Men's field events preview: World Athletics Championships 2022
Men's field events preview for the World Athletics Championships Eugene 2022. For the first time in history the United States is hosting the World Athletics outdoor championships held in Eugene, Oregon from July 15 to July 24.
World Athletics Championships Live Stream
Men’s pole vault:
Armand Duplantis will chase the world outdoor pole vault title of his career three years after claiming the silver medal in Doha, when he lost to Sam Kendricks with 5.97m on countback. The 22-year-old won the world indoor gold medal in Belgrade setting the world record of 6.20 last March.
This summer Duplantis won all of his competitions in Doha (6.02m), Eugene (5.91m), Hengelo (6.01m), Oslo (6.02m) and set the world all-time outdoor best performance by clearing 6.16m in Stockolm.He has won 15 consecutive competitions, including 12 victories this year. He has not lost a competition since last August when he had to settle with fourth place in Lausanne. Duplantis equalled Sergey Bubka’s record tally of 46 clearances over the 6.00 metres barrier. The Swede would take the edge over Bubka with another 6.00m clearance in Eugene. Duplantis is aiming to attack the World Championships record held by Dimitri Markov with 6.05m since Edmonton 2001.
Sam Kendricks will not defend his titles in 2017 and 2019, as he continues his recovery from knee surgery.
Duplantis will renew his rivalry against Chris Nilsen, who won the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo with 5.97m. Nilsen set the US indoor record 6.05m in Rouen and cleared 6.00m outdoors last May in South Dakota. He won his second consecutive US outdoor title in Eugene with 5.70m last May.
Thiago Braz Da Silva won the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo 2021 and the world indoor silver medal in Belgrade last March with 5.95m. The Brazilian pole vaulter is ranked third on the world outdoor list with his 5.93m clearance from Stockolm.
Former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie is aiming to win his sixth world outdoor medal after claiming four bronze medals and a silver. Lavillenie cleared a seasonal best of 5.83m in Stockolm on 30 June.
Ernest John Obiena is aiming to become the first athlete from the Philippines to win a medal at the World Championships. Obiena improved the Asian outdoor record to 5.93m in Innsbruck last year and set an indoor national record of 5.91m in Rouen last March.
High jump:
Close friends and rivals Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Barshim will renew their rivalry in a big global outdoor championship one year after the epic Olympic final, where they shared the gold medal at 2.37m.
Since then Tamberi has won the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich with 2.34m and the world indoor bronze medal with 2.31m in Belgrade last March. The 30-year-old Italian jumper won the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava setting a seasonal best of 2.30m last May and placed second in Birmingham with 2.25m and third in Rome with 2.24m. In his final test Tamberi won his sixth Italian outdoor title in Rieti with 2.26m after a jump-off with Marco Fassinotti.
Barshim will defend his world outdoor gold medal won in Doha 2019 with 2.37m in front of his home fans. The Qatari high jumper placed second with 2.30m in his only Diamond League competition of the season in Doha.
The other major contender for the podium is South Korea’s Woo Sanghyeok, who placed fourth with a national record of 2.35m in the Olympic final in Tokyo. Last winter Woo set a PB of 2.36m in Hustopece and won the world indoor title in Belgrade with 2.34m. He started the 2022 outdoor season with his first ever Diamond League win in Doha with 2.33m.
Hamish Kerr from New Zealand cleared 2.31m to share the world indoor bronze medal with Tamberi in Belgrade and is ranked fourth on this season’s outdoor list with 2.30m.
Shelby McEwen won the US Championships final in Eugene with 2.33m beating Ju’Vaughn Harrison, who set his seasonal best with 2.30m. Harrison placed fifth in the long jump with 8.15m and seventh in the high jump with 2.33m at the Olympic Games. This year “Mr.Jump” won the first Diamond League competition of his career in Rome with 2.27m.
The other top contenders are Django Lovett from Canada, who took the Diamond League win in Birmingham with 2.28m, Loic Gasch from Switzerland, who won the world indoor silver medal in Belgrade with 2.31m, 2018 European outdoor champion Mateusz Przbylko and Tobias Poyte, who cleared 2.30m at this year’s German Champinships in Berlin last June.
Triple jump:
Olympic gold medallist Pedro Pichardo will clash against this year’s World Indoor champion Lazaro Martinez from Cuba and reigning world outdoor champion Christian Taylor, world indoor record holder Fabrice Zango and Andy Diaz Hernandez.
Pichardo set the Portuguese record of 17.98m to win the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo last year. The Portuguese jumper set a seasonal best of 17.49m in the Paris Diamond League meeting last June.
