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Ahead of the soon-to-begin World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Team GB & Nothern Ireland are all set to lay down their smallest team in 15 years, as 51, plus an addition five, are set to represent the Great Britain and Ireland on the world stage.
Despite a team that is significantly smaller than recent World Championships teams, what with Team GB taking totals of 92, 77 and 80 athletes in the last three championships, the Brits have several medal hopefuls heading to Budapest.
British & Northern Irish Female Athletes
Spearheading the female attack in Budapest over the next few weeks will be the ever present Dina Asher-Smith. The sprinting sensation has been a key Team GB athlete for several years and she is without a doubt one of the more likely medal winners. The 27-year-old from Orpington, London already has six World Championships medals to her name. In Doha she picked up a pair of silver medals, as well as claiming gold in the 200m. Of course, after injuries hit, the 2022 edition of this tournament wasn’t as successful as she’d like, what with her finishing fourth in the 100m. She also lost her 200m title, picking up bronze instead, but this time around, she’s hoping to improve and if she’s back to her best, which she may well be after recently stating that she’s now “stronger, faster better”, she easily could.
Other medal hopefuls include youngster Molly Caudery, who impressed when claiming a silver in the Pole Vault at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jazmin Sawyers, who arrives in Budapest off the back of her gold-medal-winning performance at the European Indoor Championships earlier this year, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who claimed gold in Doha four years ago, while she also picked up a gold medal at the commonwealth games last year.
Here’s the full list of female athletes due to compete for Team GB & Northern Ireland at the 2023 World Athletics Championships:
100m – Dina Asher-Smith, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Daryll Neita
200m – Dina Asher-Smith, Daryll Neita, Bianca Williams
400m – Victoria Ohuruogu, Ama Pipi
800m – Isabelle Boffey, Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie
1500m – Melissa Courtney-Bryant, Laura Muir, Katie Snowden
5000m – Megan Keith, Amy-Eloise Markovc
10,000m – Eilish McColgan, Jessica Warner-Judd
3000m Steeplechase – Aimee Pratt
100m Hurdles – Cindy Sember
400m Hurdles – Jessie Knight
4x100m Relay – Dina Asher-Smith, Alyson Bell, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Daryll Neita, Asha Phillip (subject to fitness), Annie Tagoe, Bianca Williams
4x400m Relay – Amber Anning, Yemi Mary John, Jessie Knight, Laviai Nielsen, Victoria Ohuruogu, Ama Pipi, Nicole Yeargin
High Jump – Morgan Lake
Pole Vault – Molly Caudery
Long Jump – Jazmin Sawyers
Heptathlon – Katarina Johnson-Thompson
Marathon – Natasha Cockram
British & Northern Irish Male Athletes
Among the chief medal hopefuls on the male side of things is 200m runner Zharnel Hughes, who comes into the 2023 renewal of the World Championships having won a silver medal at the commonwealth games last year, while he also picked up a bronze at the world champs in 2022, plus a silver in Doha in 2019.
Potential up-and-comer, Tade Ojora, who is competing in his first ever World Championships, could be a dark horse for Team GB. The 23-year-old 110m hurdler has picked up gold at the British Athletics Championships in each of the last three years and may now be ready to take things up a notch.
Elsewhere we have Mathew Hudson-Smith, the 400m runner, who has two World Championships medals to his name having picked up a bronze in 2017 and 2022. He also won silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Can he now kick on and do better at the highest level? We’ll soon find out.
Whatever happens, it’s likely to be a rather lean year for male British competitors on the field, though. The list of potential medal winners stands at one, as discus thrower Lawrence Okoye is the only male field entrant in Budapest. Okoye, who has one of the more interesting back stories having previously played American Football at professional level in the states for top teams such as the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers, is the British record holder in the discus event, while he also has a European Championships bronze and a Commonwealth Games silver to his name. This will be his first World Championships.
Britain and Northern Ireland’s complete list of male competitors at this tournament consists of:
100m – Eugene Amo-Dadzie, Zharnel Hughes, Reece Prescod
200m – Zharnel Hughes
400m – Matthew Hudson-Smith
800m – Max Burgin, Ben Pattison, Daniel Rowden
1500m – Elliot Giles, Neil Gourley, Josh Kerr
110m Hurdles – Tade Ojora
4x100m Relay – Eugene Amo-Dadzie, Jeremiah Azu, Jona Efoloko, Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Reece Prescod
4x400m Relay: Joe Brier, Lewis Davey, Charlie Dobson, Alex Haydock-Wilson, Matthew Hudson-Smith, Rio Mitcham
Discus – Lawrence Okoye
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