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Stunning jumps, supreme tension in the throwing and sprint finals and calculation work at De Meerkamp. The National Stadium in the Japanese capital Tokyo is, four years after the Olympic Games, from Saturday for nine days the world stage of top performance in athletics.
At the World Athletics Championships, more than 2,100 athletes from at least 196 different countries in action, including 53 Dutch people. Who should you not lose sight of next week? A round along the eye -catchers.
Dizzying duplantis
The figureheads of athletics were always for a long time sprinters. In recent years, a flying American Swede has taken over. In the case of Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, that is an almost six -meter -long stick with which it jumps over even larger heights.
“Whatever he does, he is at the center of attention. Mondo is one of the mega stars of our sport, through his talent inside and outside the playing field,” said Sebastian Coe, boss of World Athletics, recently about the pole vault.
Duplantis continues to be surprised and has outgrown its discipline. The fact that he, as the first man from his sport since Usain Bolt, was awarded an ‘Oscar for best athletes’, fits with his film star image. He released a music single, adorns lifestyle magazines and, above all, continues to perform.
Duplantis tilt world record pole vault shortly before World Cup to 6.29 meters
With his thirteenth world record, he brought the bar to a dizzying 6.29 meters. He jumped over a height of at least six meters more than a hundred times. Of that magical border, many of his competitors, also in the World Cup final on Monday, can only dream.
Kenyan superstar
A class of its own, that qualification also fits Faith Kipyegon. The 31-year-old Kenyan has been unbeatable for years on the 1,500 meters, on which she tightened the world record for the third year in a row this summer. With its flowing running style and impressive record, Kipyegon is a superstar in its own country and an example for athletes from all over the world.
From heading to gold, such as Kipyegon also several times also Sifan Hassan (by marathon ambitions absent at the World Cup) stayed ahead in large finals, will also be the recipe in Tokyo. Favorite for a fifth world title and already assured of a place among the best athletes of all time. Hassan already summarized it: “Faith continues to inspire me to walk faster.”
Ingebrigtsen’s dubbel
Also among men the medium distances – popular because of the balance between speed, endurance and tactics – have an eye -catcher: Jakob ignitions.
“When I am at the start, it is because I believe I can win,” he sounds fresh, just before the World Cup. The 1,500 and 5,000 meters on which he comes into action will be his first games since the winter season due to an Achilles tendon injury.
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Jakob Ingebrigtsen Met WK-Goud in 2023 -
Introductions with its latest Pokémon card
Then he won double gold at the World Cup and European Championships, where he was rewarded in Apeldoorn by brothers- also professional athletes- Hendrik and Filip with a packet of Pokémon cards per medal. In Japan, ignitions are not waiting for the finals and already struck with a new collection piece (see photo barrice above).
Last trick of the world’s fastest mother
She has been almost indispensable in the sprint finals for seventeen years. After this World Cup that will really have to be, because Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is now really ready for her last big performance.
The Jamaican saved medals at eight World Cups, each with a new striking hair, and hoped to store her spikes last year. However, the Paris Games did not go as hoped. After a panic attack, she withdrew for a race, after her preparation had run in the soup by a stubborn French steward who did not leave her through a stadium fence.
“I didn’t understand why, still not, and was ashamed of me,” Fraser-Pryce looked back months later. “But I knew: it should not end that way.”
With new fuel, the veteran rushed to the Jamaican trials Yet again to a World Cup ticket. Her chances of medals are a lot smaller than before, but with her last trick, the now 38-year-old mother of Zyon (7) is undoubtedly public favorite.
Also on a sports day of her sons school, Fraser-Pryce likes to see to be the fastest:
Where the sprint parts with the women with the American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (fastest woman this year) and Julien Alfred from Sint Lucia know two big favorites, the field is completely open.
Successor of Bolt?
Noah Lyles has traveled as a defending champion in 100 and 200 meters, but with Letsile Tebogo from Botswana he has a competitor who is no longer a surprise on the highest stage after his Olympic performance.
However, many connoisseurs expect that ‘old’ times revive with – for the first time after Usain Bolt – gold for Jamaica on the king’s number. Kishane Thompson is the fastest man this year (9.75) and ise -mate Oblique Seville already won two prestigious sprint duels from Lyles this summer.
“He is great, he is fast. And yet I still have it in my pocket,” said Lyles when he was knocked in Oslo, but clearly did not lose his self -confidence. The fires have already been blocked for nine days top athletics in Tokyo.
Worth a look
