World Athletics Championships 2023: Why Great Britain will feel optimistic about Olympic success

Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Josh Kerr will be among the many British athletes concentrating on Olympic glory in Paris after delivering spectacular golden moments at an exciting World Championships.

Johnson-Thompson’s gorgeous second heptathlon title and Kerr’s shock 1500m victory had been among the many standout GB performances over 9 dramatic days.

Rising star Keely Hodgkinson’s 800m silver was her third world medal on the age of 21, whereas Matthew Hudson-Smith went near capturing 400m gold in Budapest.

Those medals helped the British workforce end seventh total and equal their best-ever Worlds haul – matching the 10 received in 1993.

After failing to win an athletics gold on the 2020 Olympics, British hopes of success will possible be a lot better in Paris subsequent 12 months.

GB received seven medals in Eugene, Oregon finally 12 months’s delayed championships – with Jake Wightman, absent in 2023 due to damage, successful his nation’s solely gold within the 1500m.

Zharnel Hughes took 100m bronze and Ben Pattison was a shock 800m medallist in Budapest, the place well-attended classes produced a becoming environment across the greatest moments.

There had been additionally 4 relay medals received, with Britain securing blended 4x400m silver and bronze medals for the ladies’s 4x100m and each 4x400m groups.

GB received 5 athletics medals on the Tokyo Olympics two years in the past – and a focus will quickly flip to Paris 2024, now lower than 12 months away.

Back in love with the game – and on high of the world – Johnson-Thompson’s surprising triumph in opposition to favorite Anna Hall means she will look in the direction of subsequent summer time’s Olympics with ambition and perception.

The 30-year-old defended a slim lead over Hall in a charming closing 800m occasion to reclaim the heptathlon title she received in 2019, finishing a outstanding turnaround in her profession.

Four injury-stricken years adopted that first world triumph and he or she feared her profession could also be over after rupturing her Achilles, earlier than a torn calf introduced a merciless finish to her medal bid in Tokyo.

But Johnson-Thompson proved she is able to contend for her first Olympic medal, though Belgium’s two-time champion Nafi Thiam – dominated out by damage – will return in Paris.

The 25-year-old mentioned that success, achieved in the identical spectacular trend pretty much as good good friend Wightman one 12 months earlier as he broke the Norwegian within the closing phases, had been “a long time coming”.

The Olympic bronze medallist, not quick on confidence, will now search to enhance on the third place he achieved in Tokyo.

Edinburgh Athletics Club team-mate Wightman will goal a return to his finest after being unable to defend his title, with each Britons having now delivered psychological blows to the reigning Olympic champion.

Hodgkinson says her intention is to turn out to be considered one of Britain’s biggest athletes – and at 21, she seems effectively on her solution to reaching that.

With three world silver medals in her first three years as an expert athlete, Hodgkinson will as soon as once more anticipate to duel with rivals Mary Moraa and Athing Mu when she resumes her bid for a primary world title in 2024.

This time, it was Moraa who denied her the gold she desired following one other 12 months of great progress. But Britain’s Olympic runner-up solely appears to return extra decided after every near-miss.

There is little question within the thoughts of Hudson-Smith about which medal he intends to gather in Paris following his 400m silver.

Upgrading his 2022 bronze in Budapest, the 28-year-old fell an agonising 0.09 seconds in need of a primary world title as he was denied gold by Jamaica’s Antonio Watson.

Hudson-Smith made no secret that gold had been his goal – regardless of enduring a season through which Achilles tendonitis had at instances left him unable to stroll – and the two-time European champion says he has “big plans” for subsequent 12 months.

Following the most effective 12 months of his profession, Hughes ensured he wouldn’t let his newest alternative to show his means on a world stage move him by.

The European 200m champion put earlier disappointment behind him, together with a false begin within the Olympic closing two years in the past, to take world 100m bronze and his first world medal.

Following a season through which he has additionally damaged two long-standing British dash information, the Jamaica-based 28-year-old will proceed his growth below the steering of Usain Bolt’s former coach Glen Mills as he builds in the direction of a primary Olympic podium.

Pattison’s shock 800m bronze following a sensational run on his World Championships debut made him the primary British man to win a medal within the occasion since Peter Elliott 36 years in the past.

While he lined up as considered one of simply two athletes within the eight-man closing to not have run below one minute 44 seconds over the two-lap race, his rivals will now be effectively conscious of the risk he poses.

The 21-year-old’s medal comes after he received Commonwealth bronze on his main championship debut final 12 months and he has proven his potential to stun the world’s finest.

Laura Muir will be aiming for a settled Olympic build-up after putting sixth within the 1500m closing following probably the most turbulent 12 months of her profession.

The Scot, 30, mentioned she had prioritised her happiness after unexpectedly splitting with long-term coach Andy Young in March and, regardless of not with the ability to match her 2022 bronze, feels “excited for the future”.

Muir will feel she is able to repeating her silver in Tokyo with extra constant preparations earlier than Paris, the place two-time reigning champion and world report holder Faith Kipyegon will once more be heavy favorite after successful a 3rd world title.

It was not the championships Asher-Smith anticipated. The former 200m champion completed seventh in that occasion after putting eighth within the 100m closing.

Concerningly, she mentioned she couldn’t feel something under her waist as she light within the 100m semi-finals and was unable to recuperate following that race – regardless of feeling in “amazing shape” after a season of regular enchancment.

The 27-year-old has made a behavior of manufacturing her finest on the game’s greatest phases and will work to rediscover her kind over the following 12 months earlier than aiming to safe a primary particular person Olympic medal.

Daryll Neita couldn’t have requested for rather more from her 200m marketing campaign in Budapest, twice producing private bests on her solution to ending fifth on the planet.

The 26-year-old was upset to overlook out on the 100m closing however completed 0.24 seconds off the final 200m podium place, taken by 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson. She didn’t depart empty handed, serving to the 4x100m workforce to bronze.

Jemma Reekie achieved a fifth-place end in her first world 800m closing however faces tough competitors, together with Hodgkinson, in that occasion.

In the sector occasions, Morgan Lake fell two centimetres in need of the excessive leap medals, securing a fourth-place end with a clearance at 1.97m.

Molly Caudery produced a private finest within the girls’s pole vault closing to complete fifth, the 23-year-old backing up final 12 months’s Commonwealth Games silver with one other promising exhibiting at a world competitors.

Injury hindered Jazmin Sawyers’ bid to win a primary world title following her breakthrough European indoor gold earlier this 12 months, whereas pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw received Olympic bronze two years in the past however mentioned the game was damaging her psychological well being after struggling an early exit.

Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan will additionally hope to be damage free by subsequent summer time.

The girls’s 4x100m and males’s 4x400m groups each achieved their medals regardless of the absence of key people – with Asher-Smith and Hudson-Smith each sitting out their respective finals – additional boosting 2024 prospects.