The world’s best track and field athletes have gathered in Budapest this week for the 2023 World Athletics Championship. Often viewed as a preview of the following year’s Olympics, these biennial events are also, for many, the pinnacle of their careers.
The event is overseen by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It features a full roster of disciplines. And, unlike the Olympics, the top competitors—from Olympic champions and Diamond League winners to world-ranked athletes—are selected to compete at Worlds.
There were some big names in the mix, including Olympic champions in the men’s and women’s 400-meter hurdles, Emmanuel Korir and Shericka Jackson. But it was the American 200-meter (and NBC Sports docuseries) star Noah Lyles who stole the show in the final.
He ran the first lap of the race at sub 9:00-minute pace, forming a front pack with Ririka Hironaka of Japan and Abebe Aregaw of Ethiopia. But Kerr found another gear on the backstretch and accelerated into the lead.
The two-week event is a massive spectacle, and it’s an opportunity for fans to watch some of the most incredible sport ever seen. Sadly, there’s been some discord on social media about the event and the governing body’s decision to move it to Qatar. For the record, the IAAF president, Sebastian Coe, has denied that the move was a political decision. But he continues to maintain that the sport needs to go into new territories—and perhaps more cities—to help expand its global appeal.