Wayde van Niekerk, Faith Kipyegon, Joshua Cheptegei, Tobi Amusan: African stars to watch at World Athletics Championships 2022

We take a look at the African stars in action at the 2022 Track and Field World Championships in Eugene. 

9 minBy Evelyn Watta
Africa Stars at Oregon

From double Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon to a fit and ready world record holder Wayde van Niekerk, and a charged-up Tobi Amusan looking to put Nigeria back on the map in the women’s 100m hurdles:

Here is a selection of the brightest African athletics stars aiming for glory during the 15-24 July World Athletics Championships.

READ MORE: Here's a look at the daily schedule and highlights in Eugene

Faith Kipyegon - 1500m, Kenya

Since becoming one of only three athletes to retain her Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, Faith Kipyegon has been unbeaten in the 1500m.

The 28-year-old returned to the track after a 21-month maternity break bagging silver at the 2019 World Championships in Doha to add to her silver from 2015 and gold from London 2017.

Kipyegon, whose career began as a blossoming teen winning double world cross country titles, wants to make more history as the only Kenyan woman to clinch back-to-back 1500m world golds.

She was the first woman and only the second athlete to claim consecutive Olympic 1500m titles after Sebastien Coe in 1980 and 1984, and now wants to join the exclusive club of only four women with two world titles in the event: Hassiba Boulmerka (Algeria), Tatyana Tomashova (Russia) and Maryam Yusuf Jamal.

Kipyegon's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 15 July 18:10 - 1500m heats, 16 July 19:05 - 1500m semi-final, 18 July 19:50 - 1500m final.

Wayde van Niekerk - 400m, South Africa

With Caster Semenya missing yet another World Championship, Wayde van Niekerk carries South Africa’s hopes for track and field success.

The Rio 2016 Olympic champion and 400m world record holder has struggled since picking up a knee injury in October 2019, but he is back to winning ways and topped his first 400m race of the season at the Stars and Stripes Classic meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 July in 44.58 seconds.

After defending his world title in 2017 where he also won 200m gold, he missed the 2019 Worlds and bowed out in the semi-final at Tokyo 2020.

Despite not having raced much this year, a fit van Niekerk is a clear favourite for the podium at his fourth World Championships.

Van Niekerk's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 17 July 11:05 - 400m heats, 20 July 19:15 - 400m semi-final, 22 July 1935 - 400m final.

Joshua Cheptegei - 5000m, 10,000m, Uganda

Following his silver at the 2017 World Championships in London, Joshua Cheptegei has been a model in consistency, making the podium at each major event he contested.

In a season disrupted by the pandemic, last year saw the 2019 world cross country champion enter the history books on numerous occasions. He broke two long-standing distance track world records, before then clinching silver and gold at the Tokyo Olympics to become one of the most successful Ugandan track and field athletes of all time.

Cheptegei is now eyeing double gold at Hayward Field, on the same track that launched him to new heights as a junior in 2014.

Cheptegei's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 16 July 13:00 - 10,000m finals, 21 July 18:10 - 5000m heats, 24 July 18:05 - 5000m final.

READ MORE: Joshua Cheptegei: Six things you didn't know

Selemon Barega - 5000m, 10,000m, Ethiopia

Selemon Barega is the reigning Olympic 10,000m champion and has been in excellent form since ending Ethiopia’s 10-year wait for an Olympic title in the longest track event.

The fourth Ethiopian to win the Olympic 10,000m title denied Cheptegei a much anticipated double gold in Tokyo.

And now he wants to go one better than the silver he won at Doha 2019.

Targetting the distance double, Barega has the difficult task of reclaiming the 10,000m title that has eluded athletes from Ethiopia since Ibrahim Jeilan won in Daegu in 2011.

Track legends Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele each took the 10,000m title at the World Championships four times.

Barega's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 16 July 13:00 - 10,000m finals, 21 July 18:10 - 5000m heats, 24 July 18:05 - 5000m final.

Marie-Josée Ta-Lou - 100m, 200m, Cote d’Ivoire

Three-time world medallist Marie Josee Ta Lou is never far from the podium at the biennial World Championships or the Olympics.

This will be her fourth World Championships and Ta Lou is again Africa’s biggest hope in the women’s sprint.

Ever since her double silver in the 100m and 200m at London 2017, the six-time African champion has proved to be one of the continent’s best female sprinters.

At both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 she finished fourth missing out on a medal by the smallest of margins.

The 33-year old Ivorian opened her season in May in Los Angeles by winning the 100m and 200m at the Occidental Invitational meeting at the Jack Kemp Stadium. She finished second at the Diamond League in Rabat and was also second when Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce equalled her world lead of 10.67 seconds in Paris on 19 June.

Ta Lou's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 16 July 17:10 - 100m heats, 17 July 17:33 - 100m semi-final, 19:50 -100m final, 18 July 18:00 - 200m heats, 19 July 18:05 - 200m semi-final ,21 July 19:35 -200m final.

