Marion Jones - USA - 100m, 200m, long jump

Marion Jones has established herself as one of the greatest names in track and field. She shot onto the scene in 1997 when she won the gold medal in the 100m sprint at the World Championships in Athens. Since then she has run the world's second fastest times ever in both the 100m and 200m, and has remained unbeaten in these events. She is the favourite to win the two sprints at this year's World Championships. She is also a promising long jumper and aims to win the long jump gold as well.

Cathy Freeman - Australia - 400m

Cathy Freeman won a silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics and gold at the '97 World Championships, becoming the first black Australian to win a major championship medal. One can expect another good performance from this 400m star in Seville.

Falilat Ogunkoya - Nigeria - 400m

She was unbeaten in the 400m last year, running a year's best time of 49.52 seconds and winning the Grand Prix Final. She won the Arican Championship 400m and 200m and went on to win the World Cup 400m. She will be one of the favourites to win gold in Seville.

Maria Mutola - Mozambique - 800m

Maria has won an Olympic bronze medal as well as a bronze at the last World Championships. Last year, she ran the fastest 800m times of the year and won the Goodwill Games, Commonwealth Games, and World Cup titles. This year she was narrowly beaten into second place at the IAAF World Indoor Championships. She holds the African record and is favourite to win the 800m gold at the 1999 World Championships in Seville.

Gabriela Szabo - Romania - 5000m

Gabriela won the 5000m gold at the '97 World Champs and was named by Runner's World magazine as their "Female Athlete of the Year". In March this year she won the 1500m and 3000m at the World Indoor Championships, showing that she has excellent leg speed which will make her a tough competitor over 5000m. Expect another top class performance from her in Seville.

Fatuma Roba - Ethiopia - Marathon

If Haile Gebrselassie is the King of Ethiopian athletics, then Fatuma Roba is most certainly the queen. In 1996, she won the Olympic Marathon, a magical start to a successful career. She followed her Olympic win with a victory at the 1997 Boston Marathon. This year she won her third consecutive Boston Marathon. She will be going full out to win her first World Championship title in Seville.

Heike Drechsler - Germany - Long Jump

She won the European tilte in 1998 and went on to win the gold medal at the World Cup in Johannesburg, becoming the only athlete to beat Marion Jones in 1998. Fans can look forward to an exciting showdown between Heike and Jones at this year's World Championships.

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