Damian Warner in the decathlon discus in Gotzis (© AFP / Getty Images)
As we look ahead to the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, we've put together 23+1 questions you'll want to keep an eye out for at the biggest sporting event of all time in Hungary!
1. Will Elaine Thompson-Herah collect her last missing title?
The fastest woman alive is now just missing the individual world outdoor gold medal, which she can collect in Budapest. However, the five-time Olympic champion will need to return to her 2021 form, when she first tripled at the Olympic Games and then improved her personal best to 10.54 seconds in the 100m. Her success to do so in the Hungarian capital could be prevented by two compatriots, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.
2. Will Budapest be Damian Warner's last big chance to win gold at the World Championships?
Last year's World Championships ended dramatically for Damian Warner. The Canadian Olympic champion was injured in the 400m. After winning the heptathlon at the World Indoor Championships and the iconic Götzis meeting, he was unable to put the crown to his sensational 2022 season.
As Warner will be close to his 36th birthday by the time of the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, he may have his last realistic chance to win the decathlon title in Budapest this summer.
3. Will Mondo Duplantis jump up to the third floor in Budapest as well?
The fact that Armand Duplantis currently holds the pole vault world record with 6.21 metres does not mean that he will not improve on his all-time best until the World Championships. Track and field’s current biggest star recently said he would like to break the world record in Budapest. But he may well set the bar at 6.23 or 6.24 metres on 26 August, not ‘just’ 6.22. Centimetre by centimetre, like his great predecessor Sergey Bubka!
4. Will the 200m world records be broken?
At last year's World Championships, Shericka Jackson and Noah Lyles were just 11 and 12 hundredths of a second behind the world record in the 200m. This was not just a breakthrough for either of them, but another milestone in a steady improvement over the years. If they could improve further in 2023, Jackson could surpass a world record from 1988 (Florence Griffith-Joyner - 21.34) and Lyles could beat Usain Bolt's 19.19.
5. Can Yulimar Rojas do a double?
Yulimar Rojas, the world record holder in the triple jump has a huge chance to fly over 16 meters in the next few years. We could easily see the Venezuelan's jumping queen in the long jump as well at the 2023 World Championships before her main event in the first weekend at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest. Two years ago, in windy conditions she was already able to fly 7.27m, and if she can approach that in calm weather conditions, she could even surprise Malaika Mihambo and Ivana Vuleta.
6. Will one of the youngsters defeat Nafi Thiam?
Until her age of 28, Nafissatou Thiam has built up an unrivalled dominance in the women's combined events field. Since Rio 2016, the only time she has failed to win a gold medal was at the World Championships in Doha, where she was silver medallist. After two Olympic, two World and four European titles (2 indoor and 2 outdoor), she will be the biggest contender in Budapest as well. However, she will have to be at her best in the first two days of the World Championships, as up-and-coming youngsters Anna Hall, 21, and Adrianna Sulek, 23, are looking increasingly dangerous.
7. Will Hungary's first outdoor world athletics champion be found in Budapest?
10 gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze medals at the Summer Olympics; 18 gold, 22 silver and 25 bronze at the European Championships; 7 silver and 7 bronze medals in the history of the World Championships outdoors, Hungarian athletics has been a success story for fans for more than 125 years.
Shot putter Anita Márton's 2018 world indoor title is also a historic moment in the country’s history of track and field. The only title missing from the host's collection is an outdoor world champion. It would be fateful if it came at the biggest Hungarian sporting event of all time. Perhaps Bence Halász has the best chance to make it real in the Men’s hammer throw, so 20 August could be one of the most memorable days of the World Championships for Hungary.
8. Will the Japanese race walkers continue to build their dominance on the streets of Budapest?
Japanese walkers have been increasingly dominant in recent years. Toshikazu Yamanishi has won the last two world championships in the 20 km, in which Koki Ikeda can claim Olympic and world silver medals, and Masatora Kawano has taken second place in the 35 km in Oregon, which discipline debuted the 2022 World Championships. Probably only an Italian, Massimo Stano can stop them from conquering the streets of Budapest.
To be continued...
