Usain Bolt shattered his own 100 metres world record to win World Championship gold in 9.58 seconds, on this day in 2009.

The triple Olympic champion stormed to victory in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, comfortably beating the mark of 9.69secs set in Beijing the previous year.

Defending champion Tyson Gay set an American record of 9.71 to claim the silver with former world record holder Asafa Powell third in 9.84.

Britain’s Dwain Chambers was sixth in 10.00, a season’s best for the then 31-year-old.

In the semi-finals, Bolt had shrugged off two false starts – the second of which saw Britain’s Tyrone Edgar disqualified – to breeze into the final.

Bolt was guilty of the first false start, which meant any athlete guilty of another would be disqualified.

But after Edgar had committed that second misdemeanour and left the track, Bolt was quickly out of his blocks and almost as quickly began easing down to a brilliant time of 9.89.

That indicated something special was on the cards and the Jamaican superstar duly delivered, powering out of the blocks at the first time of asking in the final and seizing control of the race within 30m.

From there it was only a matter of the time and the large crowd exploded as Bolt streaked across the line to create another piece of sporting history.

The Saint Lucia Olympic Committee has announced a five-year deal with sports company Puma for them to become the country’s official apparel sponsor, including providing equipment for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

This new agreement follows the announcement by Puma that they are sponsoring St. Lucian sprinting sensation, Julien Alfred.

Alfred will head to Budapest in a few days as a true medal contender in both the 100m and 200m.

The 23-year-old has a season’s bests of 10.83 and 21.91 and is currently unbeaten in the 100m.

She has already enjoyed big meet success in 2023, winning the sprint double at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships in June.

Alfred made her professional debut on July 18 with a 10.89 effort to win at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Hungary before running 22.08 for second at the Monaco Diamond League three days later.

Olympic champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm laid down a huge marker of his ambition to regain the 400m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest when he set a Diamond League record of 46.51 in Monaco on July 21.

The 27-year-old Norwegian said before his race that his experience at last year’s World Championships in Oregon, where he finished seventh after recovering from a hamstring injury incurred in his opening meeting of the season, has been a strong motivating factor this year.

"It was really nice to do this again – that 0.01 off the Diamond League record and also the track record," Warholm said after a performance that also bettered his own top world mark for 2023.

"This is a nice timing as the World Championships is just around the corner. Since I was injured last year, I enjoyed the racing more."

In his wake was Brazilian Alison dos Santos, who took over the world title he had won in 2017 and 2019, who clocked a season’s best of 47.66.

Dos Santos, who finished third in the Tokyo Olympic final, has had to recover from a serious injury early this year in the form of a torn meniscus in his right knee which required surgery.

At the time it appeared his season was over before it had started, but he returned to top class action at the Silesia Diamond League meeting on 16 July, where he finished third in the 400m in 44.73. And in his first race over the hurdles in Monaco the 23-year-old from Sao Paulo did enough to stir his World Championships ambitions.

"That was the perfect opportunity for me to come back to run,” he said. "Now I will get ready for Budapest, to be able to win my world title again."

But Warholm and Dos Santos are not the only ones with world gold in their sights, as Rai Benjamin is equally determined to make a breakthrough in Budapest.

The 26-year-old US athlete took silver behind Warholm at the Doha 2019 World Championships and bettered the Norwegian’s world record of 46.70 in the Tokyo Olympic final where he clocked 46.17 and took another silver as Warholm reached deeper to set the current world record of 45.94.

Last year, with Warholm still a way off full fitness following a hamstring strain after clearing the first hurdle of his first race of 2022 at the Rabat Diamond League meeting, Benjamin must have thought his chance had come to make a golden impression on his home track in Eugene, Oregon – but Dos Santos won with a South American record of 46.29, with the home runner clocking 46.89.

How close can the Brazilian get to his best form in the time available? At the moment his is only fifth fastest in this season’s list, with two other runners above him – Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands, the double Commonwealth champion and fourth-place finisher in Tokyo, who has clocked 47.26, and CJ Allen of the United States, who has set a personal best of 47.58.

