The AW team gazes into their crystal ball to provide some early thoughts on the athletes most likely to make their way on to the World Championships podium in Tokyo
And Nuguse felt slighted by World Athletics not including him in their graphic promoting the 1500m at this year's world championships.
Apparently, Hocker and Nuguse going 1-3 in Paris hasn't garnered enough respect in some corners. They're going to have to show everyone again in Tokyo!
🗣️ “Surely it wouldn’t be that hard to add a fourth person to that graphic! Like c’mon?! I’m always happy to be the underdog a little bit I guess — feels a little crazy at this point I must say.”
Hocker has the best kick in the world, id honestly give him the best chance out of anyone to finish with a medal given his ability in either a 3:27 or 3:37 race. Surprising to see 3 out of 4 pick Josh Kerr for gold, he is also 27 which is on the older side for 1500 running
And I suppose if Citius did a prediction panel we’d see some Nikki Hiltz bronze picks, and everyone would have Bryce medaling like it was a formality. So maybe that’s the same.
It's a British publication. So expect some bias, just a s you get US bias on LRC and Cities. I'd put more stock in the picks of Tim Adams as he's the best journalist at AW even though he's obviously missed that Cheptegei is moving to the roads (though don't rule out that he's maybe heard of a change of heart by Chep).
But I agree that it's crazy to leave Hocker off that list. There's a possibility of a post-Olympics slump as it's probably impossible to repeat that high, but I still have him on the podium in Tokyo.
I've no idea why so many are picking Hassan for the marathon. I don't see any possibility of her running it in Tokyo. The World Champs marathon is a C-tier event, it shouldn't even be part of the champs.
Hocker and Nuguse are likely to medal, Ingebrigtsen needs to let someone else pace part of the way to win gold. Fisher's going to be even better this year because his confidence is the highest it has been, so I pick him for silver in the 10, bronze in the 5. Battocletti has an outside shot at medalling in the 5000m but a great shot in the 10 again, given her strength, in an insanely competitive field of low and sub 29 athletes. Mihambo, healthy, has a good shot at beating Tara, though I make Mihambo favorite for silver, Tara, a great competitor, for gold. I take Crouser and Kovacs for gold and silver. Crouser should be completely healed from his biceps injury, which held him back after the world record last year. I give Sedjati very high chances of a ban. Otherwise, he's my favorite for bronze behind Wanyonyi and Arop. The former is young and so most likely to improve. Arop and Wanyonyi should both best Rudisha's record this year. Lyles for the double. He had COVID for both and still did well.
I stopped reading AW when they couldn't help themselves but to constantly bias articles on British clubs with their own personal opinions on 'club-politics' matters, instead of reporting things fairly and objectively.
I want to hear what's going on, now what X author wants people to hear/think about the subject before they've even explained it.
It's a private business so I guess they're entitled to do whatever they want, but then they cant act like they're still the epicentre of fair reporting the sport in the UK, with this bs going on beneath the surface.
That's actually crazy. I'd argue Nuguse has more right to the graphic than Jakob. I mean not even including one of this years medalists? Absolutely bizarre.
I'd lean Kerr as far as pure talent goes, but Wightman probably has slightly better top-end speed due to his 800m ability. Wightman's been a victim of injuries too in that he's had few opportunities to race top competition at peak fitness the past couple years.
