<h2>Men's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Based on 2021 form, the men's long jump looks to be one of the most wide open competitions on the Tokyo athletics programme. It will also be among the most watched, given the unique ambitions that have propelled US jumping sensation JuVaughn Harrison on to centre stage.
The 22-year-old has made a habit of successfully doubling in the high jump and long jump this year, winning both titles at the Southeastern Conference indoor championships, the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships and, incredibly, at the US Olympic Trials last month where he topped 2.33m in the high jump and sailed a lifetime best of 8.47m in the long jump. That made him the first US athlete to qualify for both events since the legendary Jim Thorpe in 1912.
So, Harrison figures, why stop there?
He'll kick off a busy four days with high jump qualifying on Friday morning (30), will return to action in the long jump qualifying on Saturday evening (31), back again for the high jump final on Sunday night (1) before concluding with the long jump final 15 hours and 10 minutes later on Monday morning (2).
His medal prospects in both events are good, but especially in the long jump where his winning mark from the US Trials is the second farthest of the year. Harrison also has an 8.44m leap from earlier in the season to back that up along with an 8.45m leap indoors which catapulted him into the No.8 spot indoors all-time. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f941306c17c18127289d1d.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 The only man to jump farther thus far this season is Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the reigning European champion who sailed 8.60m at a domestic competition in late May. That leap smashed his previous PB set last year by 28 centimetres. Indoors he managed an 8.35m leap, just three centimetres shy of his lifetime best, to successfully defend his European indoor crown. He jumped 8.24m to win in Monaco on 9 July, his final pre-Tokyo competition.
We can also expect Cuban star Juan Miguel Echevarria in the chase. The 22-year-old has electrified the event since his breakout in 2018 when he won the world indoor title and flew to a wind-aided 8.83m leap in Stockholm which forced organisers to make the landing pit longer for the 2019 edition. He arrived in Doha as the favourite for the world title that year and responded to the pressure reasonably well, taking bronze in a fiercely fought competition.
That title went to rising Jamaican star Tajay Gayle who unleashed an 8.69m leap in the fourth round to steal the victory, smashing his PB by 37 centimetres in the process. He hasn't jumped nearly as far in 2021 (8.29m SB) but has managed victories in Stockholm (8.55m/+2.3m/s) and at the Jamaican championships.
A sixth place finish at the notoriously difficult US trials means that reigning Olympic champion and 2019 world silver medallist Jeffery Henderson won't be defending his title, but Harrison will be joined by Marquis Dendy (8.35m SB, 8.42m PB), the 2016 world indoor champion, and Steffin McCarter (8.26m SB, PB), who should both figure in the medal hunt.
Echevarria will be joined by Maykel Mass&oacute;, also 22, a former world U18 and U20 champion who improved to 8.39m this year. Gayle, meanwhile, will be joined by Carey McLeod, a student at the University of Tennessee who jumped a lifetime best of 8.34m to beat Harrison at the SEC outdoor championships in May.
Host nation hopes lie with Yuki Hashioka, the 2018 world U20 champion who has been improving steadily since. The 22-year-old flew to the national title in June with an 8.36m effort, a lifetime best which landed him at No.7 on the 2021 world list.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's long jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=LJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/long-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/long-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a> |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/long-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Opportunity knocks in the women&rsquo;s long jump for whoever can produce their best performance on the day in Tokyo&rsquo;s Olympic stadium.
This Olympic season has thrown up a bunch of medal contenders but none has established dominance so far.
There are six women with legal jumps over the still-impressive barrier of seven metres this year, five of whom will be in the field in Tokyo.
Nigeria&rsquo;s Ese Brume, bronze medallist at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019, has the biggest jump of the year with 7.17m, from American Tara Davis (7.14m) and the ageless 2012 Olympic champion Brittney Reese, who leapt 7.13m to win at the US Olympic Trials last month. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/041cbc2f-0af6-4cfe-b292-eb88bdc0d23a.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="593" />
 The reigning world champion Malaika Mihambo has not yet found the form that carried her to that title in Doha in 2019 and currently stands in 10th place on the list of top performers (6.92m).
However, she did register a wind-assisted 7.02m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm earlier this month which suggests she is finding her rhythm.
The Diamond League has produced three different winners from the four women&rsquo;s long jump competitions held to date this year.
Germany&rsquo;s Mihambo triumphed in Oslo, Doha silver medallist Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk was the most recent winner in Gateshead, while Serbian veteran Ivana Spanovic took wins in Florence and Stockholm. However these events were conducted under the experimental &ldquo;Final Three&rdquo; format, whereas the Olympic competition will revert to the traditional six-jump final.
All of which makes it a very unpredictable event this year.
In the absence of the 2016 Olympic champion Tianna Bartoletta, 34-year-old Rio silver medallist Reese is the best credentialed woman in the field with four world titles to her name between 2009 and 2017.
She has not competed outside the US this year, but has registered seven-metre-plus jumps at three different competitions and is still performing to the highest standard in her 14th year at the top of the game.
Meanwhile, her 22-year-old teammate Davis is just setting out on her journey as a professional athlete. The effervescent Davis won the NCAA title this year and then leapt 7.04m to finish second at the US Olympic Trials and earn her place on the Olympic team.
Outstanding college athletes sometimes find the Olympic journey a step too far after a long NCAA season and it remains to be seen if Davis can maintain, or improve on, the standard she set in the first half of the year.
Brume popped out a huge jump in California in May but has struggled to reproduce that form more recently, while Ukraine&rsquo;s Bekh-Romanchuk is admirably consistent just under the seven-metre mark but has yet to show she can jump big enough to win a major title.
Mihambo has not approached the massive 7.30m jump she performed to clinch the world title in 2019 but then neither has anyone else. If she can uncork that magic in the Olympic arena the gold medal will almost certainly be hers. If not then there could be plenty of contenders eyeing the medals.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's long jump.