Others likely to make their mark include France’s Ludvy Vaillant, who has run a personal best of 47.85 this season, as has Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, and 31-year-old Rasmus Magi of Estonia, European silver medallist in 2014, who has run 48.04 this season.

Italy’s 24-year-old 2018 world U20 champion Alessandro Sibilio, a Tokyo Olympic Games finalist, is also one to look out for.

Three-time Olympian Kirani James will lead a four-member Grenada team at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, according to the final entry list published by World Athletics.

James is the most experienced member of the team, having competed at the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games and 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2022 World Championships.

He missed out on the 2017 World Championships due to illness. He is the most decorated 400-metre runner in history, winning gold, silver and bronze medals at both Olympic Games and World Championships.

The team also include two-time Javelin World champion, Anderson Peters; Commonwealth Games Decathlon champion, Lindon Victor and female sprinter Halle Hazzard.

Peters is attempting to rewrite the history books with a third consecutive gold medal at the World Championships.

The World Championships will take place August 19-27 at Hungary’s new National Athletics Centre in Budapest.

Not since Paris in 2003 has the men’s 100m title been claimed by a sprinter from outside the US or Jamaica. Could 2023 in Budapest be the time and place for someone to follow in the footsteps of Kim Collins by bringing an end to the 20-year-old duopoly?

The event appears to be as open as it was in the French capital two decades ago, when Collins put St Kitts and Nevis on the global track and field map. No-one stands out as a clear favourite, though Fred Kerley perhaps ought to be considered the main contender.

The 6ft 3in Texan is the reigning champion, having led a US medal sweep on home soil in Oregon last year ahead of Marvin Bracy-Williams and Trayvon Bromell. US sprinters have won the last three golds and Kerley will lead the starred and striped challenge in Budapest, supported this time by Cravont Charleston, the 2019 world champion Christian Coleman and two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles, a potential ‘surprise’ packet.

Kerley has contested just five 100m races this season, two of them in the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Yokohama in May, where he clocked a season’s best of 9.88. He registered comfortable victories on the Diamond League circuit in Rabat and Florence, both in 9.94, but was edged out in a tight finish in Silesia on 16 July, South Africa’s Akani Simbine taking the win in 9.97 with Kerley and Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme clocking 9.98 in second and third, and the newly-crowned US champion Charleston fourth in 9.99.

Ahead of Kerley on the 2023 world list stand two potential challengers in Britain’s Zharnel Hughes (9.83) and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala (9.84).

When Hughes, a qualified pilot, flew to his 9.83 clocking in New York on 24 June, he sliced 0.04 off the ancient national record held by the only British sprinter to have claimed the world 100m title, Linford Christie, who triumphed in Stuttgart 30 years ago. Should he strike gold in Budapest, the native Anguillan would make it five wins in the event for his Jamaican coach, Glen Mills, the sprint guru who guided Usain Bolt to victory in 2009, 2013 and 2015, and also Yohan Blake in 2011.

“Obviously people are going to target the time I’ve run,” said Hughes, who won the European 200m title last year, “but I don’t put pressure on myself. That’s when things can go topsy turvy.”

Hughes, who false started in the Olympic final two years ago, has no other official sub-10 to his name in 2023, although he won the British title in 10.03 in monsoon conditions and smashed John Regis’ 30-year-old national 200m record with 19.73 for third place behind Lyles (19.47) and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo (19.50) in the London Diamond League meeting on 23 July.

Omanyala is the only man who has dipped under 9.90 twice this year, the Commonwealth champion backing up his 9.84 from the Kip Keino Classic in May with 9.85 in the Kenyan trials on 8 July. The former rugby player has yet to make a global 100m final but has been a consistent performer on the Diamond League stage, placing third in Rabat, second in Florence and Paris and first in Monaco, and is not lacking in confidence.

