Letsile Tebogo wins the 100m at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 (© Marta Gorczynska)
As we look ahead of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023, we have put together 23+1 questions, which will definitely be worth paying attention to during the biggest Hungarian sports event of all time! After the first part, here are eight more interesting questions, that will make you want to buy your tickets or packages now!
9. Who will be the new faces among the world stars?
There are young athletes who surprise the greatest stars with a huge breakthrough in every year. In 2023, several talents may have a good chance to do this: among the boys, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, the U20 world record holder in the 100 meters, is already at 9.91. Sasha Zhoya could win a surprise medal in the 110 m hurdles in Budapest, while the two-time long jump world champion, Erwan Konaté can also do great things in the Hungarian capital if he further improves his personal best of 8.12 meters.
Elina Tzengko from Greece, who already celebrated a European title in the women’s javelin before the age of 20, and Adriana Világos from Serbia, two-time U20 world champion, who won the silver medal in Munich behind her, can also be the rising stars of the World Championships. Angelina Topic also from Serbia is barely 17 years old, but she can already achieve 1.96 meters in the high jump. She won bronze at last summer's European Championships. More people may notice her super talent if she gets closer to the two meters barrier in Budapest.
In Jamaica, women athletes also look more promising in the younger age groups than men. Tina Clayton won her second world junior title with a U20 national record of 10.95 in the 100 meters in Cali. In the 100 m hurdles no one could improve the 12.77 seconds that Kerrica Hill clocked to win gold at the U20 World Championships.
10. What will the Jamaican men’s sprinters be able to do after the poor results of recent years?
Speaking of Jamaica, another important question for the Budapest23 World Championships will be, who will lead the Jamaican sprinters back to the top? They didn’t have finalists in the 200 meters in Oregon22, with Oblique Seville in the 100 meters – like their 4x100 relay team – finishing 4th. A year earlier, at the Tokyo Olympics, the situation was similarly dismal: they had no finalists in the 100 meters, Rasheed Dwyer finished 7th in the 200 meters, and their 4x100 relay finished fourth.
11. Will Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Pawel Fajdek equal the legendary Sergej Bubka’s record?
Sergey Bubka won the men's pole vault six times between 1983 and 1997, which is the record for World Championships gold medals in a single event. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who has five world titles in the 100 meters, and Pawel Fajdek, who also won five times in the hammer throw, can join him in Budapest.
12. Will the American women's 4x400 meter relay be able to break one of the oldest world records?
Two years ago, the Tokyo Olympics raised hopes that the 3:15.17 world record, held by the Soviets since the 1988 Seoul Olympics, could be broken in the next few years. Team USA ran 3:16.85 with Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad, Athing Mu.
In 2022, they ran 3:17.79 on home soil, but only Sydney McLaughlin of the Olympic champion quartet remained in the relay. If they could find an equally good fourth person alongside McLaughlin, Athing Mu and Abby Steiner, they could get even closer to that “space time” in Budapest.
13. Will the golden generation of Jamaican sprinters put the crown on the past years?
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson - three Jamaican runners who dominate the women's field as much as the men’s golden generation of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, and Yohan Blake did in the 2010’s. At the World Championships in Budapest, they will be the ones to defeat. Perhaps, along with U20 world champion Tina Clayton, they could have a chance for the 4x100 world record on the penultimate night of the World Champs, a feat they fell just two tenths short of at the Olympics!
14. How will Anita Wlodarczyk make her comeback?
Last year, the best female hammer thrower of all time, Anita Wlodarczyk tried to stop a car thief. Unfortunately, the Polish legend was injured in her heroic act, and missed almost the entire summer season. Even though she will be 38 years old at the time of the final on August 24, she will still have a good chance to win her fifth world title after 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
15. Will the talented young Hungarian generation be able to level up on home soil?
In the 125-year-old Hungarian athletics, in the middle of a generational change, the young talents have already come on stage that the 2020s could be all about. The world championships could also play a decisive role in the careers of Bence Halász, Luca Kozák, Viktória Madarász, Xénia Krizsán and Réka Szilágyi.
Boglárka Takács is barely 21 years old, but she can already claim to be the 100 metres national record holder. The highly talented Dániel Huller could make a splash in the 800 meters, István Palkovits could be a finalist in the 3000 m steeplechase, and Petra Farkas could also break into the international elite in the long jump in Budapest. Also, let’s not forget our very young relay teams either, which could put the country on their side in the second half of the World Champs.
16. Who will come out of a possible duel between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Joshua Cheptegei?
In the men's long distances, everyone is waiting for the duel between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Joshua Cheptegei. The Norwegian will be looking for a triple, to be the best in the 10,000 as well as in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters. The Ugandan world star could be the one to stop him, and he may have the most intense battle with him in the 5000m on the final night of the World Championships!
To be continued…
