Berliner Boersenzeitung - Five athletes who could sparkle at world championships

EUR -
AED 4.364024
AFN 76.642009
ALL 96.480397
AMD 448.942714
ANG 2.127148
AOA 1089.66955
ARS 1668.978766
AUD 1.669662
AWG 2.138937
AZN 2.012067
BAM 1.956003
BBD 2.398779
BDT 145.685087
BGN 1.995592
BHD 0.447992
BIF 3529.880405
BMD 1.188298
BND 1.503562
BOB 8.229783
BRL 6.16441
BSD 1.190948
BTN 107.933269
BWP 15.603616
BYN 3.415996
BYR 23290.641966
BZD 2.395248
CAD 1.612818
CDF 2643.962752
CHF 0.914639
CLF 0.02572
CLP 1015.567155
CNY 8.215001
CNH 8.195781
COP 4364.69007
CRC 589.065961
CUC 1.188298
CUP 31.489899
CVE 110.275492
CZK 24.259222
DJF 212.082856
DKK 7.470788
DOP 74.648359
DZD 153.989134
EGP 55.634888
ERN 17.824471
ETB 184.882502
FJD 2.598035
FKP 0.870454
GBP 0.871117
GEL 3.19641
GGP 0.870454
GHS 13.088245
GIP 0.870454
GMD 87.344022
GNF 10454.126611
GTQ 9.133869
GYD 249.163706
HKD 9.287387
HNL 31.472524
HRK 7.53725
HTG 156.088135
HUF 380.694453
IDR 19987.17336
ILS 3.651286
IMP 0.870454
INR 107.688916
IQD 1560.155004
IRR 50057.055943
ISK 145.197971
JEP 0.870454
JMD 186.340081
JOD 0.842472
JPY 181.710379
KES 153.23095
KGS 103.916944
KHR 4798.557509
KMF 493.143918
KPW 1069.454959
KRW 1707.590201
KWD 0.364677
KYD 0.992499
KZT 587.618381
LAK 25576.218191
LBP 106390.473795
LKR 368.396601
LRD 222.111133
LSL 18.91274
LTL 3.508736
LVL 0.718789
LYD 7.497808
MAD 10.853933
MDL 20.120745
MGA 5272.546022
MKD 61.661363
MMK 2495.788067
MNT 4253.532177
MOP 9.589053
MRU 47.293097
MUR 54.543809
MVR 18.370928
MWK 2065.131243
MXN 20.418448
MYR 4.643272
MZN 75.931141
NAD 18.912979
NGN 1608.782232
NIO 43.824723
NOK 11.276444
NPR 172.696338
NZD 1.960193
OMR 0.456905
PAB 1.190923
PEN 3.998681
PGK 5.111551
PHP 68.946265
PKR 334.244621
PLN 4.216099
PYG 7864.913766
QAR 4.342113
RON 5.092093
RSD 117.424076
RUB 91.623982
RWF 1738.787384
SAR 4.456718
SBD 9.563893
SCR 16.489643
SDG 714.766777
SEK 10.577283
SGD 1.499353
SHP 0.891531
SLE 28.816853
SLL 24918.015287
SOS 680.673354
SRD 44.890309
STD 24595.370667
STN 24.502641
SVC 10.421035
SYP 13142.071386
SZL 18.905037
THB 36.821199
TJS 11.183064
TMT 4.159043
TND 3.424626
TOP 2.861136
TRY 51.870996
TTD 8.076802
TWD 37.331601
TZS 3090.352077
UAH 51.242222
UGX 4210.400595
USD 1.188298
UYU 45.664345
UZS 14673.766578
VES 461.36091
VND 30853.564965
VUV 141.834787
WST 3.222097
XAF 656.030459
XAG 0.014153
XAU 0.000234
XCD 3.211435
XCG 2.146413
XDR 0.815884
XOF 656.027698
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.290499
ZAR 18.91755
ZMK 10696.110388
ZMW 22.658442
ZWL 382.63149
  • RBGPF

    0.1000

    82.5

    +0.12%

  • CMSC

    0.0084

    23.7

    +0.04%

  • RYCEF

    -0.4800

    16.93

    -2.84%

  • BTI

    0.1400

    60.33

    +0.23%

  • GSK

    -0.3300

    58.49

    -0.56%

  • AZN

    11.3600

    204.76

    +5.55%

  • RIO

    2.2800

    99.52

    +2.29%

  • BP

    1.5800

    38.55

    +4.1%

  • NGG

    1.8800

    90.64

    +2.07%

  • CMSD

    -0.0100

    24.07

    -0.04%

  • RELX

    -1.5600

    27.73

    -5.63%

  • VOD

    0.4300

    15.68

    +2.74%

  • JRI

    0.3500

    13.13

    +2.67%

  • BCC

    -0.3200

    89.41

    -0.36%

  • BCE

    -0.1800

    25.65

    -0.7%

Five athletes who could sparkle at world championships
Five athletes who could sparkle at world championships / Photo: Jewel SAMAD - AFP

Five athletes who could sparkle at world championships

Noah Lyles, Armand Duplantis and Faith Kipyegon headline the world championships in Tokyo but it is an opportunity for new stars to emerge and add a freshness to the established order.

