World Athletics Championships 2022: The stars to look out for!

Dina Asher-Smith, Keely Hodgkinson and Katarina Johnson-Thompson will all be competing

The World Athletics Championships are now under way with the biggest names in the sport competing for gold.

For the next 10 days, some of the best athletes in the world will compete in Eugene, a city in the US state of Oregon.

The Championships are seen as one of the biggest events, after the Olympics, for track and field stars.

It's the third largest sporting event in the world, with around 2,000 athletes from more than 200 nations competing for 49 gold medals.

We have everything you need to know, including our look at the ones to watch for Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dina Asher-Smith

Sprinting superstar Dina Asher-Smith will be hoping to retain her world title - she won gold in the 200m at Doha in 2019.

Asher-Smith will be competing in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson

Johnson-Thompson will be looking to defend her heptathlon world title.

Heptathlon is a seven-event contest that happens over two days. Athletes compete in the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m.

Johnson-Thompson has suffered from lots of injuries in recent years. Before last year's Tokyo Olympics she had just recovered from a leg injury, but then during the 200m race at the Games she hurt her calf and had to withdraw.

Johnson-Thompson said about the Championships: "Success is something that is individual to each person and success for me would be getting a good score out this summer. I'm definitely in a different mindset."

Max Burgin

Burgin makes his major championship debut this year

Rising star Max Burgin makes his major championship debut in Oregon, competing in the 800m event.

This year he ran his personal best of 1 minute 43 seconds and 52 milliseconds, which is the fourth fastest for a British athlete!

Burgin's dad Ian, a former 800m runner himself, is his coach.

Max, aged 20, said: "It's a natural thing to clash with your dad sometimes, I think!

"But it has never been a major problem. My coach is always going to be my biggest fan."

Laura Muir

Olympic star Laura Muir is hoping to succeed at this year's Championships.

After winning silver in the 1500m at Tokyo 2020, she says she feels more relaxed when competing and added: "When I'm more relaxed, I run better. It's a win-win situation."

Muir, who is also a vet, has talked about her motivation as well: "I don't think my motivation is going to go down because of that [Olympic medal]. If anything, it's going to go up. Now I've got nothing to lose."

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake poses with his new record after winning the men's 200m final at the UK Athletic Championships in June 2022

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake is captain of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and wants his team-mates to give it their best shot at these championships.

Mitchell-Blake said: "I like to think of our sport as a gladiatorial sport in that it is us in the arena, against each individual.

"We train tireless hours for one shot. So let's go out there, give it our best shot and have fun, be authentic, and hopefully that can endear us to the public."

Mitchell-Blake will be competing in the 200m.

Keely Hodgkinson

Another rising star, Olympic silver medallist Keely Hodgkinson, will be competing in the 800m.

Hodgkinson automatically qualified to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland as she was the 2021 Diamond League champion in the 800m.

The 20-year-old will have to beat American Athing Mu, who beat her to gold at Tokyo 2020.

Do you enjoy athletics? Who will you be excited to watch? Let us know in the comments below!