Yesterday I gave you my picks for who'll win each of the 23 events on the women's side at the IAAF World Championships, which begin tomorrow night (U.S. time) in Daegu, South Korea. Today, it's the 24 events on the men's side (the men have two race walks and the women only have one, I don't know why).
100 m: Usain Bolt, Jamaica-His countryman Asafa Powell was the only man who could challenge Bolt, but Powell withdrew today with an injury. Tyson Gay is also injured, so Bolt really has no competition.
200 m: Usain Bolt, Jamaica-He dominates this event even more than he dominates the 100. Whereas I can at least think of someone who might give him a race in the 100, I can't think of anybody that'll actually make the 200 competitive.
400 m: LaShawn Merritt, USA-In his first race after a 21-month doping suspension, the defending champion ran an impressive 44.74 in Stockholm. Kirani James, the 19-year-old NCAA champion from Grenada, has the fastest time in the world, but I think the long season might catch up with him.
800 m: David Rudisha, Kenya-Since not even making the finals two years ago in Berlin, Rudisha has completely dominated the event. He's undefeated in 2011, and that won't change at Worlds. American Nick Symmonds has a chance at a medal.
1500 m: Asbel Kiprop, Kenya-I have no idea who's going to win this wide-open event. With three capable of winning, the Kenyans have the strongest team, so I'm taking one of them.
5000 m: Mo Farah, Great Britain-The fastest man in the world this year wants to establish himself as a favorite for London, but his success in the 5000 might depend on whether or not he also runs the 10,000 (and how he does).
10,000 m: Mo Farah, Great Britain-Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, perhaps the greatest long-distance runner in history, is looking for his fifth straight World Championship in the event, but he hasn't run 10,000 meters since early 2010. Bekele's a wild card, but otherwise Farah is the class of the field.
Marathon: Gebre Gebremeriam, Ethiopia-Like I said yesterday, marathons are such a crap shoot, it's impossible to forecast a winner. But I'm going to go with the reigning New York City Marathon champion. Interesting sidebar, Russia's only two entries in the men's marathon have the same name: Aleksey Sokolov.
110 m Hurdles: Dayron Robles, Cuba-This will be one of the most competitive events of the entire meet. It's a three-way battle for the title between Robles, China's Liu Xiang and American David Oliver. Don't be surprised if any of the three wins. Be surprised if someone else does.
400 m Hurdles: Bershawn Jackson, USA-The men's 400 hurdles is probably the strongest event for the American track & field team. The final at the U.S. Nationals might as well have been the final in Daegu. Not only is a medal sweep possible, Americans Jackson, Jeshua Anderson, Kerron Clement and Angelo Taylor going 1-2-3-4 is possible.
3000 m Steeplechase: Brimin Kiprop Kipruto, Kenya-Fellow Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi is the defending champion, but Kipruto, who just missed the world record a few weeks ago in Monaco, has vowed to set it in Daegu.
Long Jump: Mitchell Watt, Australia-American Dwight Phillips is the two-time defending champion, but he won't make it three straight. Watt has clearly been the best in the world this year. His season best is 15 centimeters further than the No. 2 mark, which belongs to Olympic champion Irving Saladino of Panama.
Triple Jump: Phillips Idowu, Great Britain-An injury to the world leader, France's Teddy Tamgho, opened this event up dramatically. Idowu is looking for his second straight World Championship, but Romania's Marian Oprea, Ukraine's Sheryf El-Sheryf and NCAA/U.S. champion Christian Taylor are all in the mix, as well.
High Jump: Jesse Williams, USA-The only American gold medal in this event at a World Championships came 20 years ago. That should change in Daegu. Williams has consistently proven to be the best in the world this season and is ready for an international breakout.
Pole Vault: Renaud Lavillenie, France-Lavillenie has dominated the event for the better part of two years. He should become the first-ever French World Champion.
Shot Put: Christian Cantwell, USA-If the 400 hurdles isn't the Americans' best event on the men's side, the shot put is. All four Americans have a realistic shot at the podium, but for the win, I'll take defending champion Cantwel.
Discus: Robert Harting, Germany-Hungary's Zoltan Kovago has the best mark in the world, but he's been an inconsistent performer to say the least at global championships. Defending champion Harting, however, has two Diamond League wins this season.
Hammer Throw: Krisztian Pars, Hungary-Believe it or not, American Kibwe Johnson is actually a legitimate gold-medal contender. But I'll go with Pars, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist, who should've won the tile in Berlin, but didn't even medal.
Javelin: Andreas Thorkildsen, Norway-This event used to belong to Jan Zelezny. Now it belongs to Thorkildsen. Until somebody proves they can beat him, he'll be my pick at every World Championships and Olympics.
20 km Walk: Valery Borchin, Russia-Borchin ran away (or should I say "walked away") with the event in Berlin. He'll face more of a challenge in Daegu, but I still expect him to win.
50 km Walk: Sergey Bakulin, Russia-Russia completely dominates the longest event in track & field. Defending champion Sergey Kirdyapkin hasn't raced since the Berlin World Championships, so I'll go with his teammate Bakulin, who has the fastest time in the world this year.
Decathlon: Trey Hardee, USA-Ashton Eaton scored a world-leading 8729 points while winning the national title, but the Oregon alum seems to put up good results only in Eugene and nowhere else. As a result, I'll take defending champion Hardee, who has a score of 8689 this season.
4x100 m Relay: Jamaica-Even if the Americans manage to get the baton around the track (which is no guarantee), the Jamaicans are just too good. In Powell and Bolt, they have the top two 100-meter runners in the world on the last two legs of the relay.
4x400 m Relay: United States-I see no reason why the American domination of this event should end. Losing Jeremy Wariner only slightly affects things. You've still got Merritt, Tony McQuay, Greg Nixon, Jamaal Torrance and all of the 400 meter hurdlers. You can probably write this victory in pen right now.
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