Tokyo Olympics preview: long jump

<h2>Women's triple jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=TJ&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/triple-jump/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Yulimar Rojas was thrilled to take the silver medal in Rio five years ago.
Aged just 20 at the time, she headed to those Games as the second-best jumper in the world and confirmed it with her second-place finish behind Colombia&rsquo;s Caterine Ibarguen. She also made history by becoming the first Venezuelan woman to win an Olympic in athletics.
But that competition also marked the beginning of a new chapter in the women&rsquo;s triple jump. And now, anything less than gold at the Olympics would be something of a disappointment for Rojas.
Ibarguen, who won world titles in 2013 and 2015, hasn&rsquo;t returned to the top of a global championships podium since the Rio Games. Rojas, meanwhile, has won all three major crowns: world gold in 2017 and 2019, plus the world indoor title in 2018.
During the current &ndash; and extended &ndash; Olympic cycle, Rojas is the only woman in the world to have jumped beyond 15 metres. In fact, she has done so 17 times, including at all six of her competitions this year.
Last year she broke the world indoor record with 15.43m and in May this year she matched that distance to set an outdoor PB, coming within seven centimetres of the world record and consolidating her No.2 spot on the world all-time list.
It seems just a matter of time before she breaks the world record of 15.50m, set by Inessa Kravets back in 1995, two months before Rojas was born. Rojas had a couple of huge fouls at the recent Wanda Diamond League meeting in Monaco, her last outing before heading to the Games. A proven championship performer, Rojas will be difficult to beat in Tokyo.
Difficult, but not impossible. Jamaica&rsquo;s Shanieka Ricketts was the last person to jump farther than Rojas in a competition, doing so to win the 2019 Diamond League title. She finished second to Rojas at the World Championships in Doha, then returned to the Qatari capital in 2021 for the Wanda Diamond League meeting and improved her PB to 14.98m, once again finishing behind Rojas. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/b932e7a0-6561-46f0-a85b-7226abaa974f.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Ricketts is one half of a strong Jamaican duo. Kimberly Williams took world silver behind Rojas in 2018 and has won the past two Commonwealth titles. She may not be as close to the 15-metre barrier as her compatriot, but she is incredibly consistent and has finished in the top six at all but two of her last nine global championships appearances, dating back to the 2012 World Indoor Championships.
Liadagmis Povea has emerged as something of a force in the past few years. The 25-year-old Cuban jumped a wind-assisted 15.05m back in 2019 and set a PB of 14.93m earlier this year. The Pan-American bronze medallist will be keen to make up for her showing at the 2019 World Championships, where she missed out on making the final.
Keturah Orji, aged just 20 at the time, narrowly missed out on what would have been a historic medal for the USA at the 2016 Olympic Games. Her 14.71m US record was just three centimetres shy of the bronze medal position. Earlier this year, Orji set a US record of 14.92m and has been competitive on the international circuit. Memories of Rio could spur her on to a podium finish in Tokyo.
Five women who have set national records this year could be in the medal hunt.
Portugal&rsquo;s Patricia Mamona improved her own national record to 14.66m in Monaco. She clearly excels in Olympic years, as her previous two national records were set in 2016 and 2012. She has won four medals at the continental level, including European gold in 2016, but has yet to land a global podium finish.
Senni Salminen, who set Finnish records of 14.51m and 14.63m last month, has been the surprise package of the event this year. Spain&rsquo;s Ana Peleteiro, the 2019 European indoor champion and training partner of Rojas, has also been in record-breaking form this year, leaping 14.61m.
NCAA champion Ruth Usoro has set Nigerian records indoors (14.36m) and out (14.50m) this year to qualify for what will be her first major international championships. Thea Lafond of Dominica set an outright national record of 14.54m back in February. An injury just before the 2016 Games meant she finished last in qualifying in Rio, but she&rsquo;ll be hoping for a much better Olympic experience in Tokyo.
Ibarguen and Olga Rypakova, the Olympic champions in 2016 and 2012 respectively, have competed sparingly this year. Neither woman has bettered 14 metres, suggesting their medal-winning form may be behind them, but both will be competing at their fourth Games.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's triple jump</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=TJ&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/triple-jump/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/jumps/triple-jump/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;windReading=regular&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/jumps/triple-jump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
USA teammates Christian Taylor and Will Claye finished 1-2 in the men&rsquo;s triple jump at the last two Olympic Games. Only one of them has a chance of reaching the podium this time.
Taylor ruptured his achilles in May, ruling him out of the Tokyo Games and wrecking his hopes of a third straight Olympic title. That leaves Claye, fully recovered from a torn achilles of his own, among the favourites for gold.
Claye &ndash; who also settled for silver behind Taylor at the past two World Athletics Championships &ndash; will try to keep the triple jump crown in American hands against a field of top contenders including Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso and Portugal&rsquo;s Pedro Pichardo.
The 30-year-old Claye has made a strong comeback after tearing his achilles while playing pickup basketball in November 2019. Earlier that year, he had jumped 18.14m, the third best of all-time behind Jonathan Edwards (18.29m) and Taylor (18.21m). 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/26734d71-6a40-49f3-82f6-932ed3c8f384.png" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Claye&rsquo;s achilles injury would most likely have ruled him out of the Olympics in 2020, but the one-year pandemic postponement gave him the time to rehab and return to full fitness for a chance at his first gold.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m back and feeling like myself again and feeling better,&rsquo;&rsquo; Claye said after winning the US Olympic Trials in June with a jump of 17.21m. &ldquo;I want to go out there and put on a show.&rdquo;
Putting on a show comes natural for Claye, who also happens to be a rap artist with his own music label and fashion line. He has a taste for the dramatic: When he won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games with a jump of 17.76m, Claye hopped into the stands, dropped to a knee, took out a ring from his backpack and proposed to hurdler Queen Harrison, now his wife.
Claye, who also won a bronze medal in long jump at the 2012 London Games, is now focused on winning his first major championship title. He finished second at the 2019 World Championships in Doha behind Taylor, his former University of Florida teammate.
Taylor, a four-time world champion, tore his achilles while competing at the Ostrava Golden Spike meet in the Czech Republic in May. That ended his hopes of equalling the record of Viktor Saneyev of the former Soviet Union, who won three Olympic long jump titles in a row from 1968 to 1976.
The 31-year-old Taylor underwent successful surgery and is now looking to return for next year&rsquo;s Worlds in Eugene, Oregon, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Claye vowed to perform at his best for his friend and rival in Tokyo.
&nbsp;"I will hold things down until Christian returns,&rdquo; he said.
But there are several other top jumpers looking to break the American dominance.
Look no further than Zango, the bronze medallist in Doha who is aiming to win his country&rsquo;s first ever Olympic medal. The 28-year-old broke the world indoor record with a leap of 18.07m in Aubiere, France, in January, and has the second best outdoor jump in the world this year of 17.82m.
The world&rsquo;s leading outdoor performance this year belongs to Pichardo, the 28-year-old Cuban-born athlete who jumped 17.92m in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, on 6 July.
Pichardo set a Cuban record of 18.08m in 2015, putting him fifth on the all-time list, and also won two world silver medals representing Cuba. Competing for Portugal, he finished fourth in Doha. Pichardo won the 2021 European indoor title and prevailed at the final Diamond League meeting before the Olympics with a 17.50m effort at Gateshead.
Cuba&rsquo;s Andy Diaz, China&rsquo;s Yaming Zhu and Italy&rsquo;s Andrea Dallavalle could also be among the medal contenders.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's triple jump.