READ MORE: Marie-Josée Ta Lou: Five things you should know about Africa’s top sprinting star

Ferdinand Omanyala - 100m, Kenya

Another sprinter to look out for is Ferdinand Omanyala, who has revived Kenya's hopes for a sprint medal at the World Championships.

The East African nation best known for its middle and long-distance runners, has won the second-highest number of gold medals at the championships after Team USA but has never secured a sprint medal.

But after his qualification for the Tokyo Olympics where he reached the semi-finals and his world lead of 9.85 at the 2022 Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, the 26-year-old is happy to carry Africa’s hopes into his first World Championships.

Last month (June) the African record holder won the first continental 100m title for Kenya beating South African star Akani Simbine in a photo finish.

Omanyala's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 15 July 18:50 - 100m heats, 17 July, 18:00 -100m semi-final, 19:50 -100m final

Tobi Amusan - 100m hurdles, Nigeria

Tokyo 2020 Olympian Oluwatobiloba Amusan. also known as Tobi Amusan, has peaked just in time for the World Athletics Championships.

Her winning time of 12.41 seconds at the Diamond League meet in Paris was an African record that shaved 0.01 off her mark from September 2021.

Another season highlight for the 2021 Diamond League champion was when she finished in second place just behind Olympic champion Jasmin Camacho Quinn at the Bauhaus Galan in Stockholm.

Fourth in Tokyo, the 25-year-old U.S.-based hurdler goes to Eugene as the fourth fastest 100m hurdler this season behind leader Kendra Harrison. She is eager to match the success of Nigerian-born Spaniard Gloria Alozie, the silver medallist at the worlds in 1999 and Sydney 2000.

Amusan's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 23 July 11:20 - 100m Hurdles heats, 24 July 17:05 - 100m hurdles semi-final, 19:00 -100m hurdles finals

Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco, 3000m steeplechase

Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali is a solid favourite to end Kenya’s dominance in the steeplechase race.

A Kenyan-born man has won every steeplechase title since 1991, but that could all change at Hayward Field.

El Bakkali produced one of the greatest runs in memory to claim a historic gold for Morocco in Tokyo, and goes to the worlds as one of only two men to have broken eight minutes this season.

He produced an astonishing sprint in the last 100m to beat Olympic silver medallist Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in Rabat on 5 June, and is tipped to pull another surprise win in a race that will also include the defending champion Conseslus Kipruto of Kenya who is targeting a third world title.

Competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 15 July 17:15 - 3000m Steeplechase heats, 18 July 19:20 - 3000m Steeplechase final.

Hugues Fabrice Zango - Triple jump, Burkina Faso

Fresh from retaining the African men's triple jump title, Hugues Fabrice Zango has a chance to better his bronze from Doha 2019 when he competes in Oregon. He is excited for the next challenge, after becoming Burkina Faso’s first-ever Olympic medallist in Tokyo.

With his PhD in electrical engineering nearly wrapped up, he is now focussed on landing his best jump ever when he competes at Hayward Field.

In 2021, the 28-year-old became the first athlete to triple jump over 18m indoors. And inspired by the bronze medals he earned in Doha and Tokyo, he sees the 2022 worlds as a golden opportunity to take his career to new heights.

Zango's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 21 July 18:20 - triple jump qualifications, 23 July 18:00 -triple jump final.

READ MORE: Hugues Fabrice Zango: "I am starting to become famous"

Ese Brume - Long Jump, Nigeria

Nigeria’s Ese Brume is Africa’s brightest hope for a women’s long jump medal.

Last year she bettered a long-standing African record with a leap of 7.17m that erased compatriot Chioma Ajunwa’s 25-year-old mark. Ajunwa is Nigeria's first and only individual Olympic gold medallist, who took the long jump title at Atlanta 1996.

Brume’s best African jump came just two months before she took the bronze medal at Doha 2019.

The three-time African champion, who grew up wanting to be a beauty queen, is only steps away from fulfilling her potential as Africa’s greatest jumping star.

Competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 21 July 12:00 - long jump qualifications, 24 July 17:50 - long jump final.

READ MORE: Nigerian jumper Ese Brume: "I want to make young girls believe all things are possible"

Julius Yego - Javelin, Kenya

Finally, there’s what could be the most unpredictable event at major championships: The men’s javelin.

The last four editions of the men’s javelin throw at the Olympics and World Championships have been won by athletes from four continents.

There has been an Indian Olympic champion, two gold medallists from the Caribbean, European throwers extending their reign and Julius Yego’s stunner at the 2015 World Championship.

The Kenyan, who honed his skills by watching YouTube videos, has struggled since his silver at Rio 2016. But after a morale-boosting win at June’s African championships, he is ready to produce another magical moment at the premier track and field event of the year.

Yego's competition schedule in local time (GMT -8): 21 July 17:05/18:35 - javelin qualification, 23 July 18:35 - javelin throw final.

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