2022 World Athletics Championships | 5 GB stars who could medal

My name is Craig Kemp and I’m a PPC Sportsbook Manager at William Hill. I’m a huge Athletics fan so I am writing about the 5 GB stars who I think could bring home a medal.

The stars of athletics have descended on Eugene in Oregon for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

Team GB have taken a squad of 78 for the championships, including medals hopefuls Dina Asher-Smith and Adam Gemili.

Medals were fairly scarce in 2019 as Team GB only brought home five from Doha. Asher-Smith claimed three of those – 200m gold, 100m silver and 4x100m silver – while multi-event star Katerina Johnson-Thompson won heptathlon gold.

Asher-Smith may be one of Team GB’s medal hopes again. She is 20/1 to win the women’s 100m and 12/1 to retain her 200m title.

However, her performances this season suggest others are better placed to take gold. But, there are plenty of other medal hopefuls for Team GB. Let’s have a look at five of those names:

Lorraine Ugen – Women’s long jump

Confidence must be high for Lorraine Ugen after winning the long jump at the recent Diamond League in Stockholm. Ugen’s fifth-round leap of 6.81m was enough to beat a stacked field, including current German Olympic and World champion Malaika Mihambo.

It was the latest positive result for Ugen in 2022, having also claimed bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.

Nine women have jumped further than Ugen this year, but only two have eclipsed her best (Mihambo and Australia’s Brooke Buschkuel). If she can get her timing right in Oregon, Ugen can push for a podium. Get 16/1 on her claiming gold.

Max Burgin – Men’s 800m

Anyone who doesn’t follow athletics with a keen eye may not have heard of Max Burgin, who burst on the scene with victory in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland last month.

Not only did the 20-year-old set a new career best, his time of 1:43.52 remains the world lead for the year and puts him fourth on the all-time UK list.

Any concerns this was some sort of fluke were erased when he followed up with victory at the UK Championships to gain his first national title.

The 800m can often be a tactical race, which can mean that positioning and a finishing kick are more important elements than personal bests.

However, with Burgin a fearless front runner, the 800m is Oregon is unlikely to pan out that way. Instead, the biggest threat may be his own pacing or lack of experience in competing over a first round, semi-final and final format.

Keely Hodgkinson – Women’s 800m

Five women have run quicker than 1:58.00 in the women’s 800m this season, with Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodkinson among them after clocking 1:57.71 to win the Diamond League event in Oslo in June.

Hodgkinson is another 20-year-old, but unlike Burgin, has already gathered substantial experience in big races, most notably when earning a silver medal in the last Olympic Games.

She hasn’t had the opportunity to face Tokyo gold medallist Athing Mu, with the American avoiding much of the Diamond League circuit this season, although she is still responsible for the quickest time of the season when running 1:57.01 in Rome.

With Mu elsewhere, Hodkinson has capitalised with a trio of Diamond League successes, although she was beaten in her most-recent outing in Stockholm when fading down the home straight behind Kenyan front runner Mary Moraa.

Holly Bradshaw – Women’s pole vault

Holly Bradshaw has a solid record in major finals, finishing sixth, fifth and third in the last three Olympic finals, alongside seventh, sixth and fourth at the past three World Championships.

Her bronze in Tokyo was the first Olympic pole vault medal in British history and arrived in the same year as setting a British record of 4.90m.

A repeat of that effort would be highly likely to bring gold in Eugene, with the women’s pole vault not enjoying the most fruitful year in terms of big heights. America’s Sandi Morris currently tops the annual standings with 4.81m in Rome.

Bradshaw doesn’t arrive in the US in the best shape after a period of illness caused her to miss the entire indoor season. However, she does seem to be improving with every meeting and her prior record at major tournaments inspires confidence that a podium finish is a realistic target again.

Jake Wightman – Men’s 1500m

It has already been a successful year for Jake Wightman, following a first national title at 1,500m. Previously, he had made a career of finishing on the podium in the British Championships.

Wightman is quite versatile in terms of racing style, showing speed consistently to compete in high-profile races over 800m and then changing his training plans over the winter to gain strength by tackling more 3,000m and 5,000m runs. This included unusually competing over 3,000m during the indoor season.

Although the times haven’t been electric this term, Wightman has been the second quickest through his 3:32.62 clocking in Morocco in June.

Gold will be tough with Kenya’s Abel Kipsang and Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the field, but a medal of some description is not out of the question.

This article was written by an employee of William Hill but doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of William Hill LTD