26 athletes with UA ties in 2023 World Athletics Championships
Arkansas will be represented by 26 athletes spread among eight countries during the 2023 edition of the World Athletics Championships held at the new National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19-27.
The group of athletes with ties to the Razorback track and field program include 13 current athletes, eight alums, and a group of five who train in Fayetteville. Countries represented by the Arkansas crew include United States (11), Jamaica (8), Great Britain (2), Bahamas, Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, and South Africa.
In the 40th year of the World Athletics Championships, which started on a four-year cycle in Helsinki, Finland, in 1983, the global outdoor event will be held for the first time in consecutive years due to COVID-19 disrupting the normal two-year cycle, which started in 1993.
Arkansas alum Tina Šutej will contest her sixth World Outdoor Championships in the pole vault, representing Slovenia. She placed fourth in 2022 after earning a bronze medal at the 2022 World Indoors. Later last summer Šutej claimed a silver medal at the European Championships.
Alum Sandi Morris is competing in her fifth World Outdoors in the pole vault, where she has collected three silver medals in 2017, 2019, and 2022 as a member of Team USA. Among three World Indoor meets, Morris has claimed a pair of gold medals (2018, 2022) and one silver (2016).
This will be the fourth World Outdoor meet for Ryan Crouser, who has trained in Fayetteville the past few years. He enters the meet as the defending champion, meet record holder and has improved upon the world record he set in the shot put last summer.
Shamier Little and Cindy Sember, who both train with Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson, will each compete in a fourth World Outdoor meet. Little, a silver medalist in the 400m hurdles in 2015, placed fourth a year ago. Sember finished fifth in the 100m hurdles last summer.
A silver medalist in the long jump in 2017, Jarrion Lawson competes in his second World Outdoors. Indoors, Lawson has placed fourth twice in 2018 and 2022. Lawson has recovered from rupturing his patella tendon last season to earn another berth into a World Championship meet.
Ayden Owens-Delerme finished fourth in the decathlon at the 2022 World Championships held in Eugene, Oregon, representing Puerto Rico. This summer Owens-Delerme won the CAC title in his first decathlon since last summer when he led the World decathlon field after the first day.
Nikki Hiltz previously was a finalist in the 1,500m during the 2019 World Championships, placing 12th. This season Hiltz broke the American mile record at the Monaco Diamond League. They claimed mile and 1,500m titles indoors, on the road and outdoors in winning USATF Indoor, USATF Mile Road, and USATF Outdoor races over the course of the 2023 season.
Making World debuts in Eugene a year ago were Britton Wilson, who finished fifth in the 400m hurdles and earned gold as a member of the United States 4 x 400m relay; Wayne Pinnock, who placed ninth in the long jump for Jamaica; and Jah-Nhai Perinchief, who competed in the qualifying round of the triple jump for Bermuda.
This year Wilson will contest the 400m where she broke the American and collegiate record indoors (49.48), and then lowered the outdoor collegiate record three times (49.51, 49.40, 49.13) during a season that elevated her to becoming a Bowerman finalist.
World Championship event debuts on the senior level include Chris Bailey (USA, 4 x 400m relay pool), Romaine Beckford (Jamaica, high jump), Jaydon Hibbert (Jamaica, triple jump), Carey McLeod (Jamaica, long jump), LaQuan Nairn (Bahamas, long jump), and Rojé Stona (Jamaica, discus).
Debuts in the women’s field include Amber Anning (Great Britain, 4 x 400 relay pool), Taliyah Brooks (USA, heptathlon), Tara Davis-Woodhall (USA, long jump), Krissy Gear (USA, steeplechase), Ackera Nugent (Jamaica, 100m hurdles), Nickisha Pryce (Jamaica, 400m, 4 x 400 relay pool), Joanne Reid (Jamaica, Mixed 4 x 400m relay pool), Carina Viljoen (South Africa, 1,500m), and Rosey Effiong (USA, 4 x 400m relay pool).
Davis-Woodhall competed in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, finishing sixth in the long jump. McLeod previously competed in the qualifying round of both the long jump and triple jump at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Previous international competition at the World U20 Championships includes gold medal performances by Nugent in 2021 and Hibbert in 2022, who were both referred to as emerging talents in the British magazine Athletics Weekly preview of the Budapest World Championships.
