4. Mutaz Essa Barshim
Event: High Jump The high-jump is often referred to within the athletics community as the showman's event, and this distinctive young man adds immensely to this image. The spindly Qatari, who won bronze at last year's London Olympics, will be hard to miss at Moscow 2013. He has had an impressive year so far, and cleared 2.40m in Eugene, Oregon in June; a mere 5cm below the world record held by Chilean Javier Sotomayer, and putting him 5th on the all-time list for high jump. He'll have his work cut out however, with last year's Olympic gold medalist and home favourite Ivan Ukhov, and Bohdan Bondarenko, the Ukranian who cleared 2.41 in Lausanne in July both in with a realistic shout of taking gold. But there's a quiet confidence about the gangly 22-year-old that suggests that he's just as ready as they are to become the new world champion in Moscow.