Simbine’s victory ahead of Kerley in Silesia will have raised his hopes of finally making a global podium – and winning the race to become Africa’s first medal winner in the event. The 29-year-old South African has long been the ‘nearly’ man of the 100m: fifth in London in 2017, fourth in Doha in 2019 and fifth in Oregon last year, as well as fourth and fifth in the last two Olympic finals. With four successive wins behind him (in Kladno, Ostrava, Stockholm and Silesia), he heads to Hungary with serious momentum.

The African challenge promises to be fierce. Like Simbine and Omanyala, Eseme and Tebogo have also notched top three finishes on the Diamond League circuit, while Simbine’s South African teammate Shaun Maswanganyi has a 9.91 clocking to his name.

A place on the podium might not be beyond the scope of all four US sprinters – including Lyles, who beat Omanyala and Tebogo to win the 100m at the Paris Diamond League and was recovering from Covid when he took third place in the US Championships. He boasts a PB of 9.86.

A new kid on the senior international block, the 20-year-old Bahamian Terrence Jones who won the NCAA indoor 60m title in March, has run 9.91.

The Jamaican challenge will be led by Oblique Seville, who finished fourth in Oregon last year, and the emerging Rohan Watson, who started the year with a best of 10.41 but won the Jamaican title in 9.91. Ackeem Blake stands fourth on the world list with 9.89 but, having placed fourth in the trials, is on the entry list as a reserve.

At just 20 years old, Bahamian sprinter Terrence Jones finds himself on a meteoric rise in the world of track and field. Jones, a self-proclaimed "goofy middle child," has left his mark on the track with his astonishing speed, leading him to aspire to be like his idol, Usain Bolt. As he gears up to represent his country at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest from August 19-27, Jones reflects on his journey and dreams of Olympic glory.

Hailing from the Bahamas, Jones admits that he is still coming to terms with the incredible path his speed has charted for him. "I don't think me from five years ago would even believe that I'm a real person," he mused in a recent interview with Olympics.com. "If you go back to 10th grade me, I don't think he would have had enough confidence to say that I would reach this level."

Earlier this year, Jones achieved a remarkable feat by tying the Bahamas national record for the men's 100m, clocking an impressive 9.91 seconds. This time matched the record set by Derrick Atkins, who secured silver at the 2007 World Athletics Championships. Jones' achievements also include an indoor national and NCAA record in the 60m, where he clocked a lightning-fast 6.45 seconds.

From humble beginnings, Jones' journey took an incredible turn when Texas Tech sprint coach Zach Glavash identified his potential during a meet in the Bahamas. Jones recalled Glavash's unwavering belief in him, even during moments of self-doubt. This support ignited a fire within Jones, propelling him to dedicate himself to his training and aspirations.

For the past three seasons, Jones has been a proud member of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, competing in Lubbock, Texas. His determination and hard work paid off when he clinched the bronze medal in the men's 200m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June, achieving a personal best time of 19.87 seconds.

Despite his remarkable times, Jones maintains a focus on executing his races effectively rather than fixating on numbers. He believes that consistent execution will naturally yield impressive times. "How my coach explains it to me is, 'All you have to do is execute, and the time will come after,'" he emphasized.

As he looks ahead, Jones draws inspiration from the legendary Usain Bolt, who won his first Olympic championship at the age of 21. With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the horizon, Jones aims to follow in Bolt's footsteps. "I hope I see a little bit of correlation," he says with a smile. As he aspires to make his mark on the international stage, Jones remains focused on his journey, excited to see where his remarkable speed will take him next.

At the age of 36, with six World Championships behind her and 10 gold medals in her collection, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is preparing to venture into unknown territory at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.

“It’s a new situation for me to come back from injury and start my season so late,” the Jamaican sprint phenomenon confessed after contesting her first 100m race of the year, in Lucerne on 20 July.