Predictions for finalists in each event by Athletics Weekly forecasts the following for Arkansas connections:
Men
| 4 x 400 | 1) United States (C. Bailey in relay pool), 2) Jamaica, 3) Botswana |
| Long Jump | 1) Tentoglou (Gre), 2) Dendy (US), 3) Ehammer (Sui) … 5) Pinnock (Jam) |
| Triple Jump | 1) Zango (Bur), 2) Jaydon Hibbert (Jam), 3) Pichardo (Por) |
| Shot Put | 1) Ryan Crouser (US), 2) Kovacs (US), 3) Walsh (Nzl) |
Women
| 400 | 1) Paulino (Dom), 2) Adeleke (Irl), 3) Britton Wilson (US) |
| 100H | 1) Camacho-Quinn (Pur), 2) Ali (US), 3) Harrison (US), 4) Ackera Nugent (Jam) |
| 400H | 1) Bol (Ned), 2) Muhammad (US), 3) Shamier Little (US) |
| 4 x 400 | 1) United States (B. Wilson, R. Effiong in relay pool), 2) Jamaica (N. Pryce in relay pool), 3) Netherlands … 5) Great Britain (A. Anning in relay pool) |
| Pole Vault | 1) Moon (US), 2) Murto (Fin), 3) McCartney (Nzl), … 5) Tina Šutej (Slo) … 7) Sandi Morris (US) |
| Long Jump | 1) Tara Davis-Woodhall (US), 2) Iapichino (Ita), 3) Smith (Jam) |
Mixed
| 4 x 400 | 1) United States (C. Bailey, R. Effiong in relay pool), 2) Netherlands, 3) Dominican Republic), 4) Jamaica (J. Reid in relay pool) … 6) Great Britain (A. Anning in relay pool) |
United States magazine Track & Field News has the following predictions for Arkansas connections:
Men
| 4 x 400 | 1) United States (C. Bailey in relay pool), 2) Jamaica, 3) Botswana |
| Long Jump | 1) Tentoglou (Gre), 2) Wang (Chn), 3) Ehammer (Sui) … 5) Pinnock (Jam), 6) McLeod (Jam) |
| Triple Jump | 1) Zango (Bur), 2) Jaydon Hibbert (Jam), 3) Pichardo (Por) |
| Shot Put | 1) Ryan Crouser (US), 2) Kovacs (US), 3) Walsh (Nzl) |
| Discus | 1) Čeh (Slo), 2) Ståhl (Swe), 3) Aleka (Lit) … 10) Rojé Stona (Jam) |
Women
| 400 | 1) Paulino (Dom), 2) Eid Naser (Bah), 3) Kaczmarek (Pol), 4) Britton Wilson (US) |
| 1500 | 1) Kipyegon (Ken), 2) Hailu (Eth), 3) Meshesha (Eth), … 8) Nikki Hiltz (US) |
| 100H | 1) Camacho-Quinn (Pur), 2) Ali (US), 3) Harrison (US), 4) Ackera Nugent (Jam) |
| 400H | 1) Bol (Ned), 2) Muhammad (US), 3) Shamier Little (US) |
| 4 x 400 | 1) United States (B. Wilson, R. Effiong in relay pool), 2) Jamaica (N. Pryce in relay pool), 3) Netherlands … 4) Great Britain (A. Anning in relay pool) |
| Pole Vault | 1) Moon (US), 2) Murto (Fin), 3) Tina Šutej (Slo) … 5) Sandi Morris (US) |
| Long Jump | 1) Iapichino (Ita), 2) Tara Davis-Woodhall (US), 3) Vuleta (Srb) |
| Heptathlon | 1) Hall (US), 2) Vetter (Ned), 3) Johnson-Thompson (GB) … 9) Taliyah Brooks (US) |
The schedule of events will have at least eight, and maybe as many as 12, athletes with ties to Arkansas competing on the first day with prelims and qualifying rounds being held in the men’s shot put, discus, and triple jump as well as the women’s heptathlon, 1,500m, long jump and mixed 4 x 400m relay. Finals held on the first day include the shot put and mixed 4 x 400m relay.
WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS | NOTES
TV: The world track and field championships air live across NBC Universal broadcast and streaming platforms and Peacock from Aug. 19-27 in Budapest. NBC, CNBC and the USA Network combine to air live coverage of each day of the nine-day meet. All TV coverage also streams on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app for subscribers.
Peacock also simul-streams all TV coverage, plus has additional live coverage including individual streams of field event finals.
Prize Money: World Athletics will offer a total prize amount of $8,498,000 to the top eight finishers in each event with the following breakdown by place: $70k, 35k, 22k, 16k, 11k, 7k, 6k, and 5k. For relay events the breakdown per team includes: $80k, 40k, 20k, 16k, 12k, 8k, 6k, and 4k.
Entries: There are a total of 2,187 athletes entered from 202 countries with 1,106 men and 1,019 women. United States has the largest delegation with a total of 164 (which includes reserves).
Following the U.S. in entry numbers are France and German with 79 each, Italy (78), Japan (76), Australia (66), Jamaica (64), Poland (64), Spain (63), Hungary (63), Brazil (56) Canada (55), Great Britain (55), Kenya (49), Ethiopia (42), China (41), and Netherlands (41).
