Doha: Olympic and world champion high jump star Mutaz Essa Barshim will be leading Qatar’s charge at the forthcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest 2023 (August 19-27), the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) announced on Tuesday.
Barshim will be a part of a three-member Qatar team which also features Bassem Hemeida (400m hurdles) and Moaaz Mohamed (discus throw).
A three-time world champion and thrice Olympic medallist, Barshim recently gave a glimpse of his good form winning the Silesia Diamond League in Poland and finishing second at London Diamond League. The winning height in high jump at the last three global championships (Eugene 2022, Tokyo 2021 and Doha 2019) - has been 2.37m. Barshim is favourite and seems to be on course to join an exclusive club of athletes who have won five consecutive global titles. He is currently the World Leader with 2.36m.
Barshim last four consecutive global gold wins have been 2017-London, 2019-Doha, 2021-Tokyo and 2022-Eugene.
At 32, the Qatari athlete continues to be a front runner given his fine runs at at the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Diamond League in Chorzow, Poland, last month and at the London Diamond League where he hit 2.33.
Meanwhile, Hemeida will also try to make his presence felt at the Worlds in Hungary, competing in the one lap hurdles event in the absence of ace compatriot Abderrahman Samba who has missed most part of the season due to an injury.
Hemeida is a former Asian championships gold winner and has a personal best of 48.64 secs which places him in the top 30 in the world this season.
Discus throw athelete Moaaz Mohamed is a former U-20 World and Asian champion and has a personal best of 62.48 metres.
The Qatar contingent will be led by Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) President Mohamed Issa Al Fadala who will also attend the World Athletics meetings along with Issa Abdullah Al Harami, QAF Secretary-General. The delegation also includes former athlete Talal Mansour, Khalifa Abdul Malik, Khaled Al Marri and trainer Massimo.