Having won in Switzerland in 10.82 and in Madrid in 10.83 two days later, Fraser-Pryce heads to the Hungarian capital with an unbeaten record at 100m in 2023. Her only other races since overcoming a knee problem have been a 200m heat and final at the Jamaican Championships, where she finished second to Shericka Jackson, the world champion at the distance, in 22.26 – plus, of course, that celebrated victory in the mother’s race at her son’s school sports day.

Three women have gone faster: Jackson, with her scorching 10.65 at the Jamaican Championships, Sha’Carri Richardson with 10.71 in the heats at the US Championships and the bang in-form Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou with 10.75 at the Bislett Games.

The Jamaican Supermom – who will be concentrating on the 100m, having withdrawn from the 200m – will need to close the gap on her rivals if she is to win the title for a sixth time and equal Sergey Bubka’s record haul of individual golds in one event.

In 14 years, Fraser-Pryce has only once failed to cross the line first in a World Championships 100m final, finishing fourth in Daegu in 2011.

In Oregon 12 months ago, she won in a championship record 10.67 – one of her record seven sub-10.70 performances in 2022 – with Jackson second in 10.73. This time Jackson has the super-fast time going into the championships, plus two 10.78 performances, but her only 100m wins have been on home ground in Jamaica. On the Diamond League circuit, the two-time world 400m bronze medallist has finished runner-up to Richardson in Doha and Silesia and third in Oslo and London.

In terms of head-to-heads, Fraser-Pryce boasts an 8-1 record against her compatriot and training partner and a 21-4 advantage over Ta Lou, but is tied at 3-3 with Richardson, her three successes against the US sprinter having come in their last three meetings.

At 34, Ta Lou is in the form of her life. A close second to the late Tori Bowie in London in 2017, losing the gold by 0.01, and third behind Fraser-Pryce and Dina Asher-Smith in Doha in 2019, the 5ft 3in African Pocket Rocket has blasted to 10 victories in 10 100m races in 2023, including Diamond League successes in Florence, Oslo, Lausanne and London, and looks a serious contender for a first global gold.

“I’m really going for the gold and I believe that I can do it,” Ta Lou said. “I know my finish is strong, but my start could be better. I need to improve it to make sure I can achieve my goal of winning gold.”

The 22-year-old Richardson, who will be making her major championship debut as a senior, has won eight of nine races at 100m this year, including Diamond League victories in Doha and Silesia. She has reached an impressive level of consistency, registering four of the fastest seven times in 2023, all 10.76 or quicker.

Her one defeat came in the Istvan Gyulai Memorial in Szekesfehervar on 18 July, when she clocked 10.97 as runner-up to the new kid on the blocks, Julien Alfred from St Lucia. The 22-year-old Commonwealth silver medallist prevailed in 10.89, stretching her unbeaten record to 10 wins.

Fifth fastest in the world at 100m with 10.83, Alfred has also clocked the third fastest 200m (21.91), suggesting she has the speed endurance to feature at the end of a close contest.

Brittany Brown and Tamari Davis, second and third behind Richardson at the US Championships, both have the potential to make the final and mount a challenge, while 2012 world U20 champion Anthonique Strachan of The Bahamas clocked 10.92 as runner up to Ta Lou in Oslo in June.

The European challenge will be led by Asher-Smith, who clocked an encouraging 10.85 as runner-up to Ta Lou in the London Diamond League, and Poland’s 2019 European indoor 60m champion Ewa Swoboda, who broke 11 seconds for the first time with 10.94 for third place in Silesia.

Teenage phenom Adaejah Hodge and two-time Commonwealth Games champion Kyron McMaster are among three athletes selected by the British Virgin Islands Athletics Association to compete at the 2023 World Athletics Championships set to get underway in Budapest, Hungary this coming weekend.

Sprinter Rikkoi Brathwaite is the other athlete set to represent the BVI at the championships where an estimated 2100 athletes from across the globe will go for gold and glory.

Hodge, who turned 17 in March, will be making her debut at the championships in the 200m where she will likely face the biggest tests of her fledgling career in the form of reigning world champion Shericka Jackson, world leader Gabby Thomas and St Lucia’s Julien Alfred.

