle tear in her thigh muscle.

Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, who failed to advance out of the first round of the 200m in Tokyo last summer, put the world on notice by dropping a 21.55 at the Jamaican championships the same day. Jackson’s new PB is the third-fastest 200m of all-time and she finished ahead of the No. 2 woman on that list, Elaine Thompson-Herah. Jackson should remind you of the Jamaican Fred Kerley, as a former 400-meter runner who’s discovered midway through her pro career that her strength lies in shorter distances.

The U.S. still has a great shot at the medal thanks to Kentucky’s Abby Steiner, who’s kept a season that began in December 2021 going with remarkable consistency. She’s only gotten better as the year progresses, winning the 200m at USAs in a new PB of 21.77. She’ll match back up with LSU’s Favour Ofili, who competes for Nigeria internationally, but the two collegians will have to break up the Jamaicans as well, as Thompson-Herah and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce return to this event as well.

Men’s 400m (1st round Sun 7/17 2:05p ET):

Is this Michael Norman’s year? It sure seems like it so far, as the 24-year-old bounced back from a disappointing fifth-place finish in Tokyo to set the world-leading mark of 43.56 and win his second U.S. title in June.

Norman seems to love Hayward, as 3 of his 4 fastest times come from Eugene, so home-field advantage may be just what he needs to finally capture an individual global gold.

If Norman is bested, the man most likely to take him down is Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas, who has not lost a 400m race since 2017 and is undefeated at every distance he’s competed in 2022. Gardiner and Kirani James of Grenada have been consistently among the top players on the 400m scene for the better part of the last decade and should contend for the win in any race they start. Norman’s U.S. teammates Champion Allison and Randolph Ross could pick up some hardware as well if the long NCAA season doesn’t start to take its toll.

One intriguing name to keep an eye on is world record holder Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa. He has had an unfortunate string of injuries since his victory at 2017 Worlds but he did drop a 44.58 at a low-key meet in Georgia last weekend. It would be a surprise to see him land back on the podium after all this time, but you can never truly count out a monster talent like his.

Women’s 400m (1st round Sun 7/17 2:05p):

It’s hard to bet against Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the two-time Olympic champion and reigning World indoor champion who has owned this event over the last several years. She is not the defending champion because in 2019 she took silver to Salwa Eid Naser, who has been suspended for whereabouts failures and won’t be in Eugene. Even with Olympic silver medalist Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic notching a world-leading 49.49 in May, Miller-Uibo has to be considered the favorite until proven otherwise.

In the American camp, the bigger narratives revolve around who is not racing. NCAA and U.S. champ Talitha Diggs has run 49.99 this year and should contend for a medal, but arguably some of the fastest 400-meter runners in the U.S. will be contesting other events as Athing Mu is entered in the 800m, Sydney McLaughlin in the 400m hurdles, and Abby Steiner, who split a sub-49 on Kentucky’s winning 4x400m relay at NCAAs, is running the 200m. Here’s hoping the World Athletics schedulers take a look at the schedule for 2023 and try and entice some of the big names into doing the doubles!

Men’s 110H (1st round Sat 7/16 2:25p ET):

The 110-meter hurdles could be one of the most exciting events of the entire championships. The race features the Olympic champion (Hansle Parchment), the reigning World champion (Grant Holloway), the NCAA champion (Trey Cunningham), the third-fastest man of all time (Devon Allen) and the man who beat two of those four at the U.S. Championships in Daniel Roberts. It’s hard to pick a single favorite.

If you’re betting on consistency, Grant Holloway is probably your man as he’s won 18 of his 20 110H competitions (counting rounds) since the start of 2021. The only problem is that one of those losses came in the final in Tokyo, to Parchment, and the other came when Allen ran 12.84 in New York earlier this summer. So while Holloway has shown the ability to deliver more often than not, the men most capable of taking him down are also in the race.

One notable absence in this event is Omar McLeod, the Rio Olympic champion who only managed to finish eighth in the Jamaican championships, missing his national team for the second year in a row. His loss improves the odds of a U.S. medal sweep greatly but anything can happen in this notoriously unpredictable event.

Women’s 100H (1st round Sat 7/23 2:20p ET):

The battle for the gold in the women’s 100-meter hurdles looks to be a rematch between two Kentucky Wildcats in 2021 Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico and world-record holder Keni Harrison of the U.S., who finished second in Tokyo. The duo, who did not overlap in the NCAA, have actually not raced head-to-head all that often but Harrison holds the lifetime edge 3-2 over 5 matchups in finals.

Harrison, who famously set the world record in 2016 after missing the Rio Olympic team entirely, appeared to be losing just a tiny bit of her edge over the past few seasons, but she put any doubts to rest at USAs by picking up her fifth consecutive U.S. title with her fastest time (12.34) in 5 years. Her Team USA teammate and reigning world champion Nia Ali looked strong winning her semi-final in Eugene but she did not contest the final as she has a bye into the championships. Ali, the veteran in the field at 33 years old, has an uphill battle to defend her title, but she’s certainly in the mix to land on the podium.