Tokyo Olympics preview: triple jump

Artefacts from Emil Zatopek, Naoko Takahashi and Eliud Kipchoge highlight the Olympic Athletics Collection room which opens today in the virtual Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)

Zatopek, Takahashi and Kipchoge highlight opening of MOWA Olympic Athletics Collection room

Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke are the latest recipients of the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Athletics Heritage Plaque</a> in the posthumous category of &lsquo;Legend&rsquo;. Their plaques will be unveiled next year respectively in the Stockholm and Amsterdam Olympic Stadiums where they will be on permanent public display.
Thorpe was the Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm while Radke was the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the 800m in Amsterdam in 1928, but their victories held even greater symbolism in the times when they competed.
&ldquo;Even among the pioneers of our sport Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke stand out from their peers due to the significant social and political barriers they challenged," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.
&ldquo;More than 100 years later, their struggles, and their determination to succeed in the face of societal opposition, still resonate today. I&rsquo;m delighted that we are acknowledging these two outstanding Olympic champions, exemplars for generations of athletes who followed."
The World Athletics Heritage Plaque is a location-based recognition, awarded for &ldquo;an outstanding contribution to the worldwide history and development of the sport of track and field athletics and of out-of-stadia athletics disciplines such as cross country, mountain, road, trail and ultra-running, and race walking&rdquo;. 
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list/jim-thorpe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James &lsquo;Jim&rsquo; Francis Thorpe (USA)</a> 28 May 1887 &ndash; 28 March 1953
The Olympic victories of Jim Thorpe, a first nation American, in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, his subsequent disqualification for professionalism and later return of his medals 30 years after his death, make him one of the legendary figures in Olympic history, let alone athletics.
Thorpe&rsquo;s dominance in the pentathlon (7 July 1912) was almost absolute. Only in the javelin throw did he not take first place. King Gustav V of Sweden presented Thorpe with a bronze bust following his victory in the pentathlon saying: &ldquo;Sir, you are the greatest athlete in the world.&rdquo; To which Thorpe replied, &ldquo;Thanks. King&rdquo;.
A week later (13-15 July) in the decathlon, the first time the event had been staged at the Olympic Games, he won in a world record nearly 400 points clear of silver. &nbsp;
Thorpe also finished equal fourth in the individual high jump (8 July) and seventh in the long jump (14 July).
His medals were stripped from him two months later when it was discovered he had received $25 playing minor league baseball in 1909 and 1910.
It was not until 13 October 1982 that Thorpe&rsquo;s ban was lifted. On 18 January 1983, his gold medals were presented to his children. 
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque/list/lina-radke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Karoline &lsquo;Lina&rsquo; Radke-Batschauer (GER)</a> 18 October 1903 &ndash; 14 February 1983
Lina Radke&rsquo;s position as a pioneer in women&rsquo;s athletics, a multiple world record-breaker who was the inaugural women&rsquo;s Olympic 800m champion in 1928, a victory which was not welcomed by officials and resulted in the event&rsquo;s immediate removal from the Olympic programme (until 1960), represents a struggle against female discrimination. &nbsp;&nbsp;
The first two Women&rsquo;s World Games organised by the International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI) in Paris (1922) and Gothenburg (1926) featured a 1000m event. When the FSFI reached an agreement with the IOC and World Athletics (then the IAAF) to stage women&rsquo;s athletics events in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1928, the 800m, the nearest Olympic distance to the 1000m, was included in the Amsterdam Olympic programme.
The accepted FSFI world record coming into those 1928 Games was held by Radke with a time of 2:19.6.
In the final in Amsterdam, Radke took the lead with 300 metres to go and finished with a three-metre victory over Japan&rsquo;s versatile Kinue Hitomi. Radke&rsquo;s time improved her own world record to 2:16.8.
Despite newspaper stories of athletes finishing the race distressed, the truth was that just one collapsed afterwards. However, the resulting public uproar caused the immediate removal of the women&rsquo;s 800m event from the Olympic programme. It was not to return until Rome 1960!
During Radke&rsquo;s outstanding career she set six ratified world records at distances from 800m to 1200m, which included the 1000m mark which she set in 1930.
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage
References:
&middot; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ATFS/World Athletics Olympic Statistics Book, editor Mark Butler &middot; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Complete Book of the Olympics, David Wallechinsky &middot;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/centenary-first-womens-olympiad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI)</a>

Jim Thorpe and Lina Radke are the latest recipients of the World Athletics Heritage Plaque in the posthumous category of ‘Legend’. 

Olympic legends Thorpe and Radke awarded World Athletics Heritage Plaques

At the heart of the new Olympic Athletics Collection room which opened today in the virtual <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics (MOWA)</a>, the world&rsquo;s first virtual sports museum, is a spectacular ASICS historic shoe display.
ASICS, formerly named Onitsuka Tiger and founded by Kihachiro Onitsuka in 1949, quickly became the bespoke shoe choice for a legion of Olympic champions.
The athletics shoes of 10 Olympic medallists have been kindly made available to MOWA by the ASICS Museum in Kobe, Japan. Photographed in-situ, by World Athletics Heritage, the shoes are now available virtually in MOWA in glorious 360˚ 3D.
The ASICS display, which is designed to resemble a discus, guides visitors on a chronological journey through the highlights of the company&rsquo;s successful history.
Visitors can activate the spinnable 3D high definition image of each shoe, consult supporting text content in English, French, and Spanish languages, and view stunning photography of the athletes. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8ab79c932da69a1639873.jpg" alt="&copy;️ IMAGO" width="300" height="417" />Heatley outsprints Tsuburaya</h3>
Appropriately, as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is about to get under way, and the Japanese adore the marathon distance, this historic journey begins with the Tokyo 1964 Olympic marathon.
Finishing well behind Ethiopia&rsquo;s Abebe Bikila, the 1960 gold medallist who won by four minutes in Tokyo, Britain&rsquo;s Basil Heatley and Japan&rsquo;s Kokichi Tsuburaya, both wearing Onitsuka footwear, played out a dramatic battle in the stadium. <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/news/basil-heatley-tokyo-1964-olympic-silver" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heatley passed Tsuburaya in the home straight for silver.</a>&nbsp;(Image &copy; IMAGO)
Japan&rsquo;s Kenji Kimihara, who had been more fancied to succeed than Tsuburaya, finished eighth in that Tokyo race.
However, Kimihara took the 1966 Boston Marathon title and two years later was a comfortable Olympic marathon silver medallist in Mexico 1968. He finished well adrift of another Ethiopian Mamo Wolde. It is one of Kimihara&rsquo;s Mexico &rsquo;68 shoes which is on show. 
<h3>Marvellous Montreal</h3>
The 1970s were a golden decade for ASICS. The 1976 Olympic footwear of gold medallists Irena Szewinska (400m world record) and Lasse Viren (marathon, fifth, a day after winning the 5000m), both owned by the World Athletics Heritage Collection, are on display in the Montreal 1976 section of the Olympic room.
Thanks to the assistance of the museum in Kobe, one of Viren&rsquo;s spikes from his second 5000m and 10,000 track double in 1976 can also be viewed there. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8aa98c932da69a163986d.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="463" />Mota motors to Olympic gold</h3>
Back at the central ASICS display, we recommence our history lesson with the shoes of Seoul 1988 Olympic marathon champion Rosa Mota. The Portuguese, who took a narrow 13-second victory in Korea, had been the bronze medallist four years before in the inaugural women&rsquo;s Olympic marathon in Los Angeles.
The winner of three Boston and three European marathon titles, Mota ranks as one of the greatest female marathon runners of all-time. 
<h3>The Daughter of the Wind</h3>
Like the footwear of Szewinska and Viren, the shoes of Japan&rsquo;s Sydney 2000 Olympic marathon champion Naoko Takahashi are featured elsewhere in the room.
Takahashi, who in the year following her Olympic gold became the first woman to run sub-2:20, generously donated one of her Sydney 2000 competition bib numbers to World Athletics Heritage last year. The shoes and bib are both featured in the Sydney 2000 Olympic display.
There was no underestimating Takahashi&rsquo;s national popularity and fame after her Olympic triumph. She was the subject of a comic strip entitled "Kazekko," or "Daughter of the Wind". Launched in May 2001, the strip told Takahashi&rsquo;s life story and at its height attracted 700,000 readers weekly. 
<h3><img style="float: right;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8aad6c932da69a1639870.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="452" />Athens triple gold</h3>
The visitor now arrives at Mizuki Noguchi, Japan&rsquo;s second Olympic Games women&rsquo;s marathon winner. On display is one of the shoes she wore when winning that title in the Athens 2004 Games. The following year Noguchi set a 2:19:12 Asian record in Berlin. The shoes of the men&rsquo;s 2004 Olympic marathon champion, Stefano Baldini of Italy, are also on show. In Athens, Baldini became only the second Italian to win the Olympic marathon following on from Gelindo Bordin in 1988.
Now we jump into the Athens infield. The visitor can view the pair of spikes which helped elevate Sweden&rsquo;s Stefan Holm, the four-time world indoor champion, to his 2.36m Olympic victory in the men&rsquo;s high jump. 
<h3>Olympic marathon history</h3>
The ASICS display concludes four years later at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Romania&rsquo;s Constantina Dita. A winner of the 2004 Chicago Marathon, 2005 World Half Marathon Championships and a World Championships bronze at the marathon in the same year, by the time the Beijing Olympics came along the Romanian was not considered a medal contender. At 38 years of age, Dita surprised the world. Running 2:26:44 she took a comfortable victory in the Chinese capital, becoming the oldest Olympic marathon champion in history!
Chris Turner for World Athletics Heritage

