Paris 2024 pointers: What did we learn at the World Athletics Championships?

The 2023 edition of the World Athletics Championships was the best staging yet and gave the sport a timely shot in the arm - pun very much not intended - ahead of the Paris Olympics, writes Tom Harle.

The world’s third-biggest sporting event continues to grow in stature and this was far less a tune-up for the Games than a global platform big enough to launch a new slew of stars.

That it took place the year before the Olympics does give it an extra pinch of pep, however, so here are a few key learnings to throw us into Paris 2024.

This is Noah Lyles’ world

Cameras were everywhere you looked in Budapest as filming continues for the Netflix documentary following the world’s top sprinters, set to launch in 2024 around the Olympics.

The involvement of Box to Box Films, behind Drive to Survive, Full Swing and Break Point, is a boon for the sport and they now have their leading man in Noah Lyles.

Lyles is commercially savvy and takes things personally, keen for a rising tide to lift all boats and to elevate a range of fellow athletes and their stories. He’s also very fast, although not quite as fast as he claims, falling short of his promise to break Usain Bolt’s 200m record.

Still, he is the first man since the great Jamaican to do the sprint double and self-appointed or otherwise, stands as the sport’s figurehead heading into Olympic year.

Jamaica rising

You sense that a strong Jamaica means a strong sport - and they are certainly strong heading into this Olympics.

Tokyo brought no individual medals in field events or distances of 400m or greater, but now podium threats are coming from more places than ever before.

Seasoned hurdlers Danielle Williams and Rushell Clayton reached the rostrum and Antonio Watson broke out for men’s 400m gold.

Wayne Pinnock, Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod finished second, third and fourth in the men’s long jump and teenager Jaydon Hibbert looks to be the future of the men’s triple jump, despite registering no mark in the final.

No Jamaican made the men’s 100m final in Tokyo for the first time at the Games since Sydney 2000 but Oblique Seville is showing plenty of promise, going sub-ten in all three rounds to take fourth.

We can never take for granted Jamaica’s strength in women’s sprints, building a generational rivalry with the USA in those events, but the country’s strength in depth and range is growing at just the right time.

Sacre bleu!

The last time an Olympic host nation didn’t win an athletics medal was Seoul 1988. Based on performances here, there’s a good chance that France follows South Korea and draws a blank on the track.

Their performance in Budapest was so bad that the Sports Minister has already summoned French athletics bosses to a meeting to explain themselves.

Hopes were pinned on decathlete Kevin Mayer, the only French medallist in Eugene, but he withdrew after two events with achilles issues. Mayer, who normally only does one decathlon per annum, must now finish a full event just to qualify for the home Games.

Personal bests at the perfect time for pole vaulter Thibaut Collet and hurdler Sasha Zhoya were rare bright sparks but they can’t be expected to shoulder medal expectation next summer.

The Championships yielded one medal, a surprise silver in the men’s 4x400m on the final night. A spell of soul-searching surely awaits.

Repechage woe

It seems track athletes can finally agree on one thing - that the introduction of repechage rounds for Paris 2024 is a disaster.

Replacing the fastest loser system, Olympians that don’t qualify automatically over distances from 200m to 1500m will enter a repechage, meaning every athlete competing in those events will race at least twice.

No-one in Budapest was mourning the scrapping of little q’s but none of them are keen on another round next summer, with event schedules and European summers brutal enough as it is.

“I don’t know who it’s for, maybe it’s to get more TV time, because I don’t believe any athlete really wants it,” says Jake Wightman, who could have to race four times to match his 2022 world 1500m title with an Olympic one.

“I don’t know if there’s a fair play clause but you could get athletes who just use the heats as a shakeout and don’t take it seriously because they know they’ve got another chance.”

Field of dreams

Field events got next to no hype heading into this Championships. But they delivered some of its most enduring moments, and their integral place in the fabric of the sport must be protected.

The final rounds were electric with Swedish discus thrower Daniel Stahl, Japanese javelin thrower Haruka Kitaguchi and Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou all nailing their final attempts to claim dramatic victories.

That was evidence of their appeal and also the shift in the balance of power away from European nations in field events, with their dominance of the throws in particular set for a rigorous test.

Athletes like Mondo Duplantis, Yulimar Rojas and Ryan Crouser dominate coverage of field events and it would be nice to see that change at the Olympics.

Team GB tracking well

Budapest delivered a clutch of unforgettable moments for British athletes with Katarina Johnson-Thompson regaining her world heptathlon title and Josh Kerr staging a brilliant heist in the men’s 1500m.

The haul of ten medals was Great Britain’s best since Stuttgart 1993, auguring well for a big improvement on Tokyo next year.

They cemented their status as a relay powerhouse with four medals and a fourth place, a brilliant show of baton-wielding strength bettered only by the USA.

Morgan Lake and Molly Caudery came close to breaking onto the podium but a lack of success in field events remains perhaps the only fly in the ointment heading into Paris.