A day-by-day look at the world track and field championships in Budapest (broadcast schedule here) ...
Day 1 | Sat., Aug. 19: Ryan Crouser can stand alone in shot put
Crouser can become the first man to win four combined Olympic and world titles in the shot put. He is undefeated this season, has the world’s top eight throws in 2023 and in May upped his world record by more than seven inches. But Crouser has yet to hit the magic number taped to his bathroom mirror for the last two years — 23.77 meters — another 21 centimeters beyond his record.
Other finals: women’s 10,000m, mixed 4x400m relay, men’s 20km race walk
Day 2 | Sun., Aug. 20: World’s fastest man, best female athlete crowned
An American won the men’s 100m at the last three world championships, or ever since the end of Usain Bolt’s reign. Another gold would mark the first time the U.S. wins four in a row. This year’s field is fairly open. Fred Kerley is the defending champion. Brit Zharnel Hughes is the world’s fastest man this year, but only by one hundredth of a second over Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala. Noah Lyles, the world 200m champion, lurks after squeezing onto the team in third place at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.
Anna Hall can become the second American to win a world title in the heptathlon after Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Hall has the world’s top score this year and became an even bigger favorite when Olympic and world champion Nafi Thiam of Belgium withdrew with an Achilles injury.
Other finals: men’s 10,000m, women’s long jump, men’s hammer, women’s 20km race walk
Day 3 | Mon., Aug. 21: U.S.-Jamaica clashes in sprints
The women’s 100m may be the most anticipated race of the meet. It boasts Jamaican Shericka Jackson, the world’s fastest woman this year, and American Sha’Carri Richardson, who has two wins over Jackson this season. Then there’s five-time world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, who is fourth-fastest in the world this year. Her first race of the season came late — July 8 — after a reported knee injury.
The 110m hurdles is also expected to come down to the U.S. and Jamaica. American Grant Holloway can become the second man to win three consecutive world titles in the event after the late Greg Foster. Jamaican Rasheed Broadbell is the world’s fastest this year. Another Jamaican, Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, is back after withdrawing before last year’s final with a reported hamstring injury.
Other finals: men’s discus, men’s triple jump
Day 4 | Tue., Aug. 22: More fireworks from Faith Kipyegon?
Kipyegon, who broke world records this season in the 1500m, mile and 5000m, bids to become the first woman to win the 1500m and the 5000m at one world championships. First, it’s the final of the 1500m, which the Kenyan mom won at the Tokyo Olympics and last year’s worlds.
In the field, American Valarie Allman eyes the only major title missing from her collection in the discus. She followed her Tokyo Olympic gold with bronze at worlds last year.
Other finals: men’s 3000m steeplechase, men’s high jump
Day 5 | Wed., Aug. 23: Rivalry night
The middle day of the championships should yield some of the best matchups in the sport. The men’s 400m hurdles final could include the three fastest men in history: Olympic gold medalist Karsten Warholm of Norway, Olympic and world silver medalist Rai Benjamin of the U.S. and world champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil. Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen is favored in the men’s 1500m, where budding challenger Yared Nuguse could win the first American medal in the event in a decade.
American Katie Moon looks to repeat as world champion in the pole vault. Countrywoman Sandi Morris owns four Olympic or world outdoor silver medals in the event and seeks her first gold. The 400m is missing the injured Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, but Olympic gold medalist Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas returns four months after childbirth to face her primary rivals of the last several years: Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
Day 6 | Thu., Aug. 24: Golden Americans return
The U.S. boasts past world champions in three of the five events that have finals. Brooke Andersen and DeAnna Price won the last two world titles in the hammer. Nia Ali (100m hurdles) and Dalilah Muhammad (400m hurdles) took gold in 2019.
Of those, Andersen has the best odds given she owns the world’s top eight throws this year. Ali, 34, won her first U.S. title in July after coming back from her third childbirth. Muhammad, the third-fastest woman in history, takes on Dutchwoman Femke Bol, the second-fastest woman in history.
Other finals: men’s 400m, men’s long jump, women’s 35km race walk, men’s 35km race walk
Day 7 | Fri., Aug. 25: Iconic 200m world records under threat
At last year’s world championships, Shericka Jackson ran the second-fastest time in history in the women’s 200m final. Noah Lyles ran the fourth-fastest time in history in the men’s 200m final. Both are back to defend their titles.
Lyles is undefeated this season and taking aim at Usain Bolt’s world record of 19.19, which is 12 hundredths faster than Lyles’ American record. Jackson, whose Jamaican record is 11 hundredths shy of Florence Griffith-Joyner’s world record, is ranked second in the world this season behind American Gabby Thomas, who is the fourth-fastest woman in history.
Other finals: women’s triple jump, women’s javelin
Day 8 | Sat., Aug. 26: Unprecedented double? World record?
If all goes to plan, Kipyegon will bid to become the first woman to sweep the 1500m and 5000m at one world championships, tackling the longer final. She has never raced the 5000m at a global championship, but in June broke the world record in her first time contesting the distance in eight years. Her top challenger could be Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, who plans to race the 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m, just as she did at the Tokyo Olympics (winning two gold and one bronze).
Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis is also familiar with new feats. He broke the world record six times — each time raising it by a centimeter — and can become the second man to win three global outdoor titles in the event after legendary Ukrainian Sergey Bubka (who won seven).
The U.S. has gold-medal chances in the women’s shot put (defending champion Chase Ealey, 2023 world leader Maggie Ewen) and the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays.
Other finals: women’s marathon, decathlon
Day 9 | Sun., Aug. 27: Athing Mu
Just like last year, Mu can deliver one more individual gold for the U.S. on the last day of the meet. She’s already the youngest woman in history to own Olympic and world titles in an individual event, plus undefeated at 800m for three years. Keely Hodgkinson, who was eight hundredths behind Mu last year, has this year lowered her British records indoors and outdoors.
Elsewhere, Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen could bid to become second man to sweep the 1500m and 5000m at one worlds (Bernard Lagat, 2007). The men’s and women’s 4x400m relays close out the competition. The U.S. can sweep those golds for a third consecutive worlds, but will be without Norman and McLaughlin-Levrone.
Other finals: women’s 3000m steeplechase, men’s marathon, women’s high jump, men’s javelin