She is one of the two contenders left for the Golden League jackpot and one of the oldest competitors in the women's 100 at 31 years of age.

She's a big talent when it comes to individual races like the Golden League series or competitions throughout Europe during the season. But it'll be interesting to see if she can carry that through to the world championships.

KENENISA BEKELE, ETHIOPIA – men's 5,000 and 10,000 metres

Kenenisa Bekele is a phenom. A lot of people say he's from another planet. He's so exciting to watch and this is a rare opportunity for Canadian viewers to watch a really high quality 5,000 or 10,000 metres unfold.

TV does a good job at attempting to do those races justice, but that's where mine and [Don Wittman's] jobs come into play. To see the African athletes – especially the Kenyans and Ethiopians – run as a team and inject a fast pace, it looks effortless when a TV camera is tracking it. But to see it live, you get the full perspective of the whole track all at once. You see them drop people then slow it down for the next lap, then speed it up and slow it down. It's devastating.

What these guys can do and especially Bekele – the fast laps he can throw in – most humans can't do it. There are only a handful of people in the world who can and he's the best at it.

He performed so well at the world junior championships and he's never really been tested at the senior level.

This will be a great introduction for him. He sat out the Olympic Games last year and it'll be interesting to see how he does.

He's an incredible talent for his age (18).

TYLER CHRISTOPHER, CANADA – men's 400 metres

Tyler's got momentum on his side. He's got a great season on his side. So a lot of things are going in the right direction for him.

He pulled out of the national championships earlier in July, but I don't think that hurts his chances at all. The Canadian nationals are a very different situation compared to the worlds.

He's ranked top five in the world, so I'm looking for him to do something pretty interesting here. And again, he's very young (25), so that bodes well for Canadian long sprinting.

BRIAN CLAY, USA – decathlon

This will be a big test for her for sure. She's one of the best hurdlers in the world and has a lot of years ahead of her, but this will be a great challenge for her just to see how she does.

In my heart of hearts, I really hope she gets on the podium. It doesn't really matter to me what colour it is – I'm sure she'd love it to be gold – but I just hope she shows her potential, not only as an athlete but as a person, to rebound from a tragedy.

But that's just the nature of sport. Those things happen. That's what really builds character, not that anyone needs that, because she has a lot of character to begin with. But I really hope she can step on that podium.

I'll be excited when she gets in the blocks for that final, which she should make.

CAROLINA KLUFT, SWEDEN – heptathlon

Kluft has everything on her side. Semi-home crowd. She's young. She's a super-talent. Not just a talent but one of those rare talents I call a super-talent. She's maturing as an athlete. She knows what the crowd expects and she really relishes in the crowd appeal – loves to do interviews and really milks the crowd. So I think this will really be to her benefit if she's 100-per-cent healthy, which I believe she is.

She had a good competition earlier this year to set up the world championships, but you can believe that all of her focus has been on this.

Eunice Barber of France could give her a good run. At the [2003] world championships in Paris, Carolina Kluft beat Eunice Barber on her home soil, so I'm sure Barber would love to return the favour.

TATYANA LEBEDEVA, RUSSIA – women's triple jump

Lebedeva is another Golden League [jackpot] contender and just very exciting to watch. She has a good energy about her and is a prototypical triple jumper for any triple jumper to model themselves after. She's very fast on the runway, extremely flexible, super dynamic and very powerful. She has just everything – all the components you need to be a world class triple jumper.

She was nursing a bit of an [Achilles] injury at the last Golden League, but we'll see if she can utilize these last 10 days to heal up and get ready to jump far. When she's on, she could break a world record on any given day. She's just that talented.

GARY REED, CANADA – men's 800 metres

He came from one end of the sport, being a 400-metre sprinter, and was in the shadow of Shane Niemi for a number of years. He's really found his groove with the men's 800 metres and you know that he has the speed to run with the top guys in the world.

That's what a lot of people don't realize about the 800 is that it's quickly becoming a sprint. It has for the last number of years. Whenever you're running sub-1:45, you better have a lot of speed and that's a great thing Gary has.

He's one of the smaller guys in stature out there – they're all quite slight in 800 metres – but he's small and fast, and those two characteristics bode well in 800 because you're not carrying a lot of extra weight.

He just recently broke the Canadian record again, so I'm excited to watch him. He'll be hard pressed since the men's 800 is an extraordinarily deep event. There's a lot of talent in that race, but he's among the best in the world and has a lot of momentum on his side.