IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2019-DOHA – Men’s Analysis

As the IAAF World Championship gets closer day by day we collected and analyzed data to track the past performance and current progress of individual athletes with a view to applying statistical probability to predict the future wave of stars who will supplant today’s legends in each event and field – whether they will emerge from the crop of youthful Diamond League/World Relay contenders, defending champions from the class of 2017 or 2019 or from among upset-creating outsiders.

The sphere of track and field has gone through a period of immense change in terms of its iconic athletes or superstars during the last three years, with the names of favourite heroes being replaced by unfamiliar new ones … The sprints will be missing the greatest speedster of all time, Usain Bolt who took the sport to a different level and dominated it throughout the last decade before calling it a day with a last hurrah in the 2017 World Championships. The 400m Olympic champion and world record holder Wayde van Niekerk won’t feature in this year’s WC either due to injury, while distance running great Sir Mo Farah has already retired from the track and age also seems to be catching up with the world’s fastest man since 2107, 37-year old Justin Gatlin.

Several young guns have come forward to dominate world athletics during last two years, with the likes of Noah Lyles and Michael Norman leading the pack in the 200m and 400m events, Juan Miguel Echevarría leaping to mind in the long jump and 400m hurdlers Abderrahman Samba and Rai Benjamin being on top of their game; but all of these rising stars are still searching for their maiden world championship title.

Meanwhile, several current champions too have maintained peak performance that is equal to fending off challenges from younger athletes. Top-caliber veterans such as Christian Taylor, Sam Kendricks, Tomas Walsh, Omar McLeod, Karsten Warholm and Johannes Vetter are still formidable frontrunners and will be aiming to retain their titles against all comers for the foreseeable future, while 100m silver medalist from London, Christian Coleman is turbo-charged to assume the mantle of the world’s fastest man in 2019.

We will also undoubtedly see Eliud Kipchoge, who is fresh from his record shattering run in London earlier this year and in red-hot form, going for his second world title in the marathon.

So who will climb to the top of the charts in Doha this year? Will it be the Diamond League champion, the defending champion, a world leader in 2018 or 2019 or a shock winner – a fresh new name in the game? Go through the following stats, pick the one you predict will win and keep your fingers cross for a few more days.