Johnson City, Tenn. (August 20, 2015) -- Total Sports US is sending a large but relatively young group to this year's version of the IAAF World Championships with 10 of the 22 athletes making their first appearance. This bodes well for the 2016 Olympics with this young group gaining valuable experience along with some strong medal hopefuls and the return of potential medal winners that missed out on this year’s team for various reasons -- the future looks bright heading into Rio.
WOMEN:
Murielle Ahoure, CIV - 100m - Defending World Championships Silver Medalist, ran a PB of 10.81 in 2015.
Ivet Lalova, BUL - 100/200m - Former European Champion and World Championship Finalist.
Laverne Jones-Ferrette, ISV - 100/200m - National Record Holder.
Novlene Williams-Mills, JAM - 400m - 2014 Diamond League Champion and former World Championship Medalist.
Phyllis Francis, USA - 400m - First appearance at the World Championships, US Record Holder in the indoor 400m.
Fiona Benson, CAN - 800m - First appearance at the World Championships, Canadian National Champion has a PB of 1:59.94.
Melissa Bishop, CAN - 800m - Set a new PB in 2015 with a 1:59.52.
Lauren Johnson, USA - 1500m - First appearance at the World Championships, has a PB of 4:04.17.
Nikki Hamblin, NZL - 1500m - National Record Holder from New Zealand.
Abbey D’Agostino, USA - 5000m - Fought her way back from injury to make the US team with a PB of 15:03.85 in 2015.
Sally Kipyego, KEN - 10,000m - A Former World and Olympic Silver Medalist looks to build upon her impressive career.
Madeline Heiner, AUS - 3000sc - Makes her first appearance at the World Championships running a PB of 9:21.56 in 2015.
Stephanie Garcia, USA - 3000sc - Makes her second appearance at the World Championships with a PB of 9:23.48 set in 2015.
Aisha
Praught, JAM – 3000sc – Praught, making her first World Champs
appearance, has a PB of 9:34.69 and will race under her new country –
Jamaica.
Beverly Ramos, PUR - 3000sc - National Record Holder for Puerto Rico.
MEN:
Keston Bledman, TRI - 100m - 2015 Trinidadian Champion with a new PB of 9.86.
Wilfried Koffi, CIV - 100/200m - African Champion in both events in 2014 has PB's of 10.05 and 22.25.
Machel Cedenio, TRI - 400m - 2014 World JR Champion, makes his way to his first World Champs with a new PB of 44.36.
Luka Janezik, SLO - 400m - A newcomer to the world scene at 19 years old brings a fresh PB of 45.44.
Hassan Mead, USA - 10,000m - Makes his first World Championship appearance with a PB of 27:33.04 set in 2015.
Matt Hughes, CAN - 3000sc - The Pan Am Games Champion looks to build off his Canadian record run in 2013.
Fabrice
Lapierre AUS - LJ - The former Medalist and World Indoor Champion tries
to find his way back to the podium. He holds a PB of 8.41m.
