The IAAF World Championship 2013 in Moscow, Russia gets underway on Saturday and despite all the controversy leading up to the date, it promises to have some special performances. From August 10-18 some of the world’s best will be vying for the gold in front of millions worldwide.

Jamaica and the general Championship will be missing some big names which will certainly take away some of the pomp and star quality from Moscow. Nevertheless, for every Yohan Blake and Jessica Ennis there is a Usain Bolt and Mo Farah who will titillate Athletics fans all over the world.

Following the withdrawal of 400m athlete Ahkeem Gauntlett, Jamaica now has a 44-member team heading to the championships and along with many big names missing due to injury and questions of doping, many of our national champions are also rookies to the championship. This level of competition will be very new to the likes of Javere Bell (400m), Danielle Williams (100m hurdles), O’Dayne Richards (shot put), Natoya Goule (800m), and Francine Simpson (long jump).

With all that being said, certain household names will be competing for the top prize. Along with Bolt who will be looking for redemption after his false start in Daegu 2011, there is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Nesta Carter and Warren Weir name in the Jamaica contingent.

Keeping all that in mind we should have eight days of top-class competition to look forward to as our athletes compete against world nemeses.