The World Championships are just days away, and the hype continues to build as the best athletes in the world are set to gather in Budapest to compete for a spot on the medal stand, as well as the history books.
This year’s World Championships will include new faces and current legends in the sport throughout various events. It will also include athletes who had monster performances at last year’s World Championships in Eugene, and are looking to achieve even greater success than what they experienced last season.
While the biggest meet of the year is a few days away, here’s a few notable pieces of news and notes to keep an eye on.
It was announced last week that arguably the biggest star in the sport, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will miss the World Championships and the rest of the season with a nagging injury. But it’s possible that she might not be the only superstar to miss the event.
Women’s 100m hurdles world record holder Tobi Amusan was provisionally suspended for a whereabouts violation after missing three drug tests. While it was reported earlier this weekend that Amusan was cleared to compete at the World Championships in Budapest, World Athletics announced that this was not the case, and that she hadn’t been cleared to compete at the World Championships. The case is ongoing, and we will see soon what the end result will be for the talented athlete who competes for Nigeria.
It’s still unknown if Athing Mu will compete at the World Championships in Budapest. It was reported by the LA Times that she was still contemplating the decision with her coach Bobby Kersee. She’s slated to compete in the women’s 800m to defend her title.
Noah Lyles is ready to run fast, and very fast. He posted on his social media recently that he plans to run 19.10 in the men’s 200m, and 9.65 in the men’s 100m. Lyles currently holds the American record in the 200m with his time of 19.31 that he ran last year at the World Championships in Eugene. If he indeed runs the times that he plans on running, it will mean that he will have broken the world record in the 200m, and the American record in the 100m.
For a comprehensive breakdown of the World Championships, check out the latest edition of Track Talk.