At the heart of the new Olympic Athletics Collection room is a spectacular ASICS historic shoe display.

Journey through Olympic history with ASICS footwear display

Historically at least, Great Britain can claim to be the hotbed of marathon running.
The first marathon to be held over what became the standardised distance of 26 miles 385 yards was the 1908 Olympic race in London, from the grounds of Windsor Castle to the track at White City Stadium. Since 1981, the annual London Marathon, from Blackheath to the shadow of Buckingham Palace on The Mall, has been established as one of the world&rsquo;s major city races.
No country has provided more world record-breaking performances in the men&rsquo;s marathon than Britain, with eight. And yet, 125 years on from the original marathon race in Greece in 1896, the United Kingdom has yet to produce a men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s winner of the Olympic marathon.
Charlie Spedding took bronze behind Portugal&rsquo;s &lsquo;Peter Pan&rsquo;, Carlos Lopes, and Ireland&rsquo;s John Treacy in Los Angeles in 1984. In addition, four British marathon men have stood on the penultimate step of the Olympic podium. None, however, has done so for more than half a century now. 
<h3>Silver in Tokyo</h3>
It was at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, back in 1964, that Basil Heatley of the delightfully named and hugely influential Coventry Godiva Harriers followed in the footsteps of Sam Ferris (1932), Ernie Harper (1936) and Tom Richards (1948) with a silver medal-winning run. In doing so, of course, he followed in the immediate shoe tread of the great Abebe Bikila.
A barefoot winner in Rome four years previously, Bikila overcame the effects of a recent appendectomy to become the first man to successfully defend the Olympic marathon crown. The Ethiopian crossed the line in&nbsp;2:12:12, 1:43.8 inside Heatley&rsquo;s four-month-old world record, then delighted the 75,000 crowd with a display of calisthenics.
Heatley, who had been back in 12th at the halfway turn, proceeded to deflate the Japanese crowd by sprinting past Kokichi Tsuburaya on the track to snatch the silver medal. His final 200m was clocked at 32.3 but the 30-year-old Englishman took little consolation in that. He was mortified at having finished a whopping 4 minutes and 17 seconds behind Bikila.
It was to be the self-effacing Heatley&rsquo;s farewell performance on the international stage. He hung up his racing shoes at the end of 1964 and went on to become a national team manager and president of the English Cross Country Association.
He outlived his fellow medallists from that Tokyo Olympic marathon by almost half a century. Tsuburaya ended his own life in 1968, struggling with the thought that injury was ruining his Mexico Olympic chances. Bikila was paralysed after a road accident in 1969 and died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 41 in 1973.
Heatley died in October 2019, aged 85.
His running CV also included succeeding his boyhood idol Emil Zatopek as world record holder for 10 miles and a victory in the International Cross Country Championships, forerunner of the World Cross Country Championships.
Inevitably perhaps, it is as a marathon man that Heatley is mostly remembered. That, however, would have been a considerable irony to the affable Englishman himself. &nbsp;He was a hugely reluctant marathon runner. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f8b257e27c88820e094e44.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="669" /> Basil Heatley and Kokichi Tsuburaya in the Tokyo 1964 Olympic marathon&nbsp;(&copy; IMAGO)
<h3>Inspired by Zatopek</h3>
Born on Christmas Day, December 25, 1933, Heatley grew up on a farm near Coventry, in the English Midlands. As a 14-year-old schoolboy, he was inspired by the deeds of Zatopek at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, where the Czech soldier won gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5000m.
After joining the Godiva club, he incorporated the Czech&rsquo;s legendary work ethic into his own training regime, performing sessions up and down the driveway of the family farm and gaining extra conditioning with daily farm work and by cycling eight miles to and from school.
In 1951 Heatley won the youths title at the English Midland Cross Country Championships. He ran his first marathon in 1956, winning the Midlands Championship race in 2:36:55. He defended his title in 1957, improving to 2:23:01, but harboured a lingering distaste for the 26.2 mile slog on the roads.
Recalling the aftermath of his debut race in an interview with author Roy Tomizawa (for the book &lsquo;1964: Japan&rsquo;s Greatest Year&rsquo;), Heatley revealed: &ldquo;When I looked round the dressing room and saw everyone in an awful state, I remember saying that if we were four-legged, the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) would ban the marathon.&rdquo; 
<h3>Marathon world best</h3>
Heatley did not return to the cruelty of the marathon for six years &ndash; and, only then, because he came to conclude that it was his most realistic route to Olympic glory.
In the meantime, he became a three-time winner of the coveted English national cross country title (1960, 1961 and 1963). He finished runner up to his England team-mate Frank Sando in the 1957 edition of the International Cross Country Championships and won the 1961 race in Nantes, finishing 23 seconds clear of Belgium&rsquo;s Gaston Roelants.
In April 1961 Heatley ran 47:47.0 in the English AAA Championship 10-mile race at Hurlingham Park in London, breaking Zatopek&rsquo;s 10-year-old world record figures of 48:12.0.
In the winter of 1962-63, the self-coached Heatley began preparing for his marathon mission, by upping his weekly training mileage to a punishing 125. In the 1963 AAA Marathon on home ground in Coventry he finished runner up to his Godiva club-mate Brian Kilby, the reigning European and Commonwealth champion at the distance, in 2:19:56. He also finished fourth in that year&rsquo;s Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia in 2:20:22.
Then, in June 1964, Heatley forged his major breakthrough as a reluctant marathon man, setting the fifth of six world records (best) to be run in the London Marathon of its day, the celebrated Polytechnic Harriers Marathon from Windsor to Chiswick.
Forging clear of fellow Briton Ron Hill at the 21 mile mark, Heatley crossed the line in in 2:13:55. That was a 33-second improvement on the mark set in the previous year&rsquo;s &lsquo;Poly&rsquo; race by Buddy Edelen of the USA.
&ldquo;It made me think: &lsquo;Okay, there&rsquo;s a breakthrough;," Heatley told Roy Tomizawa. "I thought, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m obviously going to go out to Tokyo with a chance'." 
<h3>Crushed in Tokyo &ndash; &ldquo;I&rsquo;d been annihilated&rdquo;</h3>
Heading out to the Japanese capital, Heatley considered Kilby to be the favourite for gold. He, discounted Bikila because of the appendix operation he underwent just six weeks before the race.
Kilby finished out of the medal frame in fourth and Heatley took scant consolation from his own silver medal run, feeling crushed by the margin of Bikila&rsquo;s decisive victory.
&ldquo;Look at the photo of me on the rostrum at the finish and then realise what was going through my mind,&rdquo; he urged Vivien Thomas in an interview for Marathon and Distance Runner magazine. &ldquo;I should have been pleased that I&rsquo;d finished my international career on a high but I&rsquo;d been annihilated.
&ldquo;A complete mixture of emotions made me the glummest creature ever that appeared on an Olympic rostrum. I could just see absolutely no reason for being pleased up there.
&ldquo;I was extremely off form on that day. It was a bad run from start to finish. The weather was extremely humid and I developed a stitch very early on, which stayed with me the whole of the race.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think there was any way I or anyone else could have lived with Bikila on that day. I&rsquo;m sorry that I didn&rsquo;t get to know him but I remember him as a very quiet, very dignified man.&rdquo;
In 2014, on the 50th anniversary of the first Tokyo Olympics, Heatley and his wife Gill travelled out to Japan and met relatives of Bikila and Tsuburaya.
A dignified and devoted servant of grass roots athletics, the former farm boy was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015 by David Moorcroft, another Coventry Godiva great who made it into the world record books.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