McMaster is a two-time Commonwealth Games champion, who ran an incredibly fast national record of 47.08 to finish fourth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. His season-best time of 47.26 is ranked fourth in the world this year. He will take to the track to face the likes of World and Olympic champion Karsten Warholm, the world record holder, the USA’s Rai Benjamin and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, the 2022 world champion.

Brathwaite, who set a new national record of 10.09s in early August, gets things started for the BVI in the 100m on August 20, when he takes on reigning champion Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles, Ferdinand Omanyala and Zharnel Hughes in the blue-ribbon sprint.

Both Hodge and McMaster will begin competition on August 23.

Coach Ralston Henry and the physiotherapist Martin Wilson, a UK national with close ties to Team BVIs will accompany the athletes to Budapest.

Sir Mo Farah became the first British track and field athlete to win three Olympic gold medals by retaining his 10,000 metres title in Rio on this day in 2016.

Farah continued his unprecedented spell of long-distance domination by landing his eighth straight global gold, but he did it the hard way after falling to the track following a trip from training partner Galen Rupp.

He recovered to respond to the challenge laid down by Kenya’s Paul Tanui, bursting past him down the home straight and crossing the line in 27 minutes and 5.17 seconds.

Victory saw Farah eclipse the Olympic achievements of the likes of double champions Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Kelly Holmes.

With 300 metres to go Tanui pressed the accelerator in a bid to neutralise Farah’s renowned finishing speed, but the British star was not done and powered past the Kenyan before holding on to win by 0.47secs.

Farah broke down in tears as he was interviewed by broadcasters after the race.

“When I fell down for one moment I was thinking, ‘oh my race is over, my dream is over’. But then I managed to dig deep,” he said.

“Galen is a good sportsman and things happen sometimes and it’s so easy to blame people, but I’ve got such a long stride I don’t blame him for anything.

“I’m a guy who wins medals rather than runs fast times, so for me what keeps me going is winning medals for my country and making my nation proud.”

Barbadian sprint hurdler Shane Brathwaite has pulled out of the upcoming World Athletics Championships scheduled for Budapest, Hungary.

The two-time World Championships finalist and Commonwealth Games runner-up has a season’s best of 13.58 done at the Music City Track Festival in June.

The 33-year-old Brathwaite was also a finalist at the World Indoor Championships in 2016.

His withdrawal means Barbados will enter Budapest with a three-member team of Sada Williams, Jonathan Jones and DeSean Boyce for the prestigious meet scheduled for August 19 to 27. All three will take part on the 400m.

Williams, who took bronze at last year’s edition before claiming gold at the Commonwealth Games a little over two weeks later, will face a tough field including the likes of defending champion, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who announced her availability after a recent pregnancy.

Jones was also a finalist at last year’s World Championships, finishing eighth while Boyce was a finalist at this year’s NJCAA Championships competing for Western Texas College, finishing sixth in a personal best 44.85.

Jamaican track and field coach Victor Thomas is to be enshrined into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023. The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced the news Thursday about Lincoln University track & field head coach Victor Thomas, a 14-time NCAA Division II champion.

Thomas, who has guided Lincoln's women's track & field program to nine NCAA Division II Outdoor and five NCAA Division II indoor titles, has coached athletes nearly 1,000 All-American performances and has been named the National Coach of the Year five times in his 22-year career.

The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association has named Thomas the MIAA Coach of the Year 10 times, and he was the 2004 Heartland Conference Coach of the Year.

Under the leadership of Thomas, the Blue Tigers have won 95 individual and 41 relay national titles and have recorded 671 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region awards.

A 16-time USTFCCCA Regional Coach of the Year honoree, Thomas has led LU's women's and men's track & field programs to 11 total MIAA championships and finishes among the top three of the NCAA Division II Championships 28 times. Between the years of 2003-2007, Lincoln won an unprecedented five-straight NCAA Division II Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and, in 2020, the LU men were ranked No. 1 in the country heading into the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships, which were ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19.