Others who could factor into the medals include American Alaysha Johnson, the world No. 2 at 12.35, and any of three Jamaicans who’ve run under 12.50 this year. Nigerian national champion Tobi Amusan, who finished 4th in Tokyo, is an up-and-comer in the event who’s one to watch as well.

Men’s 400H (1st round Sat 7/16 4:20p ET):

A sentence we never thought we’d be writing a year ago: Alison Dos Santos is the favorite to win the men’s 400-meter hurdles.

Okay, maybe “favorite” is putting it strongly, but Dos Santos has the world-leading time of 46.80 and four of the five fastest marks of the year. Both of the men who beat the bronze medalist have question marks around their health: Karsten Warholm has pulled out of at least two races this year with injury concerns, and Rai Benjamin is only just returning to hurdling after a particularly nasty bout with COVID-19. Warholm’s manager wasn’t exactly bubbling with optimism about his health and fitness heading into Worlds, but Benjamin did cruise to a 47.04 victory at the U.S. champs so he should be in fighting shape to take on Dos Santos.

It’s also hard to count out Warholm, who owns the world record and four of the only 11 sub-47 times on the books as well as Olympic gold. And he’s the two-time defending champion, having picked up victories in 2017 and 2019, so it’s not crazy to suggest that he knows how to perform when it counts. Even with some portion of the Big Three not at their best, the rivalry among this trio is sure to produce fireworks.

Women’s 400H (1st round Tue 7/19 8:15p ET):

With each passing championship, it seems more and more like it’s Sydney McLaughlin’s world and we’re all just living in it. The Olympic champion lowered her own world record at USAs from 51.46 to 51.41. The ease with which she controlled every step of her race suggests that the 51-second barrier could be the next mark to go. Pretty insane to suggest when you realize that, until this time last year, a sub-52 400-meter hurdles had never been achieved.

Of course, you cannot discount the reigning world champion and former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad, the only other woman in history to break 52 seconds. Muhammad skipped USAs, which some questions as to her health status. However, if history is any indication, she won’t let McLaughlin win gold without a fight.

If either woman falters - this is the hurdles and anything can happen - the woman certain to benefit most would be Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who has run 52.27 this season. At 22, Bol is actually five months younger than McLaughlin, a prodigy in her own right. The only knock against her is that, quite simply, McLaughlin is better. Bol did beat Muhammad in a Diamond League race after the Tokyo Olympics last summer, so there’s some suggestion that the medals could be shuffled this time around.

Men’s Relays

The World Championships feature a 4x100m, 4x400m, and 4x400m mixed-gender relays, which this year means ample opportunity for Team USA to rack up the medal count. On the men’s side, in particular, the U.S. has 5 of the top 8 marks in 2022 in the 100m, 7 of 10 in the 200m and 6 of 9 in the 400m, so the talent and the depth is there and the only question mark is around the execution. In the 4x100m in particular, the U.S. has a long and storied history of dropped batons, botched handoffs, and disqualifications in the highly-technical event, which often opens the door for countries that prioritize coordination over speed to take the victory.

Based on the level of talent, anything less than a sweep would be seen as an underperformance, and with Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles, and Trayvon Bromell potentially lining up on the same team, the Jamaican world record of 36.84 from 2012 should be on notice if the relay coaches can wrangle their stars accordingly.

Women’s Relays

The big story on the women’s side will undoubtedly be the swan song of the great Allyson Felix, whose sixth-place finish in the 400m at USAs landed her in the relay pool for the mixed-gender relay in her 10th World Championships appearance. While Felix gets a lot of well-deserved attention for being the most decorated track and field Olympian of all-time, she also has racked up an impressive haul of 17 medals at Worlds (12 of them gold) making her the most decorated athlete in World Championships history. She’ll have a good shot to add to her overstuffed medal shelf here as well, although Team USA did have to settle for bronze in Tokyo.

In the 4x400m relay, the U.S. could potentially field a winning team with zero legs in the open 400m, if some combination of Athing Mu, Raevyn Rogers, Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad, Britton Wilson, and Abby Steiner were to toe the line. That’s unlikely, particularly given that Talitha Diggs is the only sprinter under 50 seconds for the U.S. this year, but it speaks to the U.S. women’s depth and versatility that they could almost field two entire relay teams of gold-medal caliber.

In the 4x100m, the crown is Jamaica’s to lose, and another all-time great, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, could add to her own collection of 11 Worlds medals (9 gold) here as well. Much like the U.S. men, the Jamaican women have so much top-level talent in the 100m that it would take a calamitous error for their team to lose, but that high likelihood of zone violations and dropped batons is what makes the 4x100m so fun to watch!

🙏 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.