Text size:

AFP Sport picks out five prospects who could achieve just that:

Men

Cooper Lutkenhaus (USA)

A loaded 800 metres with Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and Canada's defending title holder Marco Arop makes it one of the standout races -- the American teenager adds even more spice to it.

At 16 and 272 days when he runs in his heat he will be the youngest athlete to compete for the USA at a world championships.

Lutkenhaus earned his ticket with a brilliant effort to finish second at the US trials in an under-18 world record time of 1min 42.27sec.

He has turned professional, signing a contract with Nike -- becoming the youngest American athlete to do so.

While his rivals have the advantage of a wealth of experience his coach believes his attitude will help him.

"He doesn't make the bad or the good too high or too low," his high school coach Chris Capeau told trackandfieldnews.com.

"He loves celebration and loves being hyped up about it. But if it's a bad day, he still loves it."

Niels Laros (NED)

It could be a case of double Dutch in Tokyo -- Femke Bol in the women's 400m hurdles and Laros in the 1500m.

Laros, 20, is the coming man, and the form one too as he arrives armed with the Diamond League title.

There are question marks over Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen after an injury-plagued season, his successor as Olympic gold medallist Kyle Hocker and defending world champion Josh Kerr.

Laros, who was sixth in the Olympic final, could have opted for the 800m or the 5,000m -- both Hocker and Ingebrigtsen are eyeing the 1500m-5000m double -- but has decided not to overreach.

"In Tokyo I will focus on the 1500m," said Laros. "My coach and I know that there will be high expectations, we want to be realistic. But of course I am dreaming about the podium."

Oleh Doroshchuk (UKR)

The Dutch may entertain hopes of a track double but the Ukrainians have similar aspirations in the high jump.

World record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh is favoured to retain her title and Doroshchuk has an excellent chance of becoming the first man from his country to be crowned champion since Bohdan Bondarenko in 2013.

Based on his season so far, Doroshchuk could deliver as Mahuchikh has constantly done since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, giving a welcome morale boost to their compatriots.

The 24-year-old comes into the championships after victory in the Brussels Diamond League meet, beating Olympic champion Hamish Kerr, who then avenged that at the Diamond League finals in Zurich.

He is building up a medals collection, European outdoors bronze last year and gold in the European indoors earlier this year.

The only slight worry is the knee injury he suffered earlier in the season.

"The world championships are all I think about. I just want to compete there," he told Suspilne Sports in July.

"From the start, all the work has been done only for this."

Women

Audrey Werro (SUI)

The 21-year-old could break a glass ceiling for Swiss women and become the first to win an 800m medal in a world or Olympic final.

Werro, daughter of a Swiss father and an Ivorian mother, has transferred seamlessly into the senior ranks after an impressive junior career.

Twice European Under-20 champion, she won under-20 silver in the 2022 championships in Colombia, and this year won the European Under-23 title.

She rounded off her Diamond League campaign in fine style, winning in front of her home crowd in Zurich, becoming the first Swiss woman to lift a Diamond League trophy.

Only Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has run faster than her winning time of 1:55.91 -- also a Swiss record -- this season.

Despite that, she is measured in her ambitions for Tokyo.

"I want to make the final and then after that run my best and see what happens."

Leyanis Perez (CUB)

The 23-year-old has restored some lustre to Cuban women's triple jumping. Her bronze in the 2023 world championships in Budapest ended a 14-year hiatus in terms of medals in the event at the championships.

Perez topped that with the world indoor title this year, she is the world leader in the event this season and collected a Diamond League trophy.

However, if she is to become the first Cuban to win the women's title since Yargelis Savigne retained her crown in 2009 she might have to battle Venezuelan great and four-time champion Yulimar Rojas, who is still seeking her best form after injury deprived her of the 2024 Olympics.

It should be some spectacle and Perez will know the 29-year-old Rojas never gives up, having been present when she won gold in Budapest.

(P.Werner--BBZ)