Twenty-four year-old Lazaro Martinez won the world indoor gold medal in Belgrade with 17.64m last March in his first indoor competition. In his career he won the world under 18 title in Donetsk 2013 and two world under 20 gold medals in Eugene 2014 and Bydgoszcz 2016.
Twenty-one year-old Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun won the Paris competition with 17.68m and set the world lead with 17.87m at the Spanish Championships, but he will not take part in the World Championships in Eugene, as he is switching his allegiance from Cuba to Spain.
Andy Diaz Hernandez improved his PB three times to 17.64m in Grosseto, 17..65m in Oaris and 17.68m at the Italian Championships in Rieti, where he competed as a guest.
Zango won the world bronze medal in Doha 2019 when he became the first athlete from Burkina Faso to reach the podium in the history of these Championships. He also finished third at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. Zango set a world indoor record of 18,07m in Aubière last year. He set a seasonal best of 17.25m in Paris Charlety.
European Under 23 champion Andrea Dallavalle started his season with 17.25m in Grosseto and won the Italian title with 17.28m in Rieti, missing his PB by just seven cm. The Italian team will also feature Emmanuel Ihemeje, who won the NCAA title in 2021 at Hayward Field competing for the Oregon Ducks, and Tobia Bocchi, who finished fourth at the European Indoor Championships in Torun in 2021 and won the silver medal at the Mediterrean Games in Orano last week.
Christian Taylor will defend his tile won in Doha three years ago. The four-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist set a seasonal best of 16.54m twice in Paris and at the US Championships in Eugene. He is continuing his come-back after rupturing his Achilles tendon in May 2021. Taylor will be joined by world indoor bronze medallist Donald Scott and two-time Olympic silver medallist, 2018 world indoor champion Willl Claye and Chris Benard.
The line-up also features Olympic silver medallist Zhu Yaming from China, who jumped 17.22 this season, Yasser Triki from Algeria, who finished fifth at the Olympic Games improving his national record to 17.43m, 2016 European champion Max Hess from Germany, and Chengetay Mapaya, who won his second NCAA outdoor title in Eugene last June, Indian jumpers Abdulla Aboobacker and Paaven Chitravel, who are ranked second and third in the Indian all-time list with 17.19m and 17.18m this year.
Men’s long jump:
Miltiadis Tentoglou will chase his first world outdoor title after claiming gold medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021, at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade 2022, at the European outdoor Championships in Berlin 2018 and at the European indoor Championships in Glasgow 2019 and in Torun 2021.
Tentoglou won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 8.41m beating Juan Miguel Echevarria on countback thanks to a second-best mark of 8.15m.
This year Tentoglou won the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade with a national indoor record of 8.55m, moving up to sixth in the world indoor all-time list and is still unbeaten this year in his eight competitions. The Greek athlete claimed three Wanda Diamond League wins in Rabat, Oslo and Stockolm. In his final competition before the World Championships in Eugene Tentoglou beat Thobias Montler in Stockolm with 8.31m missing his seasonal best of 8.35m set in Argostoli on 14 May.
European under 23 long jump champion Simon Ehammer leads the world seasonal list with his impressive jump of 8.45m during the decathlon competition at the Hypo Meeting in Goetzis. On that occasion the 22-year-old Swiss rising star improved the world decathlon long jump best he had set three weeks earlier in Ratingen by 15 cm. Ehammer will focus on the long jump in Eugene before returning to decathlon at the European Championships in Munich next August. Ehammer has competed twice in the Wanda Diamond League since his great performance in Goetzis, finishing second to Tentoglou in Rabat and third to the Greek athlete and Thobias Montler in Oslo.
Montler is ranked fifth in the world seasonal list with 8.27m. The Swede won the Diamond League final in Zurich with 8.17m and the world indoor silver medal in Belgrade with 8.38m last March.
Murali Sreeshankar will carry Indian hopes for a medal. Sreeshankar set a national record of 8.36m at the National Federation Cup at Thenipalam last April and confirmed this result with 8.31m in Athens last May. The Indian jumper finished seventh with 7.92m at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
The line-up also features Cuba’s Maykel Masso and Spain’s Eusebio Caceres, who finished third and fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, reigning world outdoor champion Tajay Gayle from Jamaca, and world indoor bronze medallist Marquis Dendy from the USA.
Javelin throw:
Reigning world champion Anderson Peters leads the world seasonal list with the North and Central American and Caribbean record of 93.07m set in the Doha Diamond League meeting. With this performance Peters has moved to fifth in the world all-time list. The Grenadan thrower holds four of the five best in the world seasonal list. Peters threw over the 90 metres barrier twice more this season with 90.75m in Ostrava and 90.31m in Stockolm.
