Picking World Championships podium people in January—when a crystal ball sometimes looks more like a snow globe—is always risky business, but it’s ultra-risky when you do it for a year in which the WC is set to roll around on its latest dates ever, September 28–October 06. We assigned the unenviable task to a pair from our World Rankings Panel, Richard Hymans doing the men, Jonathan Berenbom the women. Note that we didn’t include either athletes under provisional doping bans or Russians who have yet to be granted Neutral status by the IAAF. If the IAAF’s proposed testosterone rules finally get the green light, that too could change things.
Overall, the choices add up to a solid 28-medal haul (14 men, 14 women) for Team USA, 11 of them gold (5 men, 6 women). Last time around, London ’17, the U.S. total was 24 medals, split 13/17, with 10 golds (3 men, 7 women).
| MEN’S MEDAL PICKS | |||
| GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | |
| 100 | Christian Coleman (USA) | Ronnie Baker (USA) | Reece Prescod (Great Britain) |
| 200 | Noah Lyles (USA) | Ramil Guliyev (Turkey) | Akeem Bloomfield (Jamaica) |
| 400 | Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa) | Michael Norman (USA) | Abdalelah Haroun (Qatar) |
| 800 | Emmanuel Korir (Kenya) | Clayton Murphy (USA) | Michael Saruni (Kenya) |
| 1500 | Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya) | Elijah Manangoi (Kenya) | Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) |
| Steeple | Conseslus Kipruto (Kenya) | Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco) | Evan Jager (USA) |
| 5000 | Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) | Yomif Kejelcha (Ethiopia) | Hagos Gebrhiwet (Ethiopia) |
| 10,000 | Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) | Rhonex Kipruto (Kenya) | Richard Yator (Kenya) |
| 110H | Sergey Shubenkov (Russia) | Omar McLeod (Jamaica) | Ronald Levy (Jamaica) |
| 400H | Abderrahmane Samba (Qatar) | Rai Benjamin (USA) | Karsten Warholm (Norway) |
| Mar | Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) | Leul Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) | Tamirat Tola (Ethiopia) |
| 20W | Eiki Takahashi (Japan) | Eider Arévalo (Colombia) | Daisuke Matsunaga (Japan) |
| 50W | Matej Tóth (Slovakia) | Maryan Zakalnytskyy (Ukraine) | Hiroki Arai (Japan) |
| 4 x 100 | United States | Great Britain | Jamaica |
| 4 x 400 | United States | Botswana | Bahamas |
| HJ | Mutaz Barshim (Qatar) | Brandon Starc (Australia) | Maksim Nedasekau (Belarus) |
| PV | Timor Morgunov (Russia) | Sam Kendricks (USA) | Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) |
| LJ | Juan Miguel Echevarría (Cuba) | Luvo Manyonga (South Africa) | Ruswahl Samaai (South Africa) |
| TJ | Christian Taylor (USA) | Pedro Pichardo (Portugal) | Will Claye (USA) |
| SP | Tom Walsh (New Zealand) | Ryan Crouser (USA) | Darrell Hill (USA) |
| DT | Andrius Gudžius (Lithuania) | Fedrick Dacres (Jamaica) | Ehsan Hadadi (Iran) |
| HT | Paweł Fajdek (Poland) | Wojciech Nowicki (Poland) | Bence Halász (Hungary) |
| JT | Thomas Röhler (Germany) | Magnus Kirt (Estonia) | Andreas Hofmann (Germany) |
| Dec | Kevin Mayer (France) | Damian Warner (Canada) | Arthur Abele (Germany) |
| WOMEN’S MEDAL PICKS | |||
| GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | |
| 100 | Elaine Thompson (Jamaica) | Marie-Josée Ta Lou (Côte d’Ivoire) | Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) |
| 200 | Dina Asher-Smith (Great Britain) | Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas) | Dafne Schippers (Netherlands) |
| 400 | Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas) | Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain) | Phyllis Francis (USA) |
| 800 | Caster Semenya (South Africa) | Francine Niyonsaba (Burundi) | Ajee’ Wilson (USA) |
| 1500 | Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) | Shelby Houlihan (USA) | Laura Muir (Great Britain) |
| Steeple | Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya) | Hyvin Jepkemoi (Kenya) | Celliphine Chespol (Kenya) |
| 5000 | Hellen Obiri (Kenya) | Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) | Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) |
| 10,000 | Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) | Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) | Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia) |
| 100H | Brianna McNeal (USA) | Keni Harrison (USA) | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico) |
| 400H | Sydney McLaughlin (USA) | Dalilah Muhammad (USA) | Shamier Little (USA) |
| Mar | Mary Keitany (Kenya) | Vivian Cheruiyot (Kenya) | Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) |
| 20W | Jiayu Yang (China) | Shenjie Qieyang (China) | Antonella Palmisano (Italy) |
| 50W | Rui Liang (China) | Hang Yin (China) | Claire Tallent (Australia) |
| 4 x 100 | United States | Jamaica | Great Britain |
| 4 x 400 | United States | Jamaica | Poland |
| HJ | Mariya Lasitskene (Russia) | Yuliya Levchenko (Ukraine) | Mirela Demireva (Bulgaria) |
| PV | Sandi Morris (USA) | Katerína Stefanídi (Greece) | Eliza McCartney (New Zealand) |
| LJ | Brittney Reese (USA) | Ivana Španović (Serbia) | Malaika Mihambo (Germany) |
| TJ | Caterine Ibargüen (Colombia) | Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) | Shanieka Ricketts (Jamaica) |
| SP | Lijiao Gong (China) | Christina Schwanitz (Germany) | Raven Saunders (USA) |
| DT | Sandra Perković (Croatia) | Yaimé Pérez (Cuba) | Dani Stevens (Australia) |
| HT | Anita Włodarczyk (Poland) | DeAnna Price (USA) | Joanna Fiodorow (Poland) |
| JT | Huihui Lu (China) | Barbora Špotáková (Czech Republic) | Christin Hussong (Germany) |
| Hept | Nafi Thiam (Belgium) | Carolin Schäfer (Germany) | Yorgelis Rodríguez (Cuba) |