In addition to their tremendous success in the field of competition, Thomas' athletes have also been stellar in the classroom. Since Lincoln re-joined the MIAA in 2011, over 200 Blue Tigers have made the MIAA Academic Honor Roll, and LU athletes have been the recipient of more than 50 MIAA Scholar Athlete Awards. Nine athletes have been named Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, and 11 have earned spots on the Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-District first team. Two Blue Tigers have been named the USTFCCCA Division II Indoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the Lincoln women's outdoor track & field team was selected as the USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year in 2017 and 2018.

Due to the tremendous success, the Blue Tigers have enjoyed under Thomas' direction, the Lincoln University Track & Field Program was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. Thomas himself was enshrined in the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2021, Thomas was enshrined in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2023 USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Presented by REKORTAN, will be held in Denver, Colo. on Tuesday, December 12.

To throw as far as you can, is a simple concept, but there is something beautiful about the moment when hard work fuelled by stubborn determination, and just the mere need to rise above challenges, combine to create a seemingly effortless mark.

Such is the case of Jamaica’s hammer thrower Nayoka Clunis, who charted and has now completed the first phase of her course towards top level competition, as she not only achieved a personal best mark of 71.18 metres along the way but will be the first –male or female –to represent the island in the discipline at the upcoming World Athletics Championships.

In fact, just making the country’s team to Budapest, is testament of Clunis’s growth and unwavering desire to make it big to honour her now deceased mother Michelle Morgan and Grandmother Letta Black, both of whom serve as the reason why she continues to smile in the face of adversities.

“They are my main motivation. Seeing how these two women made things happen in their lives, despite the difficulties they faced with little help, really gave me the will I need to overcome all the challenges I’ve faced,” Clunis told Sportsmax.tv.

Those challenges the now 27-year-old refers to are those that came with living in a fairly unsafe space, and so she sought solace in sports, netball in particular, which she declared was her first love.

“I got into track and field because my life wasn’t in the greatest place and my netball coach thought it would be a good idea to get me away from home and stay safe even for a few hours. Netball was my first love. I remember my mom playing netball and after she passed away, I did everything I could to follow in her footsteps, but things just didn’t work out where that is concerned,” she shared.

So started her journey in track and field where she tried her hand and feet at various disciplines to include the sprints, before injury forced her to take up javelin, shot put, discus and later heptathlon, before she inevitably finding her niche –hammer throw.

In a discipline which arguably favours power and technique over passion, it wasn’t necessarily easy for Clunis, as her best throw back in 2016 was marked at 50.23m, but she eventually found her footing and now seven years later, she breached 71m, not once, but three times in quick succession.

The first was 71.13m in Idaho, with the second coming on July 14, when she hit her new lifetime best of 71.18m and two days later, Clunis, a four-time National champion, launched the instrument to 71.11m. All marks were achieved at separate meets, mere weeks after Clunis claimed another Jamaica title with a 70.17m throw.

“As everything in life, change is challenging. Specializing is challenging, but I always knew I’m destined for more and even though I am not yet at the point in my life where I want to be, I’m satisfied with where I am at and I remain hungry to see how much more I can give,” Clunis said.

“Making a career, however, has been extremely difficult because throwers don’t get paid compared to other events. So, the journey has been difficult but I’m hoping it will get easier with sponsorship,” she noted.

Still, there remains a willingness to succeed and a sense that the mood, and, by extension, Clunis’s attitude has changed for the better in recent years.

Clunis believes her lifetime best throw was long overdue and was accomplished due to the exact combination of her biomechanics, physical attributes and excellent technique.

“I am pleased and grateful that I’ve gotten to the point of my career where I’m able to throw lifetime bests, but there’s more there and, like I said, I’m hungry. This tells me the consistency is important and a big throw is coming.  This tells me that I’m becoming the athlete I’ve always dreamt of being, and so I am working on myself one day at a time,” she said.