Neeraj Chopra will be seeking another major global title after becoming the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics last year. Chopra set a national record of 89.30m at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku and won in Kuortane with 86.89m beating Peters before improving his PB to 89.94m in the Stockolm Diamond League meeting. Chopra will aim to become the first male javelin thrower to follow the Olympic gold medal with a world title since Andreas Thorkildsen in Beijing 2008 and Berlin 2009.
Jakub Vadlejch from Czech Republic ranks second in the world seasonal list with his PB of 90.88m set in Doha. Vadlejch will aim to add another global medal to his Olympic silver in Tokyo last year.
Oliver Helander from Finland made a major breakthrough last June when he improved his PB to 89.83m to win at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku and finished fifth in the Stockolm Diamond League meeting in Stockolm with 85.40m. Helander, who is coached by 2007 world champion Tero Pitkamaki, bounced back from a serious shoulder injury.
The other major contenders are 2012 Olympic champion Keshrn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago and Julian Weber from Germany. Weber finished second in Hengelo with a seasonal best of 89.54m and third in Doha with 86.09m and in Stockolm. Walcott set his seasonal best of 89.07m in Hengelo and finished second in Kuortane with 86.17m.
Discus throw:
The men’s discus throw is shaping up as an epic battle between Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl, two-time European under 23 champion Kristjan Ceh, world under 20 champion Mykolas Alekna from Lithuania, Olympic medallists Simon Petterson from Sweden and Austrian record holder Lukas Weisshaidiger.
For the first time since 2008 two men have thrown over the 71 metres barrier in the same season. Stahl leads 13-5 in his career head-to-head clashes against Ceh, but the young Slovenian thrower won five of their six competitions in 2021. Ceh beat Stahl for the first time last March at the European Throw in Leiria and scored four consecutive Diamond League competitions in Birmingham (71.27m Diamond League record), Rabat (69.68m), Rome (70.72m) and Stockolm (70.02m).
Stahl improved the world seasonal lead to 71.47m at the Swedish Team Championships in Upssala, setting the best ever performance in his career behind his national record of 71.86m in Bottnaryd in June 2019 set three months before his world title in Doha with 67.59m. This season Stahl beat Ceh at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku.
Mykolas Alekna, who claimed the world under 20 title in Nairobi last year, won the Lithuanian Championships and finished second to Ceh with a PB of 69.81m in the Diamond League meeting in Stockolm. The 19-year-old Lithuanian thrower will try to follow in the footsteps of his father Virgilius, who won two Olympic and world titles and still holds the World Championships record with 70.17m.
Alekna’s compatriot Andrius Gudzius won the world title in London 2017 and the European title in Berlin 2018. Gudzius set the second best performance of his career with 69.39m in Kaunas last May.
World, Olympic and European bronze medallist Lukas Weisshaidinger improved his own Austrian record to 69.11m in Eisenstadt last June.
Simon Petterson won the Olympic silver medal to his compatriot Stahl and set a seasonal best of 65.94m this year.
The line-up also features Matthew Denny from Australia, who finished fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Fedrick Dacres from Jamaica, world silver medallist in Doha 2019, and USA’s Sam Matthis, who improved his PB to 68.69m in Arizona last May and finished third at the US Championships in Eugene.
Shot put:
Ryan Crouser will chase the world outdoor gold that is still missing from his collection of honours that includes two Olympic gold medals, eight US titles and the world outdoor and indoor records. Crouser just missed the world outdoor title in Doha 2019 when he finished second to Joe Kovacs by just 1 cm with 22.90m in one of the most memorable competitions in history.
Crouser will compete in front of his home fans in Eugene, just two hours south of his hometown Boring. Ryan inherited his passion from his family of throwers. His father Mitch was the alternate on the 1984 Olympic team in the discus throw. His uncle Brian qualified for two Olympic Games in the javelin throw.
Last year Ryan dedicated his Olympic gold medal to his grandfather Larry Crouser, who passed away last year at the age of 86 just before his grandson left to Tokyo.
Crouser set his world record of 23.37m at the US Olympic Trials and won the past two editions of the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene throwing 23.15m in 2021 and 23.02m in 2022. He won the US Championships with 23.12m at Hayward Field and is undefeated this outdoor season.
Kovacs won two world outdoor titles in Bejing 2015 and Doha 2019 and two consecutive Olympic silver medals in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021. He finished second to Crouser with his seasonal best of 22.87m set at the US Championships in Eugene.
Crouser has beaten Kovacs in 32 of their 34 outdoor head-to-head competitions and In all three of their three indoor clashes.
