Men
World indoor champion Manuel Martinez of Spain is ranked No. 1 in the shot put standings, but it's Kevin Toth who is the man to beat in the event in Paris.
Toth, of the United States, has the longest toss of the season at 22.67 metres and has three of the top five throws of the year.
Not far behind Toth is fellow American Adam Nelson, who finished second at the 2001 world championships in Edmonton. Great Britain's Carl Myersbough, likely the tallest competitor in the event at six-foot-10, sits fifth in the IAAF point standings. He has the second longest throw of the year at 21.92m.
Canada's hopes in the shot put rest with Brad Snyder of Windsor, Ont.
The 32-year-old is a long shot for a medal, but a top-eight finish is within reach for Snyder, currently ranked 11th in the world.
Snyder placed eighth at the last world championships in Edmonton and is consistently throwing in the 20.5 range this season. .
And don't count out American star John Godina.
The three-time world champion (1995, 1997, 2001) may be throwing under his standards this season, but he has the experience to challenge for a medal.
Godina, bronze medallist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and silver medallist at 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was second at the world indoor championships this year and is currently ranked seventh in the world.
Yuriy Bilonog of the Ukraine is also a medal contender.
Women
World indoor champion Irina Korzhanenko is the favourite in the women's shot put, even though her Russian teammate Svetlana Krivelyova has the best toss of the year.
Krivelyova's throw of 20.77m is the best of 2003 so far. Though she finished ninth at the last world championships, she is unranked in the IAAF standings this season.
Only three women have chucked 20 metres or more this year, including Korzhanenko and Krivelyova and Vita Pavlysh, bronze medallist at the 2001 worlds.
Astrid Kumbernuss of Germany is consistently throwing in the high 19s and is ranked second in the world in the event.
Also challenging for a spot on the podium is Pan American Games champion Yumileidi Cumba of Cuba, Germany's Nadine Kleinert and New Zealand's Valerie Adams.
Defending world champion Yanina Korolchik shouldn't be counted out of contention. The Belarussian sits eighth in the IAAF point standings.
Discus
Men
Jason Tunks, fresh off his gold medal performance at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, is one of Canada's few medal hopefuls at the worlds.
The 28-year-old native of London, Ont., captured the silver medal at last summer's Commonwealth Games, placed ninth at the 2001 world championships in Edmonton and was sixth at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
This season, Tunks is ranked seventh in the IAAF discus standings and could challenge for a medal with a personal best. His top throw to date is 67.88m, but he'll need to add another metre or two to that result in order to step on the podium in Paris.
Only two men have thrown over 69.0m this season -- Hungary's Robert Fazekas and Germany's Lars Riedel.
Fazekas, the IAAF's top-ranked discus thrower, has the longest throw of the year (70.78m) and owns seven of the top eight tosses of the season. Riedel, the defending world champion, is the only other athlete to throw over 69.0, with a heave of 69.5m.
Lithuania's Virgilijus Alekna, silver medallist at the 2001 worlds, has also thrown consistently this season.
Other medal hopefuls include Riedel's teammate Michael Mollenbeck -- the bronze medallist in 2001 -- South Africa's Frantz Kruger, Estonia's Aleksandr Tammert and American Carl Brown.
Women
Natalya Sadova is confident heading into these world championships.
Not only is the Russian the defending world champ in the event, but she also has the top throw of the 2003 season so far.
Sadova, ranked second in the IAAF point standings, threw 69.38m, almost two metres better than her closest competitor.
Vera Pospisilova of the Czech Republic will be her main challenger. The 25-year-old is ranked No. 1 in the discus and has two of the top three tosses of the year -- 67.71 and 66.66m.
Franka Dietzsch of Germany is the only other femal to throw over 66 metres in 2003.
Hammer throw
Men
Koji Murofushi, the 2001 world silver medallist and last season's Grand Prix Final winner is the man to beat in this event. Murofushi has the furthest throw of the year with 84.86m and is No.1 in the IAAF world rankings.
The 28 year-old Murofushi is Japan's top bet for gold at the world championships.
Hungary's Adrian Annus and Belarus' Ivan Tikhon are the only others to throw over the 83-metre mark this season.
Others to watch for include Karsten Kobs of Germany, Andriy Skvaruk of the Ukraine and Libor Charfreitag of Slovakia.
Women
Defending world champion Yipsi Moreno has more than just her title to defend, she's looking for respect.
"My victory in Edmonton was a surprise, but I will start this time as a strong contender for gold and I hope to get closer to the world record mark (76.07)," Moreno told the IAAF's web site.
Moreno is expected to battle for the gold with France's Manuela Montebrun, the top-ranked thrower in the competition. Montebrun has the third furthest toss of the 2003 season with 74.50.
Olga Kuzenkova of Russia, the silver medallist at the last world championships, is also throwing well this year. Her heave of 74.98 is the second longest of the season.
Moreno, Kuzenkova and Montebrun have the top 10 throws of 2003 and are the only athletes in the event to surpass 73 metres.
World record holder Mihaela Melinte of Romania is still ranked in the top five in the world, but is not near throwing her world record standard.
Javelin
Men
Jan Zelezny has virtually owned the javelin event since the mid-1980s. The native of the Czech Republic has captured the gold medal at the last three Olympic Games and also has a silver medal from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Zelezny, the defending world champion, is once again the favourite to win this joint-jarring event.
Though his personal best of 2003 is 89.06m -- well short of his world record throw of 98.48 -- it's still the second-longest throw of the season.
Russia's Sergey Makarov, the top-ranked javelin thrower this season, has claim to the longest toss of the year with a huck of 90.11.
Challenging Zelezny and Makarov will be Germany's trio of Boris Henry, Raymond Hecht and Christian Nicolay, as well as Russia's Aleksandr Ivanov,
???Is Canada's Scott Russell competing????? He's ranked 45th in the world.
Women
World record holder Osleidys Menendez of Cuba will try and shake off a rusty showing at the Pan American Games two weeks ago as she tries to defend her world title in the javelin.
Menendez, who set the world mark of 71.54m in 2001, finished a disappointing third at the Pan Ams in the Dominican Republic. Her longest throw of the season is 63.96m, well off her personal best. She did win the Grand Prix Final last year in Paris.
The top performer in the javelin this season is Tatyana Shikolenko. The Russian threw 66.0m earlier this year, which is by far the longest toss of the season.
Finland's Paula Huhtaniemi, Russia's Valeriya Zabruskova and Germany's Steffi Nerius have all thrown in the 64-metre range this season and could challenge Shikolenko for the medals.
Huhtaniemi's teammate Mikaela Ingberg is throwing consistently and could also launch a challenge for a medal.
