The best athletes in the world have convened in Doha, Qatar for the 2019 World
Championships. Nearly all have built their season, and in many cases the last two years, around peaking for this week.
Here, Built for Athletes takes a look at five athletes to watch.
Jacob Ingebrigtsen
The youngest of the three famed Ingebrigtsen brothers who have made themselves a force at the top of European middle-distance running in recent years, Jakob will be making his World Championship debut.
Having stormed into the spotlight by winning European gold over 1,500 and 5,000m in 2018 at just 18 years of age, we now finally finally get to see the Norwegian tested against an elite field on the world stage.
Jakob is aiming to become the first non-African born European male to medal in the 5,000m in 14 years so it will be fascinating to see how he goes.
Dina Asher-Smith
GB Sprinter Asher-Smith also brought her A-game to the Europians in Berlin last year, winning gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relays.
We’ll now be able to see if she is capable of winning a first global medal outdoors.
She recently said she has been planning for Doha since 2017, but she must line up alongside Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson, who have both run 10.73 this season.
Tom Bosworth
Leeds-based race walker Tom Bosworth finished sixth in the 20km at the Olympics three years ago, setting a new British record in the process, and recently spoke to The Times about how the pressures of life on the elite circuit have led him close to
suicide. It was his disqualification from the Worlds in London two years ago that started the decline of his mental health, so it will be poignant to see him on the start line after working with a psychiatrist.
Callum Hawkins
The women’s marathon on the opening day saw more than a third of the field pull out due to the 32'C heat despite being held at midnight, and the male side of the event is bound to be just as intriguing.
All eyes from the UK will be on Callum Hawkins, who collapsed when on track to win the 2018 Commonwealth Games marathon in the Gold Coast. Having bounced back from that with a big personal best at the London Marathon this year, however, Hawkins could look to improve on his fourth-placed finish at the 2017 World
Championships.
