By Emre Asikci
ISTANBUL (AA) - The 2023 World Athletics Championships will kick off Saturday with thousands of athletes participating in the Hungarian capital Budapest.
The 19th edition of the championships will take place from Aug. 19 to 27 as Türkiye will participate in the event with 17 athletes, including seven females and 17 males.
World Athletics Championships, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), has been held since 1983 when Finland's capital Helsinki had the honor of hosting the games for the first time.
- $8.4M award money
The 2023 event's total prize pool is $8.4 million. The champions will get a total of $70,000, the runners-up will receive $35,000 and the third-place finishers will claim $22,000.
In addition to individual events, relay teams will collect between $20,000 and $80,000 per team tournament ranking.
Several defending champions will take part in the 80-day event such as double world champion Kimberly Garcia Leon in the women's 35-kilometer (22-mile) race and five-time world winner hammer thrower Pawel Fajdek.
- Famous athletes competing
Women's: Shericka Jackson, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Athing Mu, Gudaf Tsegay, Letesenbet Gidey, Gotytom Gebreslase, Sydney McLaughlin, Tobi Amusan, Eleanor Patterson, Chase Ealey, Feng Bin, Kelsey-Lee Barber, Brooke Andersen.
Men's: Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles, Michael Norman, Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Joshua Cheptegei, Tamirat Tola, Grant Holloway, Alison Dos Santos, Soufiane El Bakkali, Toshikazu Yamanishi, Massimo Stano, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Wang Jianan, Pedro Pichardo, Kristjan Ceh, Anderson Peters.