It was at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, back in 1964, that Basil Heatley followed in the footsteps of Sam Ferris (1932), Ernie Harper (1936) and Tom Richards (1948) with a silver medal-winning run.

Heatley, from reluctant marathon runner to Olympic silver

For the fourth round of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup, action returns to the Tatra Mountains in Poland for Tatra SkyMarathon. This is the next long distance mountain race in the series, at 40km with 3300m of ascent.
This year&rsquo;s World Cup kicked off in the Tatra Mountains at Tatra Race Run and it proved to be a spectacular venue for mountain running. The organisers describe the terrain as &lsquo;steep but runnable, with a rocky and gravel surface&rsquo;. The bulk of the climbing in the course comes from two long ascents with over 1000m of climbing on each.
The race starts at Koscielisko, just west of Zakopane. The route begins to climb almost immediately, before reaching the high point of Krzesanica at 2096m at the 11.8km point. This is one of the four Czerwone Wierchy peaks (Red Peaks) in the region. The route then descends back down to about 1100m at Hala Ornak, the 19km point. But there won&rsquo;t be any respite for the runners as they will then need to climb 1000m again, all the way up to Starorobocianski Wierch, the highest point on the course, which they will hit at the 26.2km mark. Then it&rsquo;s down, with one final, smaller sting in the tail, all the way back to Koscielisko.
A long part of the route follows the West Tatra Mountain Ridge which promises some incredible views.&nbsp;
There&rsquo;s a strong field in both the women&rsquo;s and men&rsquo;s races. Some athletes who achieved success in Tatra Race Run are back for more, including Britain's Charlotte Morgan, the women&rsquo;s winner, and Poland's Iwona Januszyk, who was third, plus Katarzyna Fraczysta and Joanna Piatek of Poland. Czech Republic's Marcela Vasinova, who was second at last weekend&rsquo;s DoloMyths Run, will also be taking part.
For the men, Poland's Kamil Lesniak, who was eighth at Tatra Race Run, will be on the start line, as will Raul Criado Sanchez of Spain, who finished 15th. Marcin Swierc, the Polish champion who is known for podium finishes at the CCC and TDS, will definitely be one to watch.
Four of last year&rsquo;s top five men will return to this race this year: Peter Frano was second, Bartosz Misiak was third, Lesniak fourth and Andrzej Witek fifth. Other strong Polish runners to watch include Maciek Dombrowski, Tomek Skupien and Dariusz Marek.
Kirsty Reade (WMRA) for World Athletics

For the fourth round of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) World Cup, action returns to the Tatra Mountains in Poland for Tatra SkyMarathon.

