by Larry Eder
Welcome to the World Champs 2023 Preview, Day 4.
For 41 more days, RunBlogRun will be posting a story a day on the buildup to the World Athletics Outdoor Championships, to be held in Budapest, Hungary, from August 19-August 27, 2023.
How do we begin telling you about the incredible European athletes who will compete in the 2023 World Athletics Outdoor Championships?
Let us begin with Mondo Duplantis. Mondo Duplantis is a prodigy in the Men’s pole vault and the most talented pole vaulter of his generation, or any other.
Mondo Duplantis ended the 2022 World Championships with a World Record in the pole vault of 6.21 meters.
What is Mondo’s secret sauce? This writer thinks that it is his family and friends. Listen to this quote from Eugene World Champs last summer:
“I am going to have some time off with my family and friends. So it is the only thing for now.
My mum and dad deserve the biggest thanks for all this. My girlfriend has come all the way from Sweden just to watch it, and I also have my best friend coming here, so I have a lot of people to thank.”
Likewise, in the indoor season, Mondo Duplantis ended his 2023 indoor campaign with a World Record at the All-Star Perche in Clermont-Ferrand, France on February 25, 2023, where he cleared 6.22 meters.
🚨 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐃𝐔 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄 ! 🌎
🤩 Phénoménal ! 🇸🇪 Armand Duplantis est sur le toit du monde à Clermont-Ferrand en s’élevant à 6️⃣,2️⃣2️⃣ m !
Il faudra bientôt relever le plafond ! 😱
📺 Revivez le @AllStarPerche en 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬 sur https://t.co/xgXE6U6Tof pic.twitter.com/ihgsZ81aoh
— FFAthlétisme (@FFAthletisme) February 25, 2023
What will Mondo do in the Summer 2023 season? Will he end the Budapest World Champs with another world record?
Never discount the hard work that goes into a world-record performance. Mondo Duplantis has already moved the world record to 6.22 meters. With his speed, his ability, and his fitness, Mondo Duplantis will truly entertain the fans in Budapest this summer.
Nafi Thiam! How does one talk about the finest multi-eventer in a decade! Nafi has 2 Olympic gold medals, 2 golds at World Championships, one silver, 2 golds at the European Championships, and one bronze, and 3 golds and one silver at the European Indoor Championships. In 2017, Nafi scored 7,013 points in Gotzis, Switzerland, setting a Belgian NR.
This winter, at the European Indoor Championships, Nafi Thiam absolutely blew the WR away in the pentathlon with a final score of 5,055 points.
Her superb competition at the European Indoors gave her an incredible new WR in the pentathlon, with five flawless events: 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, and 800 meters just added points to the score, breaking the WR from 2012, of Natalya Dobrinska, who was there to watch Nafi take the record!
What does this say about 2023 in Budapest? This writer thinks that Nafi Thiam wants to put the heptathlon score into another world.
Her performances in Istanbul were inspiring, and she showed her fitness, but most of all, her enthusiasm for the multi-events.
What will Nafi do in Budapest? Only time will tell. We know that the Belgian superstar will be ready to run, jump and throw in Budapest!
The World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, will be held August 19-27, 2023, and tickets are available now! Click here to learn more about ticket sales: https://tickets.wabudapest23.com/
Your favorite writer suggests a wonderful book on Hungary, The Hungarians, A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat, by Paul Lendvai, Translated by Ann Major, Princeton University Press, www.pupress.princeton.edu.