Darlan Romani from Brazil won the world indoor gold medal in Belgrade last March beating Crouser, setting a South American record of 22.53m. The Brazilian shot putter finished fourth at the World Championships in Doha 2019 and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021.
Tom Walsh won the world outdoor title in London 2017 and two consecutive Olympic bronze medals in 2016 and 2021. The shot putter from New Zealand set the third best performance in the world this year with 22.31m in Chorzow.
The line-up also features Josh Awotunde, third at the US Championships with 21.51m, Nick Ponzio from Italy, national champion for the second consecutive year with 21.34m and seventh at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Konrad Bukowiecki from Poland, 2017 European indoor champion and two-time European Under 23 champion.
Hammer throw:
Olympic and European champion Wojciech Nowicki will face four-time world gold medallist Pawel Fajdek in an all-Polish hammer throw clash. They have met 113 times and Fajdek has won 88 of their head-to-head clashes.
Fajdek has won the past four editions of the World Championships. Nowicki claimed the bronze medal at the past three editions of the World Championships.
Nowicki set the world seasonal best performance with 81.58m in Chorzow last June. Fajdek set the second best performance in 2022 with his winning throw of 80.56m at the Bislett Games in Oslo.
The other three contenders for a medal are Mykhaylo Kokhan from the Ukraine, Quentin Bigot from France and Elvind Henriksen from Norway.
Kokhan finished fifth at the World Championships in Doha and fourth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The young Ukrainian thrower beat Nowicki and Fajdek in Szekesfehrvar 2021 setting his PB of 80.78m.
Henriksen won the Olympic silver medal improving his lifetime best by three metres to 81.56m. The Norwegian thrower set the second best performance of his career with 80.17m last June.
Bigot won the world silver medal in Doha 2019. The Frenchman set PBs of 80.14m in Forbach and 80.55m in Chorzow.
The line-up also features 2019 world bronze medallist Bence Halasz, Daniel Haugh and Rudy Winkler. Haugh improved his PB of 80.18m to win the US title in Eugene ahead of last year’s US Olympic Trials.
Deca;thlon:
Damian Warner won the gold medal in the men’s decathlon at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 with 9018 points becoming the fourth combined events specialist in history to break the 9000 points barrier after Kevin Mayer, Ashton Eaton and Roman Sebrle.
Warner won the world indoor gold medal in the heptathlon record in Belgrade last March with a Canadian record of 6489 points, moving up to second on the world all-time indoor list. Last May the 32-year-old Canadian athlete won the Hypo meeting in Goetzis for the seventh time in his career with 8787 points setting the third best performance of his career.
The last time Warner was beaten in a combined events competition dates back to the World Champioships in Doha 2019, where he had to settle with the bronze medal.
German Nicklas Kaul will defend his world title won three years ago in Doha with his lifetime record of 8691 points. Kaul is a second-day performer, especially in the javelin throw and the 1500 metres.
Kevin Mayer won his second consecutive Olympic silver medal last year with 8726 points and set the decathlon world record with 9126 points in Talence in 2018.
Young Australian rising star Ashley Moloney won the Olympic bronze medal with an Oceanian record of 8649 points and the world indoor bronze medal in the heptathlon with an area record of 6344 points.
Twenty-two year-old Kyle Garland improved his PB by more than 500 points scoring 8720 points at the US Combined Events Championships last spring.
Ayden Owens Delamere from Puerto Rico won the NCAA decathlon title last June in Eugene setting a national record of 8528 points. Owens Delamere holds strong PBs of 10.27 in the 100m, 46.10 in the 400m and 4:13.17 in the 1500m.
Lindon Victor from Grenada finished eighth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in the heptathlon with 6029 and second in Goetzis with 8447 points last May. Victor placed seventh at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 8414 points and won the Commonwealth Games gold medal with 8303.
Pierce LePage placed fifth at the World Championships in Doha and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. He did not finish his most recent competition in Goetzis but he showed his good form at the recent Canadian Championships where he threw over the 50 metres in the discus with 51.48m.
The Estonian team features Maicel Uibo, 2019 world silver medallist in Doha 2019 with his PB of 8604 points, and Janek Oiglane, who placed fourth at the World Championships in London 2017 and improved his PB to 8405 points in Knoxville, and 2019 NCAA champion Johannes Erm.
The line-up is completed by Kai Kazmirek, who won the world bronze medal in London 2017 with 8488 and placed fifth with 8272 in Goetzis last May, Zach Ziemech from the USA, who placed sixth at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with 8435 points, and Cedric Dubler from Australia, world under 20 silver medallist in Eugene 2014.
