The perfect runners, jumpers and throwers on the earth are all in Eugene, Ore., this week, competing within the observe and area world championships. No less than, most of them. However not all.
Some are injured. Some did not qualify. Some are serving doping bans. Some had visa points. Some are lacking out for a mixture of causes, or for no public motive in any respect.
These are a few of the most notable absences.
Sha’Carri Richardson
Sha’Carri Richardson received the 100-meter race at the US Olympic trials final yr, and seemed to inherit the mantle of subsequent nice American sprinter. However issues have solely gone downhill for her since.
She missed the Olympics final summer season due to a constructive check for marijuana, and has raced solely sparingly prior to now yr. At the US championships final month, she didn’t make it out of the primary spherical of qualifiers. Her try and make it to the world championships within the 200 fell flat, too.
Afterward, she sparred with the assembled information media.
Cole Hocker
In lower than two months final yr, Cole Hocker received the 1,500 on the N.C.A.A. championships, received the identical occasion on the Olympic trials, and completed sixth on the Tokyo Olympics.
The 21-year-old’s scintillating type continued into 2022. He received the 1,500 at the US indoor championships, and skipped the far much less prestigious world indoor championships to deal with the outside championships.
Alas, his plan went awry in his first warmth of the 1,500 at the US championships, when his famed kick let him down within the closing 50 meters. Afterward, his agent stated he had been injured.
Tara Davis
A breakout social media star who completed sixth within the lengthy bounce on the Olympics, Tara Davis was not in a position to compete at the US championships due to a knee damage.
Molly Seidel
Because the bronze medalist within the marathon on the Tokyo Olympics, Molly Seidel was supplied her spot on the earth championships eight months in the past. Since then, nonetheless, her operating has been hampered by accidents. Seidel dropped out in the midst of the Boston Marathon within the spring, and, earlier this month, she stated she had a stress response in her sacrum, a bone on the backside of the backbone.
Seidel was changed within the marathon by Keira D’Amato, who set the American marathon report in Houston earlier this yr. D’Amato positioned eighth on Monday in Oregon and was considered one of three Individuals to complete within the prime 10.
Eliud Kipchoge
The best marathoner ever — he has received 14 of the 16 marathons he has began, together with successful on the final two Olympics — Eliud Kipchoge has made a behavior of skipping the world championships to as an alternative compete within the much more profitable huge metropolis marathons. Kipchoge follows the usual elite marathoner schedule of operating one within the spring and one within the fall, breaking type solely in Olympic years.
He’ll subsequent compete within the Berlin Marathon this September.
Francine Niyonsaba
Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba was probably the greatest 800-meter runners on the earth, successful a silver medal on the 2016 Olympics. However in 2019, it was dominated that Niyonsaba may not compete in mid-distance occasions due to her naturally elevated testosterone ranges.
She has since moved as much as longer distances and completed fifth within the 10,000 on the Tokyo Olympics, however withdrew from the world championships this week after lacking coaching due to a stress fracture.
Raven Saunders
Together with her multicolored hair, masks of the Joker and the Unbelievable Hulk, and oh-by-the-way unbelievable power, Raven Saunders was one of the memorable characters ultimately yr’s Olympics, successful a silver medal within the shot-put.
Saunders was additionally one of many few athletes to mount a protest in Tokyo, elevating her arms in an X whereas accepting her medal, saying later that the gesture was “for oppressed folks.”
Saunders completed solely fourth in qualifying, however she’s going to nonetheless be in Eugene doing media interviews and enjoying fantasy track and field.
Sam Kendricks
The back-to-back world champion within the pole vault, Sam Kendricks was anticipated to be one of many few who may problem the Swedish pole vaulting champion Mondo Duplantis. However Kendricks had knee surgical procedure in early Could and didn’t get well as shortly as anticipated.
Randolph Ross and Lawrence Cherono
Two athletes have been suspended from competitors by the Athletics Integrity Unit — the antidoping arm of the world observe and area federation — on the eve of the world championships.
The American Randolph Ross, who received a gold medal in Tokyo within the 400 relay, was provisionally suspended for what the A.I.U. stated was “conduct through the course of an investigation into a possible whereabouts violation.” A whereabouts violation happens when an athlete isn’t the place they stated they might be when antidoping testers try to check them.
Lawrence Cherono, a Kenyan who is without doubt one of the greatest marathoners on the earth, examined constructive for trimetazidine, a banned coronary heart remedy identified largely because the drug that the teenage Russian determine skater Kamila Valieva examined constructive for earlier than this yr’s Winter Olympics.
Peres Jepchirchir
The marathon champion on the Tokyo Olympics, Peres Jepchirchir withdrew from the world championships due to a hip damage.
Steven Gardiner
The reigning world and Olympic champion within the 400, Steven Gardiner wrote on Instagram final week that he needed to withdraw due to an infected tendon.
Garrett Scantling
It’s not clear why Garrett Scantling, who completed fourth within the decathlon in Tokyo, isn’t competing in Eugene. Scantling certified for the world championships at the US’ mixed occasions championship in April with a rating that ranked him because the third-best American of all time, behind solely Dan O’Brien and Ashton Eaton.
However Scantling was not on U.S.A. Observe & Discipline’s checklist of world championship members, and Scantling, his agent and the nationwide federation haven’t defined why.
Athletes Dealing with Visa Points
Practically 100 athletes have been nonetheless dealing with difficulties coming into the US due to visa points as of Thursday evening. Some, just like the Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala, barely made it to Eugene in time to compete. Others, just like the British marathoner Chris Thompson, needed to pull out.