WMRA World Cup heads to Tatra SkyMarathon

<h2>Men's shot put</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=SP&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/shot-put" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/shot-put/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/shot-put/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/shot-put/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/shot-put" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
The last time they met in a championship circle Ryan Crouser, Joe Kovacs and Tom Walsh combined to stage the most spectacular shot put competition in history.
That was almost two years ago at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, where Kovacs ultimately triumphed with a personal best throw of 22.91m in a contest that offered Oscar-worthy drama with an unforgettable late twist.
Walsh set the standard in the first round with a put of 22.90m, which placed him fourth on the world all-time list. He led for five rounds and seemed to have the title in hand before the event exploded in the final round. Kovacs set the competition alight, leaping from fourth place into the lead with a huge personal best of 22.91m, then Crouser almost matched him, heaving the 7kg ball 22.90m to tie Walsh&rsquo;s early standard.
When the smoke cleared, Kovacs had won by 1cm, Crouser took the silver medal on a countback from Walsh, and all three had registered throws that put them among the top five throwers in history. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f84d2f0f2ded52d0594d3c.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 Leaving Doha, it was hard to imagine that such an intriguing three-way rivalry would not continue into the Tokyo Olympics, then just nine months away.
But the intervention of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the complexion of the event. The three mighty men of Doha have competed against each other just once since, in Arizona in May, and Crouser has skipped away from his rivals, taking the event to a higher plane with world records both indoors and outdoors this year.
Born into a throwing dynasty in Portland, Oregon, the 28-year-old man-mountain has been on a tear ever since that narrowest of losses in Doha. He is now undefeated in 20 consecutive competitions since that day.
He moved level with Kovacs&rsquo; best with an outdoor personal best of 22.91m in 2020, then gave an early demonstration of his power in January this year, setting an indoor world record of 22.82m, before launching into the outdoor season with his first 23-metre throw in May, the biggest throw in the world for more than 30 years.
But he was just getting started, launching the steel ball to an astonishing world record of 23.37m at the US Olympic Trials in June to establish himself as the roaring favourite for gold in Tokyo.
However, given the quality of the field that will assemble, that outcome can not be guaranteed.
Kovacs, world champion in 2015 and 2019 and Olympic silver medallist behind Crouser in Rio, is a proven big-time performer and is close to his best form (22.72m this year).
New Zealand&rsquo;s Walsh, the 2017 world champion, struggled to convert his training into competition results early in the season after a year off the international circuit, but finally began to find his mojo with his first 22-metre effort (22.22m) since 2019 in Hungary earlier this month.
But the hunt for medals goes beyond these three. Poland&rsquo;s Michal Haratyk is also over 22 metres this year (22.17m) and Brazil&rsquo;s Darlan Romani, an unlucky fourth in Doha with 22.53m, should not be forgotten.&nbsp;Payton Otterdahl completes the US team, having thrown a PB of&nbsp;21.92m to finish third at the trials.
Joining Walsh on the New Zealand team is multiple age-group champion Jacko Gill, who&nbsp;continues to improve as a senior.&nbsp;This year he has beaten Walsh on three occasions and set a PB of 21.55m. Armin Sinancevic is another in personal best form, having thrown a Serbian record of 21.88m to finish third&nbsp;at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha and he was also second in Florence two weeks later with 21.60m.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's shot put</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=SP&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/shot-put" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/shot-put/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/shot-put/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/shot-put/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/shot-put" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Valerie Adams first appeared on the Olympic stage in Athens in 2004 where, still two months shy of her 20th birthday, she finished seventh at that historic competition at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games. Seventeen years, two Olympic gold and eight world indoor and outdoor titles later, Adams remains a shot put force, and will arrive at her fifth Olympic Games as a solid medal contender, if not a threat for an unprecedented third title.
With her two gold medals and silver from Rio, Adams is already the most successful Olympic shot putter of all-time. And recent form shows she's rounding into shape to collect more. Bedeviled by a spate of injuries over the past six years, the 36-year-old mother of two has weathered pandemic restrictions and cancellations well in 2021, throwing 19.65m in February, her best throw since 2016. She then improved her season's best to 19.75m in July - only four others have thrown farther this year. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f84803837b6dfa2fd49ac3.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="696" />
 One of those is Gong Lijiao, who has tried her best to succeed Adams as the best women's shot putter of the 2000s. In that respect she's performed admirably, taking Olympic silver and bronze in 2012 and 2008 and back-to-back world titles in 2017 and 2019 after silver in 2015 and bronze two years earlier. She's also pieced together a pair of 17-meet unbeaten streaks since March 2018 and topped the world lists in three of the last four seasons.
Gong will also arrive in Tokyo in arguably the best form of her life. She's thrown beyond 20 metres twice in her seven competitions in 2021, topped by a 20.39m effort in Chongqing on 27 July, the second best throw of her career - just four centimetres shy of her lifetime best set in 2016.
Just one other woman has breached the 20-metre line thus far in 2021 - Jessica Ramsey, whose gargantuan 20.12m toss to secure the US Olympic Trials victory added 62 centimetres to her previous best, and nearly a metre to her previous best outdoors. She'll be out to prove that her performance in Eugene wasn't a one-off.
Her teammate Raven Saunders, who was second at the trials with a 19.96m lifetime best, has shown slightly better consistency this year and arrives with big meet experience having finished fifth in Rio so also looks to be a medal prospect.
Portugal's Auriol Dongmo has been even more consistent since her breakthrough to the global elite in 2020. The 30-year-old emerged last year after improving to 19.53m and, after an unbeaten indoor campaign which included a triumph at the European Indoor Championships, Dongmo has improved to 19.75m, consistency that also suggests solid medal ambitions.
All that said, a dearth of international competitive opportunities this year leaves the event cloaked in a thin veil of mystery as the Tokyo showdown approaches, lending the possibility that any of the handful of 19-metre throwers in the field could also figure in the medal chase.
Aliona Dubitskaya of Belarus has competed just four times this outdoor season, but has improved to 19.65m. Danniel Thomas-Dodd of Jamaica, silver medallist at the 2019 World Championships and the Pan-American Games champion earlier that year, will arrive with a 19.26m season's best. Fanny Roos improved the Swedish record to 19.34m in mid-June, her third foray into 19 metre-plus territory this year, while Gong's teammate, Song Jiayuan, has improved to 19.32m.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's shot put.

