In my previous post I revisited the list of European Athletics Rising Stars in order to find whether they had all risen to the initial expectations. (They hadn't, I mean, not all of them. But most did, and some of them did become the great champions of today). While the list of top European young athletes goes back to 2007, that of World Athletics starts already at 1998.
The first athlete I had to look up was Hamdan Al-Bishi. I vaguely remember a saudi 400 m runner several years back but without further details. Al-Bishi ran his personal best, 44.66 s, in 2000, when he was 19 years old. He finished 5th in the 2005 World Championships and went on to win the Asian Games in 2002 and 2006. He was second in the Asian Championships of 2000, 2002 and 2003. He ran up to 2009 but did not manage to improve his 2000 time.
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, was the 2005 Rising Star. I included in this post because he is still active despite his 37 years of age. And not only that but just three years back, in 2022, he was on the european podium with the UK 4x100 relay; just as he had done in 2014 and 2018. Aryeetey has also a World Relay title from 2009 and an individual European bronze, over 100 m, from 2014. He is a very nice example of sprinter longevity.
When I saw the name of Margus Hunt with the Estonian flag next to him I thought, well, probably another of those estonian decathletes. Well I was wrong. Hunt was a discus thrower. To tell the truth, I had never heard of him (or at least, not to my memory). He had a brief career in athletics, the Rising Star award being due to the fact that he won both the shot put and the discus throw at the 2006 world junior championship. He threw up to 2010 with a personal best of 61.33 m at the discus. He started playing American Football professionally in 2013 and disappeared from Athletics.
In 2007 and 2008 there are no male rising stars. The two female ones are Ruth Bosibori-Nyangau and Pamela Jelimo. Ruth Bosibori exploded upon the international scene in 2007 winning the 3000 m steeplechase at the African Games and finishing 4th over the same event at the World Championships. She was bronze medalist in 2008 and finished 5th at the Olympics. But while she ran up to 2017 she never repeated the success of the first years. Pamela Jelimo's career was even shorter than that of Bosibori but one with more splendour. She won gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics over 800 m at just 18 years of age. The same year she won the African title and, with a personal best of 1:54.01 moved to third place in the all-time list. She won the world indoor title in 2012 but, due the presence of DSD Caster Semenya and doping offenders Savinova and Guliyeva, Jelimo found herself at 4th place. Savinova and Guliyeva has been stripped of their medals but unfortunately Semenya is keeping hers. In the end of the story Jelimo was just a shooting star in the firmament of athletics her last (very low key) race being in 2014.
I really love this photo. The arms behind Jelimo are those of the reigning 2007 world champion, Janeth Jepkosgei who finished second in Beijing. Jepkosgei went on to win silver in the 2009 and 2011 World's but, since she lost to Semenya, she is to my eyes the world champion. She ran up to 2015 and, amazingly, she was back to athletics in 2023 competing over a 400 m.
In 2010 Till Wöschler and Angelica Bengtsson were the Rising Stars. I have followed Bengtsson through her whole career and I will never forget the mishap at the 2019 World's when her pole broke at her third attempt at 4.80 m and she re-tried using a pole borrowed from Guillon-Romarin. And passed.
But Wöschler was nigh unknown to me. He was one more promising javelin thrower, fruit of the great german javelin tradition. Unfortunately his personal best of 84.38 m was registered when he was just 20 years old and he put an end to his career in 2016. (While I am writing these lines I cannot help thinking of the great Johannes Vetter who may never come back to his 90+ level. What a pity! We have several excellent 90+ throwers but the only solid hope for a 100+ throw was Vetter).
From 2011 onwards the Rising Stars are still active and in some cases, like Morgan Lake and Candace Hill, who haven't yet risen to real prominence, I think that they have a few good years ahead of them and may fulfil the promises. (In fact, I wonder why Morgan Lake does not devote herself more seriously to the pentathlon, following T. Hellebaut's example. But, at least, she managed to join the 2 m club in 2025, so she can be optimistic about the future).
The last case I would like to visit is that of Mary Cain, 2013 female Rising Star (another year without a male counterpart). The story of Cain is a sad one. In 2013 she was, at 17 years old, the youngest athlete selected for the US team. She participated in the 1500 m of the World Championships and she made it to the final. She joined the Nike Oregon project, training under the direction of Alberto Salazar. And then all the trouble started. She hadn't been able to improve her 2013 personal best, 4:04.62, over 1500 m. She ran up to 2016 in constant decline. And in 2019, in an interview, she explained that the training regimen imposed by Salazar combined with an emotional abuse led to her physical and psychological degradation. In 2021 Cain filled a lawsuit against Salazar and Nike (which was settled financially out of court). Salazar was condemned in 2015 for doping offences and in 2021 was banned for life from coaching for emotional and sexual misconduct. And Mary Cain in all this? Well, she is, in principle, back on track, switched her allegiance to Ireland but, although eligible to compete, she hasn't participated yet in an official race under her new colours. As time goes by, one fears that she is one more promise not kept.
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