Sifan Hassan for the first leg of a possible hat-trick, and Americans Anna Hall and Ryan Crouser are expected on the first day of the World Championships in Athletics on Saturday in Budapest.
The Dutch, a phenomenon capable of shining from the 1,500 m to the marathon, has launched a new crazy challenge by aligning herself in Budapest on three events: the 1,500 m, the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m. “The last time I tried to compete in all three distances was at the Tokyo Olympics. I want to see if I can do it again, the challenge of lining up at three distances is a powerful driver,” said Sifan Hassan.
In Japan, in 2021, she had won her bet with three medals including two titles (5,000 and 10,000 m, bronze over 1,500 m). Worn out by her record year, she then crossed the Worlds in Eugene (Oregon, United States) without shining last summer (4th in the 10,000m, 6th in the 5,000m). Hassan (30) has run little on the track this season, but she made a splash when she won the prestigious London Marathon in April, for her first attempt at the distance.
On Saturday, over 10,000m (8:55 p.m.), she will have a lot to do with her Ethiopian competitors, in particular the world record holder and defending champion Letesenbet Gidey, or even Gudaf Tsegay. At midday, she will have already had to compete in the 1,500m series (1:15 p.m.), a priori a formality for her.
Undefeated in eleven competitions in 2023, the American Ryan Crouser is the huge favorite in the shot put competition, of which he is the title holder. Above all, he could validate the first world record of these Worlds if he erases the mark he had set at 23.56 m at the end of May in Los Angeles, feeling “not quite on point”.
At 30, the double Olympic champion seems at the top of his game and untouchable, even for his compatriot Joe Kovacs, double world champion (2015 and 2019).
In the absence of the injured Belgian double Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam, the American Anna Hall is the favorite in the heptathlon, which begins on Saturday and ends on Sunday.
The 22-year-old athlete is having a crazy year so far: she approached the symbolic bar of 7,000 points in Götzis (Austria) in May (6,988 points) and beat her personal bests in 15 disciplines between the hall and the summer season. . She had won bronze at the Worlds-2022 in Eugene.