Tokyo Olympics preview: shot put

<h2>Women's discus</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=DT&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/discus-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/discus-throw/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/discus-throw/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/discus-throw/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/discus-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Sandra Perkovic is chasing a three-peat.
The Croatian discus star is vying for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal, although she faces a loaded field in Tokyo including world champion Yaime Perez of Cuba and 21-year-old world leader Jorinde Van Klinken of the Netherlands.
Perkovic, a two-time world champion and five-time European gold medallist, became only the second woman ever to win back-to-back discus golds at the Olympics with her victories in London in 2012 and Rio in 2016. Now, the 31-year-old has a chance to become the first to win three straight.
"I want to be remembered as the best female discus athlete ever," Perkovic said.
Five years ago in Rio, Perkovic fouled on five of her six throws during the final but still won by more than two metres with her one valid throw of 69.21m. She cracked the 70-metre barrier to win gold at the 2017 World Athletics Championships in London with 70.31m but settled for bronze in Doha in 2019 with 66.72m.
Back from injury, Perkovic re-established herself as a contender for gold in Tokyo by securing her 43rd Diamond League win (and first in almost two years) in Florence in June with a throw of 68.31m, third best in the world this year.
Coached by her boyfriend and 2002 world U20 shot put champion Edis Elkasevic, Perkovic has said she hopes to compete in five Olympics, matching the number of Olympic rings. That would see her also in action in Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.
But first comes Tokyo and a crop of challengers seeking to topple her from her Olympic throne. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/d432ab72-a9c3-4277-91ed-14925e3850f1.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="663" />
 Van Klinken stunned the sport by unleashing a throw of 70.22m at the USATF Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona, in May. It was the longest throw of the past three years, obliterating the Dutch record and adding about nine metres to her best mark before this year. After her 70.22m, her next best is the 65.94m she threw two days earlier, also in Tucson.
"The distance is so surreal to me and it being the No.1 mark in the world in the Olympic year," Van Klinken said after her stunning performance. "It's crazy to be at the top of the world list, unbelievable.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Van Klinken and Perkovic are the only two European throwers to surpass the 70-metre mark this century.
The Dutchwoman, the NCAA champion from Arizona State University, failed to make the discus final in Doha. She also competes in shot put and would like to participate in both events at future Olympics.
"Going to the Olympics and throwing 70 (feet) are two of my biggest goals," said Van Klinken, . "I've always said I wanted to win medals in shot put and discus so that would be my next goal.&rdquo;
Also in contention should be US champion Valarie Allman, the only other athlete who has thrown beyond 70 metres this year. The 26-year-old produced a throw of 70.01m at the US Olympic Trials in June in Eugene, Oregon. That was just short of the US record of 70.15m she set last August.
"There have been several [athletes] who have absolutely dominated for years," said Allman, who finished seventh in Doha. "And I've gone from viewing them as my idols to now trying to figure out how to view them as my rivals.&rdquo;
That includes Perez, the Cuban who took gold in Doha with a throw of 69.17m and recorded a season's best of 68.99m in May in Havana. Cuban teammate and Olympic bronze medallist Denia Caballero should also be in the mix for medals in Tokyo, while two-time Jamaican champion Shadae Lawrence, who posted a national record of 67.05m in Tucson, should not be counted out.
Tokyo will be a sixth Olympic Games for France's Melina Robert-Michon, who won her first global medal at the age of 34 when she claimed silver at the 2013 World Championships. Olympic silver in Rio followed, thanks to her French record of 66.73m, and she picked up another medal in 2017, taking bronze at the World Championships in London.
Meanwhile, making her Olympic debut is Germany's 2019 world finalist Kristin Pudenz, who has improved to&nbsp;66.31m this year.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<h2>Men's discus</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=DT&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/discus-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/discus-throw/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/discus-throw/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/discus-throw/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/discus-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Much has changed on the men's discus scene since the last Olympic Games.
Sweden's Daniel Stahl, who didn't even reach the final in 2016, has since emerged as the world's dominant discus thrower, capturing silver at the World Athletics Championships in 2017 and gold two years later. He's ended the season as world leader each year since 2016, lost just twice in 19 competitions in 2020 and just once in 13 competitions this year.
He'll arrive in Tokyo as the world leader at 71.40m and with three of the four farthest throws of the year.
His leading challengers?
Slovenia's Kristjan Ceh is a rapidly rising star in the event who, at just 22, is already a member of the 70-metre club after a 70.35m blast in Kuortane, Finland, in late June, landing him second on the world list heading into Tokyo. But the two-time European U23 champion hasn't yet managed to find a way to beat Stahl in their nine meetings. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60eae3033368bde567530309.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 In recent years, few have.
Andrius Gudzius, the 2017 world champion, has fared best, sitting on the losing side of a 26-18 head-to-head tally against the Swede. The last time Gudzius emerged victorious was at the ISTAF meeting in Berlin last September. Gudzius, who unleashed his 69.59m career best in 2018, has a 68.62m best effort from this season.
Simon Pettersson, the No.2 Swede, and Austria's Lukas Weishaidinger, are this year's other two 69 metre-plus throwers and arrive with realistic podium ambitions. Pettersson, 27, reached a lifetime best of 69.48m in May while the 29-year-old Weishaidinger, the world bronze medallist, improved his national record to 69.04m in June.
Likewise, Jamaican strongman Fedrick Dacres, the world silver medallist two years ago, is fully capable of stealing a podium spot. The 27-year-old broke the 70-metre barrier in 2019 with 70.78m but has competed less often than most of the other top throwers over the past two seasons. In his last outing, he finished third in Szekesfehervar against a strong field.
Other prospective medallists include top US thrower Reggie Jagers (67.82m SB) and Alex Rose (67.48m PB, SB), who is looking to become the first Samoan athlete to reach an Olympic final.
Meanwhile, Christoph Harting, who succeeded older brother Robert as Olympic champion five years ago &ndash; a first in Olympic annals &ndash; has only been named to the German team as an alternate. 2015 world champion Piotr Malachowski, whose silver in Rio was his second in Olympic competition, will be the second oldest entrant in the competition, aged 38. He has a 2021 best of 64.67m that marks his 18th consecutive season with a throw of 64 metres or better. That won't land the Pole in the medal hunt but Daniel Jasinski's 67.47m career best from late May might. That throw was 42 centimetres better than the one that bagged the German a surprise bronze in Rio.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's discus.

Tokyo Olympics preview: discus

<h2>Men's hammer</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;countryCode=&amp;disciplineCode=HT&amp;sexCode=M&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/men/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/hammer-throw/men?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/men/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/men/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Could this finally be Pawel Fajdek&rsquo;s moment?
The Pole has been the best performer in the men&rsquo;s hammer over the past decade, during which time he has won four world titles and produced 62 80-metre throws. But when it comes to the Olympic Games, Fajdek hasn&rsquo;t had the best of luck.
He headed to London in 2012 as the third-best thrower in the world, but didn&rsquo;t record a valid throw in the qualifying round. In Rio four years later, he struggled in qualifying once more and registered a best of just 72.00m, which wasn&rsquo;t enough to advance.
If he can conquer those demons in Tokyo, he will be among the favourites for gold.
Although his lifetime best of 83.93m, a Polish record, was set back in 2015, the 32-year-old continues to churn out big throws and has bettered 82 metres four times this year, topped by his world-leading 82.98m in May.
His 2021 record isn&rsquo;t without blemish, though, and in a couple of outings this year he has registered five fouls in his competition series.
While he might not need a huge throw to make it through qualifying, Fajdek will need to be close to his best in the final if he hopes to claim his first Olympic gold, because USA&rsquo;s Rudy Winkler heads to the Japanese capital in sensational form. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60f817282043744dc64297d1.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 The world finalist broke the 80-metre barrier for the first time just last year, but has backed up that form with consistent big throws. He won at the US Olympic Trials with a North American record of 82.71m, producing a series with five 80-metre throws. He commented afterwards how the competition felt almost effortless, suggesting there&rsquo;s more to come.
In recent years, Fajdek has had to look no farther than his home country for top-level opposition. Poland&rsquo;s Wojciech Nowicki beat Fajdek to the European title in 2018 and has earned bronze medals at the past three World Championships.
He also claimed bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games, but will be keen to shake off his reputation as a perennial third-place finisher. A season&rsquo;s best of 81.36m in his final pre-Tokyo competition suggests he&rsquo;s rounding into form at the right time.
Ukrainian youngster Mykhaylo Kokhan, an age-group star over the past few years, finished fifth at the World Championships in Doha and has continued to improve. He beat Fajdek and Nowicki at the recent Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar, throwing a PB of 80.78m &ndash; the best ever throw by a 20-year-old. He may throw farther in Tokyo, though, as he has a knack of producing PBs in major championship finals.
Since taking world silver in 2019, France&rsquo;s Quentin Bigot has also improved. He set a PB of 78.99m at the start of the year and then threw 79.70m in Turku last month.
World and European bronze medallist Bence Halasz is also one to watch. The Hungarian threw a season&rsquo;s best of 78.12m in his last competition before heading to Tokyo.
Others to look out for include USA&rsquo;s Daniel Haugh, who has set five PBs this year, 2017 world silver medallist Valeriy Pronkin, Mexican record-holder Diego Del Real who finished fourth in Rio five years ago, Chilean record-holder Humberto Mansilla, Slovakia&rsquo;s Marcel Lomnicky and British champion Taylor Campbell.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
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<h2>Women's hammer</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&amp;disciplineCode=HT&amp;sexCode=W&amp;urlSlug=the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entries</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxii-olympic-games-athletics-7132391/timetable/bydiscipline/women/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/hammer-throw/women?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;rankDate=2021-07-13&amp;limitByCountry=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/women/senior/2021?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/throws/hammer-throw/outdoor/women/senior?regionType=world&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true&amp;firstDay=1900-01-01&amp;lastDay=2021-07-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/throws/hammer-throw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
For a long time, the hammer-throwing world was at Anita Wlodarczyk&rsquo;s feet.
Arguably the most dominant athlete of her generation, the Pole won back-to-back Olympic titles in 2012 and 2016, notched up four world and European golds, and set six world records, becoming the first woman to throw beyond 80 metres. In fact, up until a few weeks ago, she remained the only woman to have ever produced an 80-metre throw.
But her incredible run of form was forced to grind to a halt in 2019 when she underwent knee surgery, meaning she was unable to contend for a fifth world title in Doha.
The postponement of the Olympic Games meant she was able to take her time with rehab, and she returned to competition earlier this year with an encouraging 73.87m in her first outing. But things really started to click at the Szewinska Memorial in Bydgoszcz in late June where Wlodarczyk won with a season&rsquo;s best of 77.93m, giving the Pole a clear sign that she could be competitive once more in Tokyo. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/f039dfc4-4c88-4af7-b3a8-bff0eec6d5ee.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" />
 But since Wlodarczyk&rsquo;s hiatus, another woman has emerged as the No.1 hammer thrower in the world.
USA&rsquo;s DeAnna Price extended her own North American record to 78.24m in 2019, then went on to win the world title in Doha. The 28-year-old&rsquo;s progression has continued this year, too, with an 78.60m heave in April and, more recently, an 80.31m victory at the US Trials to become just the second woman in history to break the 80-metre barrier.
Although she suffered a couple of losses during the early season, Price is clearly hitting top form at the right time and so will head to Tokyo as the gold medal favourite. And just as she became the first US woman to win a world hammer title in Doha, she could similarly break new ground in Tokyo by becoming the first US woman to win an Olympic hammer title.
In fact, the USA is perhaps the strongest nation in the world at the moment in the women&rsquo;s hammer. Brooke Andersen, who threw 78.18m earlier this year, and Pan-American champion Gwen Berry, a 77.78m performer at her best, make up a formidable trio.
There are many other women capable of throwing in the region of 75 metres, which is typically where medals are won.
Malwina Kopron, the 2017 world bronze medallist, won the Polish title with a season&rsquo;s best of 75.42m and has backed that up with marks of 75.41m, 75.40m and 75.28m.
Alexandra Tavernier, the world bronze medallist in 2015, has been similarly consistent around 75 metres and extended her own French record to 75.38m earlier this year.
No African athlete has ever won an Olympic medal in the hammer, men&rsquo;s or women&rsquo;s, but Nigeria&rsquo;s Annette Echikunwoke could end that drought. The 24-year-old, who hadn&rsquo;t broken 70 metres before this year, set an African record of 75.49m in May.
New Zealand&rsquo;s Lauren Bruce has made a similarly big breakthrough over the past year. She set an Oceanian record of 73.47m last September and improved it to 74.61m two months ago.
China&rsquo;s Wang Zheng, another continental record-holder, has competed sparingly this year and heads to Tokyo with a season&rsquo;s best of 73.55m, but the three-time world medallist can never be discounted.
Others to keep an eye on include Canada&rsquo;s NCAA champion Camryn Rogers, world silver medallist Joanna Fiodorow of Poland, Venezuela&rsquo;s Rosa Rodriguez, New Zealand&rsquo;s Julia Ratcliffe and 18-year-old world U20 record-holder Silja Kosonen of Finland.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the women's and men's hammer.