The frightening sense of determination in Clunis’s tone is very much understandable, given the fact that she has improved leaps and bounds over the past year, and it has given her a new-found confidence and perspective on what is possible.

“Qualifying for the Olympic Games would be amazing and not being able to do so yet is my motivation over the season. I believe next year is going to be great, I am just focusing on the little things that I need to do in order to achieve the Automatic Qualifying standard, as it would be honestly amazing to hit 74m.

“I just want to catapult my self-belief in a whole different league. Throwing 71m so consistently this season has been a dream and I want more so I’m patiently working until the marks come,” the bubbly athlete revealed.

“For now, my main goals at this point are to gain sponsorship leading to the Olympic Games because I would like to focus on training…like really get the opportunity to focus on training and see how great I can be with help,” she ended.

Some 2000 athletes from around 200 teams will descend on Hungary’s new National Athletics Centre on Saturday 19 August for nine days of thrilling competition at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, where World Athletics will once again run its world record programme.

Athletes who set a world record will be eligible* for a special award of US$100,000 offered by TDK and World Athletics’ new Inside Track platform.

The performance must be an improvement on the existing World Athletics world record. Performances that equal the existing world record will not be eligible for a world record award.

USA’s Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis are two of the most recent recipients of a world record award, following their performances at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. There, at Eugene’s Hayward Field, McLaughlin-Levrone improved her own world 400m hurdles record to an awe-inspiring 50.68, while Duplantis took the pole vault to another level again, clearing 6.21m.

Continuing TDK’s involvement with the world record programme, the Japanese electronics company will offer the award for men’s events. The women’s world record programme will be supported by World Athletics – Inside Track, a new online hub where fans can access exclusive content, discover untold stories and unlock benefits. Inside Track provides the perfect platform to tell all athletics stories, but especially those of female athletes, as seen by the recent exclusive interview with McLaughlin-Levrone.

For the mixed 4x400m relay, the programme will be supported by both TDK and World Athletics – Inside Track.

TDK’s involvement with the World Athletics Championships goes beyond the world record programme. In a year that celebrates four decades of the World Athletics Championships, it also marks 40 years of TDK’s support, as one of the original sponsors of the World Athletics Championships. Having been the main bib sponsor for men's events for all 18 previous editions, TDK will maintain that involvement in Budapest.

New Official Partner NTN will be the main bib sponsor for women's events at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.

Prize money

Aside from the world record programme, a total of US$8,498,000 in prize money will be on offer in Budapest.

The prize money is as follows:

Individual events
Gold: US$70,000
Silver: US$35,000
Bronze: US$22,000
Fourth place: US$16,000
Fifth place: US$11,000
Sixth place: US$7000
Seventh place: US$6000
Eighth place: US$5000

Relays (per team)
Gold: US$80,000
Silver: US$40,000
Bronze: US$20,000
Fourth place: US$16,000
Fifth place: USD $12,000
Sixth place: US$8000
Seventh place: US$6000
Eighth place: US$4000

World Athletics

*The payment of prize money and bonuses is dependent upon the usual ratification process

Tuesday was an excellent day for the women of the MVP Track Club at the Meeting Brazzale at the Guido Perraro School Field in Vincenza.

The day started with Tina Clayton (11.47), Tia Clayton (11.52), Serena Cole (11.58) and Krystal Sloley (11.71) all advancing to the 100m final.

The final saw Tia run a personal best-equaling meet record of 11.23. Sloley also ran a personal best 11.27 for second while Tina, a two-time World Under-20 champion, ran 11.32 for third. Cole was fourth in 11.47.

Jamaican hammer thrower Erika Belvit has expressed her profound disappointment at not being selected to her country’s team to the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, later this month.

