This year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, will have a distinctly Mississippi State flair to them as five former Bulldogs are set to compete on an international stage.
“It goes without saying that we’re all extremely proud, not just myself but the entire track and field program, the entire community of Starkville, the individual coaches that those student-athletes worked with,” head coach Chris Woods said in Monday’s press release.
Of the five participating, Marco Arop and Navasky Anderson are set to compete in the 800-meter run, with Arop representing Canada and Anderson representing Jamaica.
Anderson Peters and Curtis Thompson will both be participating in the javelin, Peters representing Grenada and Thompson representing the United States.
Finally, Marta Pen Freitas is running in the 1500-meter run, representing Portugal.
“We produce some of the best athletes in the world out of this little small-town program,” Woods said. “I think it goes to show this is a wonderful environment that someone can come in and excel in. I think it also says that we have some tremendous coaches that understand what it takes to develop somebody to reach the next level.”
The Bulldogs have a great shot at medals, specifically from Arop, currently ranked world No. 1 in the 800-meter run, and Peters, the back-to-back world champion in javelin.
Arop recently earned a bronze representing Canada at the 2022 Worlds in Eugene, Oregon, and looks to claim his second-ever gold medal in any 800-meter event.
Peters, if he wins in 2023, will be the only the second person in world history to have won three world championships in javelin, and the first person to win three-consecutive golds in the event.
Thompson, who earned his third US championship this season, has reached as high as No. 4 nationally in javelin and looks to compete for a medal in the event.
Anderson was the NCAA runner-up in the 800-meter run and SEC outdoor champion in 2022, and has the potential to be the first Jamaican to reach the final of the event.
Pen Freitas reached the semifinals of the event at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and competed in the 1500-meter run at the 2022 Worlds in Oregon.
“We wish them nothing but the best,” Woods said. “We are proving right now, and historically, that we do have one of the better track and field programs in the country.”
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