Tokyo Olympics preview: hammer

Brisbane is to stage the Olympic Games in 2032.
The announcement was made following the 138th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Tokyo on Wednesday (21), where IOC Members voted to elect the Australian city as host of the Games of the XXXV Olympiad.
The Session heard presentations by Brisbane 2032, including by video link-up from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, as well as a final report from Kristin Kloster, Chair of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad &ndash; the IOC body responsible for monitoring and analysing interest in hosting the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games.&nbsp;
Brisbane received 72 yes and 5 no votes from 77 valid votes.
Before the vote, IOC Members were able to pose questions to Kloster about the election process, and to Brisbane 2032 about their proposal to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Brisbane and South-East Queensland.&nbsp;
IOC President Thomas Bach said: &ldquo;We encourage Olympic Games projects which are sustainable and economically responsible, which deliver the best possible Games experience for athletes and fans, and which leave solid legacies for local communities.
&ldquo;The Brisbane 2032 vision and Games plan fit into long-term regional and national strategies for social and economic development in Queensland and Australia, and complement the goals for the Olympic Movement outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020 and 2020+5, while focusing on providing memorable sports experiences for athletes and fans.
&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s vote is a vote of trust that Brisbane and Queensland will stage magnificent Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032. We have heard a lot of positive feedback from IOC Members and International Federations in the past few months.&rdquo;
After Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000, it will be the third time that the Olympic Games will be held in Australia.
Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Scott Morrison MP, said: &ldquo;The 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Queensland will forge an enduring legacy for our entire nation. They will support economic growth and investment, deliver lasting community benefits and inspire the next generation of Australian athletes.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am proud of Australia, proud of Queensland and proud of our team that secured this win for our country.
&ldquo;The Commonwealth Government has supported Brisbane&rsquo;s candidacy for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games right from the very start. We believe in this bid.&nbsp;
&ldquo;We know it&rsquo;s a huge opportunity for our nation, just like the Melbourne Games in 1956 and the Sydney Olympics in 2000.&rdquo;
IOC

After Melbourne in 1956 and Sydney in 2000, it will be the third time that the Olympic Games will be held in Australia.

Brisbane to host 2032 Olympic Games

<h3 style="text-align: center;">Kelsey-Lee Barber (AUS)</h3>
World javelin champion, 2018 Commonwealth silver medallist and 2014 Commonwealth bronze medallist
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Going back to my very first memory of watching the javelin at a state level meet, there was something immediately captivating about the event. I was aged 14 or 15 at the time and I liked the fact that a javelin thrower is not confined to a circle. There was an energy about using a runway, followed by the snap of the javelin and the way the javelin floated in the air.&nbsp;
I initially dabbled in the event, but it was from the age of 17 when I fell in love with javelin. I felt the event fitted me and I fitted the event. When I delivered the javelin, I felt an element of ease. I knew the event was going to work for me. In other athletics events, I had to work hard to achieve average results but the javelin felt more natural.
Over time, my passion for the event has evolved. I love the combination of power, strength, speed and skill that is necessary to be able to throw the javelin a long way.&nbsp;&nbsp;
When all is going well, each throw feels effortless. The timing comes together and you feel the spear snap off the fingers, the energy flows through the shaft and the javelin flies. Of course, not every day is a good day. On the bad days the event is really tough. Your timing may be off by a fraction of a second and you have to work hard to piece it altogether. But that is what I appreciate about javelin, it is such a humbling event. It is a technical event which is not just based on raw power but a certain finesse and beauty &ndash; like all the throws.
My manager explains it perfectly by describing javelin as like a &ldquo;relaxed explosion&rdquo;. In some ways that moment of release is a bit like a car crash, but it is important to remain relaxed. It is like being in a peaceful state in a moment of chaos.
I like challenging the body to do something that I&rsquo;ve never done before. I love that feeling in a competition of standing at the end of the runway, of feeling free. There is something really rewarding about every day working hard and being asked to bring my very best out in competition.
Steve Landells for World Athletics

There was something immediately captivating about the javelin.

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