United States sending 139 athletes to world athletics championships
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Noah Lyles, pictured competing in the 200m at the Diamond League in London, will lead the US squad at the 2023 world championships.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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INDIANAPOLIS – American sprinters Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman will lead a 139-strong contingent packed with world and Olympic gold medallists to the world athletics championships in Budapest, Hungary, USA Track and Field (USATF) said on Monday.
The team will include 82 members from the 2022 world championships squad in Oregon, where the US dominated by winning 33 medals, including 13 golds.
“Coming off of such an incredible showing at Oregon22, Team USATF is primed for success in Budapest,” said USATF chief executive officer Max Siegel in a statement.
“We’ve watched and supported our athletes on their journey to gold all season long – from the Throws Festival in Tucson, our Grand Prix events in Bermuda, Los Angeles, and New York, the 2023 USATF Outdoor Championships, on the international circuit and more.
“We’re thrilled to see each and every athlete on this team put the pieces together as we head to Budapest to defend our Team Trophy.”
Lyles, 200 metres world champion in Oregon and Doha (2019), will try for the hat-trick in his speciality and will also contest the 100m in a bid to become the first to complete the sprint double since Usain Bolt in 2015.
The 100m will feature Lyles, Doha winner Coleman and Oregon winner and Olympic silver medallist Fred Kerley.
Sha’Carri Richardson, who will be competing in her first world championships, will run the women’s 100 and 200 double as the US try to end Jamaica’s domination of sprints. Jamaica grabbed gold and silver in both events in Oregon.
The US swept the men’s shot put podium in Oregon and will be looking for a repeat with all three medallists back, led by reigning champion and world record holder Ryan Crouser.
Grant Holloway will look for a three-peat in the 110m hurdles at the Aug 19-27 meet, while Michael Norman, who ended a nine-year US drought in the men’s 400m with his gold in Eugene, will try to make it two in a row.
Katie Moon, the women’s Olympic and world pole vault champion, is back along with three-time silver medallist Sandi Morris and the youngest member of the US team – high schooler Hana Moll, 18.
In the men’s pole vault, former record holder Renaud Lavillenie, 36, will miss the championships due to a hamstring injury.
It rounds off a miserable year for the 2012 Olympic champion, who did not manage one successful vault at the French championships in July.
“I am going to use the time to recharge my batteries – both physical and mental – before preparing for 2024,” the Frenchman wrote in a social media post. REUTERS, AFP