In June, Belvit threw 70.04m, her second best throw this season to win a silver medal at the CAC Games in San Salvador, a testament to her dedication and hard work. Though, her season-best throw of 70.09m falls short of the 74m automatic qualifying standard, her performance earned her a spot among the top-ranked hammer throwers in the world, reaching as high as 34th in the World Athletics rankings.

Yet, when the Jamaican team for the World Championships was announced, her name was conspicuously absent.

On hearing of her non-selection, Belvit reached out to a JAAA official, a ‘Mr Smith’, whom she had met during the CAC Games, asking why she was not selected.

In his reply on WhatsApp, Mr. Smith told the distraught thrower that only one quota athlete could be selected for any one event. However, this is not true as under the World Athletics rules up to three athletes can be selected.

Three years ago World Athletics overhauled its qualification system in an attempt to create a fairer system where half of athletes would qualify for major championships through achieving an automatic qualifying standard and the other half through their world rankings.

Belvit subsequently fired off an email to President of the JAAA Garth Gayle stating her case and inquiring about her non-selection. He replied saying, “The selection committee would have made its recommendation and you were not selected for this occasion. Please continue to persevere in your training for future events.”

Sportsmax.TV reached out to Lincoln Eatmon, an executive of the Jamaican Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA), who provided insight into the JAAA selection process. He explained, "We had to make up our minds because you can't afford to take everybody who is ranked and as a quota athlete. So we made a policy decision that we're only going to take a certain amount and we will give the preference to the national champions who are quota qualified. We decided that we would keep the number at five and so the others who were selected have made the finals at the last because the last World Championships like Kimberly Williamson and Kimberly Williams," he said.

“And then Rasheed Dwyer was selected because he provides possible cover for the sprint relay because well, they seem to have a problem finding healthy people.”

Eatmon explained further that the existing policy was in part based on cost containment and that Belvit had subsequently fallen down the rankings.

“It would cost to start, you know, I would think somewhere about that JMD $1,000,000 because you have to think of the camp and all of those expenses. So it's a lot of money to take a one person. So it's a matter of controlling costs as well.”

Regarding Belvit’s ranking, Eatmon, stated, “She medalled at CAC but you have to look at where she's ranked. As of the 30 June, Erika was ranked 44 in the world. It doesn't make sense taking somebody who is ranked over 40 in an event unless there are other compelling reasons or even over 36, you have to bear in mind it’s cost containment.”

It should be noted that 15 athletes in the top 44 have not thrown farther than Belvit this season.

Meanwhile, Caltha Seymour of the Heaven to the Yeah Foundation, a former hammer thrower herself, has recognized Belvit's potential and the need for more opportunities for athletes in field events.

The foundation has expressed willingness to fund Erika's trip to Budapest, emphasizing the importance of experience and competition for an athlete's development. Seymour stated, "Erika has worked very hard to be in the Top 40 in the world in her event, and being left off of the world's team is disheartening, as it displays that the JAAA is not committed to providing opportunities to develop their world-class athletes in the field events.

“Athletes require experience to develop, especially a year from Paris 2024. There is a process to development, and our JA athletes in the underrepresented sports need to compete with the world's best... to be the world's best. They need to be provided the opportunity for experience... competition requires development."

As discussions about Erika's exclusion unfolded, she voiced her heartache: "I am extremely disappointed. I can't even express how extremely disappointed I am, especially because I qualified and I worked so hard to get to this point. It's not just me, it's other people as well who have worked so hard just to get to qualify and then to be told, not even to be told but to find out you're not going to be able to make it and not being told why is very disheartening."

She explained further that her disappointment is not just about not being selected.

"This means so much to me. This is more than just going and being there. This is about building and creating this legacy, specifically for women’s hammer. This is such a big thing for me, it always has been. Just becoming closer with the people I have, a lot of throwers, coaches in Jamaica and seeing how important it is. There is more to Jamaica than just track, there is more to Jamaica than just running. There are some great people, especially on the field side, who have been showing up and showing out and I just want to be a part of that and the fact that I wont even be able to do that is so disheartening. And I am upset. I am very upset,” she said.