It is a busy time in London with the World Athletics Championships and amid all of the talk about doping and records being wiped, it is good to actually get into the athletics action. The event runs through to August 13th and the British have sent out a lot of familiar names like Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Laura Muir and Mo Farah while hurdler Eilidh Doyle captains the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. Farah is going for another distance double and the real headline of the entire show is Usain Bolt.
This is, more likely than not, going to be Bolt’s final competitive action and it already has been all eyes on him in the 100m where he was upset in the final. The other big headline really of the World Athletic Championships is the return of American Justin Gatlin who has probably been attacked more for doping than any other athlete has. After serving two bans in his career he pulled out a shock win in the 100m Final to end the phenomenal reign of Bolt.
There were some disappointments for the Brits over the first weekend with Katarina Johnson-Thompson failing to land a medal in the Heptathlon, while Callum Hawkins landed a bittersweet fourth in the marathon and Holly Bradshaw could only manage a sixth in the Pole Vault. But there are plenty of more chances for the Brits to get some medals on the board throughout the rest of the Championships. Overall there are a total of 48 Gold Medals on offer across the ten days of action as the host nation tries to call on the spirit of two years ago when Great Britain and Northern Ireland finished second in the table to the USA.
But the big stars from two years ago like Jessica Ennis-Hill and Greg Rutherford have retired, leaving plenty of room for some new home grown stars to raise the roof. Great Britain and Northern Ireland have been set a target of between six and eight medals. At the close of the first weekend, they had just the one on the board, the 10,000m gold that Mo Farah won on the opening day. How many will they be able to add to that?
Men’s 5,000m
Mo Farah had a tough time in winning the 10,000m after nearly falling a few times in the race. That was a real battle and grind for Farah, who has said that he will be ready to go out and defend his 5,000m title as well. He is trading as 4/11 odds on favourite at Coral to get the shorter distance gold under his belt. The Final of the 5,000m is held on Saturday evening. If he could win this one, which will be the final track race of his career, he will have taken four consecutive 5,000m titles at the World Championships. Stunning. Sports Personality of the Year Award coming up?
Women’s 1000m Hurdles
Twelve months ago at the Anniversary Games, the USA’s Kendra Harrison set a new world record and she goes as 2/7 odds on favourite to rattle off what is likely going to be an easy win for her. There is British interest in this one with Tiffany Porter who won bronze at the 2013 games. The Final is on Saturday.
Women’s and Men’s’ 4x100m Finals
These are always spectacles which always go off on the final weekend of any games. This one will have a special feel about it because in the Men’s it will be Usain Bolt’s last competitive race ever. Will he get a golden send-off and make up for his shock defeat in the 100m? The Jamaicans will be strong along with the USA and the Brits. In the Women’s Britain won bronze at the Olympics last year. Getting the same result here would be a big win for them.
Women’s 1500m
A good even for the home nation here because Britain have taken silver twice in the Women’s 1500. Hannah England was the most recent one to do so in 2011 with Lisa Dobriskey doing it a couple of years before that. But will Laura Muir be able to become the first ever British women’s 1500m champion? The Scot is in with a pretty good chance of a medal if she is on her game. However she is still an 8/1 shot at Coral to win this thing because of the threats of Sifan Hassan at 13/8, Faith Kipyegon at 5/2 and Caster Semenya at 2/1. Competitive field, can the Brit breakthrough? Laura Weightman also goes for Britain. If anything for Muir she set the fastest time over this distance in 2016.
Women’s 5000m
Scotland’s LAura Muir will be battling it out in the 5,000m as well as the 1500m. It is hard to say where she will really get an advantage on the board. This is a tough battle as well for her to come through because there is such a strong field here. Almaz Ayana is 2/7 outright favourite, with Hellen Obiri at 3/1, Genzebe Dibaba 20/1, Senbere Teferi 22/1 and then Muir comes in at 25/1. Frankly, she will have done fantastically if she collects a medal of any form in both.
Men’s 100m Hurdles
There has pretty much been just the one man when it comes to the 110m hurdles this season and that is Omar McLeod who picked up gold at Rio last year. The Jamaican has posted five of the top seven times in the event in the world and he isn’t likely to be picked off. There are threats from the likes of Aries Merritt and Orlando Ortega, but still, Jamaica should be taking home a gold in this one.
Women’s Hammer
Sophie Hitchon is carrying the flag for Britain in the Women’s Hammer. The final of this one will be on Monday evening. After giving up her dreams of becoming a ballerina, Hitchon was the first British woman to win an Olympic medal in the sport as she picked up bronze at Rio 2016. Can she get among the medals? She is a 66/1 shot at Coral to do so.
Men’s 400m
Wayde van Niekerk is one of the biggest stars at the Games and he is trading as 1/2 outright favourite to land himself the 200m title. He broke Michael Johnson’s long standing record world record in the 400m at the Olympics last year and he could well break the 43 second barrier in this one. The USA’s Fred Kerley is a serious enough challenger to put some wind up Van Niekerk as Kerley has come close to the South Africa’s best time this season. Van Niekerk will leave everything on the table.
Men’s 200m
With favourite Wayde van Niekerk going to have busted a gut in his favoured 400m the 200m event looks pretty interesting. Van Niekerk is 4/98 outright favourite still with Coral, but with challenges from Isaac Makwala and Christian Coleman there’s a chance of an upset in this one, simply because of Van Niekerk having completed the 400m campaign before this. Look for Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake who has a big chance to shine for Great Britain.
Women’s 200m
Well, it should be a gold medal going to Dutch flyer Dafne Schippers here. That is primarily because Elaine Thompson, who won the gold in Rio last year, is skipping this one. So Schipper is a good 7/4 price to retain her title in his one, but now the extra pressure will come from Tori Bowie, who stunned Thompson in the final of the 100m to claim gold on the weekend. It should be a great battle between those two.
That is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of events at the 2017 World Athletics Championships from London. There is plenty more on the track and field to get stuck into (and this is just a track and field event). It will be very interesting to see how many medals Great Britain get on the board but there are so many other exciting questions waiting to be answered. Will Mo Farah do another double as he has the 10,000m already in the bag? Will Usain bolt get a gold in the relay to sign off his career with? Will Van Niekerk break that 43-second barrier in the 400m? Will Laura Muir be able to bring home some distance medals?
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