This year’s men’s 100m World Championship final in Tokyo is poised to be one of the most exciting in recent history. At the time of writing, ten men have already run under the 10-second barrier with Akani Simbine leading the way with an impressive 9.90s time into a -1.4 second wind.
Will Noah Lyles repeat his Olympic-winning performance this year at the World Championships, or will there be a new champion this year?
Here are the top sprinters to watch at this year’s championships.
Noah Lyles
Noah Lyles has to be the favorite at this year’s world championships after narrowly inching out Kishane Thompson in Paris last summer by less than a thousandth of a second–both men running a time of 9.79s. One thing we know for sure is nobody has more confidence in Noah Lyles than Noah Lyles.
Akani Simbine
Simbine narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal by 0.01s last summer and has already run the fastest time in the world this year. Simbine may be over 30, but he is still coming off the fastest season of his career.
Fred Kerley
Fred Kerley is the 2022 World Champion and is coming off an Olympic bronze medal last summer in Tokyo. Although he seems to be in form to run fast times this summer, it’s too early to say how his recent legal trouble may impact his season.
Kishane Thompson
Would any of us be surprised if Kishane Thompson dropped the fastest time in the world again this year after dropping a 9.77 last summer? If he had a more aggressive lean at the line last summer, we’d probably be calling him the defending Olympic champion.
Letsile Tebogo
Letsile Tebogo is the youngest sprinter on the list. With all he’s already accomplished in his young career, highlighted by an Olympic gold medal in the 200m last summer, it’s easy to forget that he’s still only 21. Is it safe to assume that the best is yet to come?
Dark Horse Candidates
Is it possible that we’ll see one of these dark horse candidates crossing the line first this summer?
- Brandon Hicklin: Brandon Hicklin dropped a 9.93 in April, which is a new personal best. His season’s best in the last two years has been 9.94.
- Ackeem Blake: Ackeem Blake is another up-and-coming sprinter and last year’s winner of the Diamond League Final. Will we see him go faster than his 9.89s season best the past two years?
- Ferdinand Omanyala: Ferdinand Omanyala dropped a 10.00s time into a negative wind in May. He’ll be looking to build on his 9.79s best from last season and 9.77s personal best from 2021.
- Lamont Marcell Jacobs: Don’t count out the 2020 Olympic champion. After two seasons above 10.00s and some injury problems, he ran his fastest time in four years last summer and finished with a fifth-place finish in the Olympic final.
Our 100m World Championship Prediction
This year’s final is poised to be one of the most competitive fields in recent memory. Our pick for this year is Kishane Thompson, who will improve on his 9.77s from last season. We predict this will be the first time since 2012 that somebody will drop a legal time under 9.70s.
