Sports fans in Africa are turning their attention to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, which will host the World Athletics Championships.
In the last edition of this tournament, which was held in the US state of Oregon, Ethiopia, and Kenya finished second and fourth in the medal table. Other African countries ranked behind.
A total of 28 medals went to just seven countries, with Nigeria, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco all competing for at least one gold medal.
And with the IAAF World Athletics Championships kicking off on Saturday 19 August, can the African continent improve its performance and position in the medal table?
Hold on to the dream
Of all the African athletes competing in Budapest, few are so desperate to defend the gold medal. And at the head of these comes the Kenyan Faith Kibigon, who is considered by many to be the greatest runner in history in the 1,500-meter race.
In the last five world championships or Olympic Games, Kipyegon has escaped only one gold, and that was at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, which was held just 15 months after Kipyegon gave birth to her daughter.
In addition to her titles in two Olympics and two world championships, the 29-year-old Kenyan broke the record for the 1,500-meter races last June. Barely a week later, Kipyegon surprised many by breaking the 5,000m world record - in her third competition over the distance.
And after the Kenyan Kibigon, in the 1500-meter race in Oregon last year, the Ethiopian Godaf Tsegay appeared.
But Tsegai had turned the silver into gold after five days; If she was able to secure her biggest achievements in the 5000-meter race.
Tsegai, 26, says she is now focusing on the longer-distance race.I would like to win the world championships in athletics again," Tsegay told the BBC recently.
There is no doubt that the Ethiopian Leticenbet Gedi, the world champion in the 10,000-meter race, will compete strongly for the title again in Budapest.
Likewise, Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali aspires to preserve a title he won in Oregon.
Al-Baqali, 27, considers himself "the king of steeplechase".
Ethiopia's Lamesha Girma had to be content with silver medals in both races won by El-Baqali.
However, the 22-year-old Ethiopian runner Girma revealed himself in Paris by breaking a record in the steeplechase races that had not been broken for 19 years.
Also, the 20-year-old Kenyan Simon Koech is a promising star in the 3000-meter hurdles races.
Koech was able to finish in third place, after Girma and El Bakkali.
In the men's 10,000-meter races, Ugandan runner Joshua Kiptegi is competing for his third consecutive world title.
And if he succeeds, the 26-year-old Kiptegi will come close to the achievement of the two Ethiopian legends, Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, who won the title four times in a row.
Ugandan Kiptigi’s path to glory almost became easier after the injury of his 22-year-old compatriot Jacob Kiplimo, had it not been for the participation of the Ethiopians Bereho Aregawi and Salmon Parega – the fastest in the world so far this season.
To participate
Athletes spend months, if not years, preparing to participate in major tournaments, and from here it is not difficult to understand the secret of the anger of some of these athletes when they are prevented from participating due to problems related to issuing travel visas, similar to what happened to some in the World Games Championships The last powers held in the US state of Oregon.
Among them: was Kenyan runner Ferdinand Umaniyala, who had difficulty entering the United States during the Corona epidemic; The 100-meter champion did not obtain his entry visa until one day before he participated in his first race in the championship.
Omañala arrived in the US only three hours before the start of the race, while he still had to clear customs and all that. Accordingly, the Kenyan runner had little time to prepare mentally and physically for the race.
However, the 27-year-old Kenyan managed to reach the semi-finals. But there is no doubt that he will aspire to achieve a greater achievement in Budapest, as well as South African Akane Sembene, who achieved fifth place in the final of the 100 meters in Oregon.
And in Botswana, there is a rising star who has won the U-20 World Championship twice, in the form of sprinter Letsil Tebogo.
Thibogo was able to reach the semi-finals last year in the 100-meter race.
Tibogo is the youngest winner of the 200-meter title in Africa.
Like Thibogo, Liberian runner Joseph Van Bola will compete in the 200m in Budapest.
And from South Africa, expectations point to the runner, Wade Van Niekerk, who could steal the spotlight in the 400-meter race, in which he already holds the record.
Nekrek became the fourth fastest sprinter in the world this year, but he is still behind Zambian champion Mozala Samukunga, who is second on this list, and who is participating in the championship.
In women's sprint races, Ivorian runner Marie-José Ta Lou aspires to maintain her level.
And in 2021, the Ivorian set a new African record in the 100-meter race.
Last year, Marie-Josée Ta Lou achieved seventh place in the final, which was crowned by Jamaican Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Despite being 34 years old, the Ivorian can draw inspiration from the experience of her Jamaican counterpart, Fraser-Pryce, who won her fifth world title at the age of 35.
Dart to golden
And in Burkina Faso, the greatest athlete in the country's history, triple jumper Aug Fabrice Zangou, won the silver medal last year, having won the bronze in 2019.
No other athlete from Burkina Faso has ever won a medal at the World Championships.
Having claimed his country's first Olympic medal at the Tokyo Games, Zango is now eyeing gold.
Also in Burkina Faso, there is Marty Koala, the long jump champion and the tenth-longest jumper in the world this year.
Koala may have been far away from the gold medal, but her participation indicates her country's interest in the long jump.
And in Nigeria, there's Toby Amusan, 26, who won her country's first world gold medal in Oregon in the 100-meter hurdles, in which she broke a world record.
Also from Nigeria is Essie Prome, who won the long jump silver in Oregon and previously claimed bronze at the Tokyo Olympics and the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha 2019.
And in the absence of her German competitor, Malaika Mihambo, after a thigh injury, Esi Brom's chances of getting gold in Budapest increase.
And if the Nigerian managed to snatch the gold, then she would be the first African to ever win this world title.
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