Last week marked 200 days to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Olympics are the pinnacle of athletics as the best athletes in the world come together for a sixteen-day competition. In Track and Field, the same goes, as some athletes go their whole career training for the opportunity to race against the best in the world. We are 191 days removed from the games, and Today I will be talking about four events and who are some front runners who could make it on the podium and who could win, in the way too early Olympics Preview. 

Men’s 1500m

The 1500m over the past couple of years has become one of the most popular events in Track and Field. It has become this way as it is a perfect bridge between the long distance and middle distance events, due to its very fast nature. This year has also been a great year for the men’s race because there has been a huge step forward in lowering the world record. Three men could most definitely make up the podium in Paris, and one of them could break the world record. The first one on the list and my personal favorite to win the title is Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic Champion from Norway. I wrote a whole article about him if you would like to read it. After my article was published, Jakob went on to have an amazing season. He has since become the 8th fastest ever in the event with his performance of 3:27.14 in July. Ingebrigtsen has also broken two world records in the 2000 meters and the 2 miles, in 4:43.13 and 7:54.10 respectively. Along with running fast times, Ingebrigtsen has also performed well on the championship stage. The past two years he has won the world title in the 5000m and has placed second in the 1500m both times, the second time he finished behind the next person on this list. Josh Kerr, from Great Britain, is the reigning world champion in this event, and it would be a great mistake if I left him out of this list. Along with the world title, Kerr also placed third at the last Olympic games in Tokyo, behind Ingebrigtsen. Kerr isn't just fast though, he is also just great at running a good race, which just goes to show as he beat one of the best runners of this age, which is Ingebrigtsen. My third and final person on this list is hands down the fastest American in the 1500m, after Bernard Lagat. That person is Yared Nuguse, Nuguse is the second-ranked in the world behind Ingebrigtsen and in front of Kerr. Nuguse isn’t just fast in the 1500m, he is also great at running the mile. In September, at the PRE Classic, a race that seemed like a gimmie for Ingebrigtsen was turned into a real race. A popular theme for this past track season was, how fast Ingebrigtsen go. On this particular occasion, it seemed as if he was going for a world record. It was this way up until the end but one thing we didn’t expect was Nuguse being right behind him the whole way. Nuguse would end up running 3:43.73, a new American record and the fourth fastest time ever. This 1500m race has the potential to be great and fast. I believe the Olympic title could be won by anyone on this list on that day. 

Women’s 200m

The 100m and 200m dash are two of the most exciting events in track and field history. It is this way because unlike the distance races it requires fewer tactics and they are almost all about who can run the fastest speeds for less than 22 seconds. The first of the two I will be talking about is the women’s 200m. A common theme amongst the athletes on this list is how they have performed in prior championship races and this one is no different. The first athlete I will talk about is Shericka Jackson, Jackson who is from Jamaica has been dominant in the 200m as of the past few years. Jackson has shown this dominance by winning the past two world championships in the event and she also holds three of the top four fastest times ever, her fastest one being .07 away from Florence Griffith-Joyner’s time of 21.34. The next person on this list and in my opinion the athlete with the best chance of dethroning Jackson is Sha’Carri Richardson from the U.S. At last year’s Budapest World Championships, Richardson won both the 100m and the 4x100m Relay, going into her last event, the 200m Richardson was attempting to complete the triple of 100m,200m,4x100m Relay, However, she was unable to because of the two other people on this list. This Olympics will be her first due to a violation before the Tokyo Olympics. I don’t foresee this being an issue because she has already shown that she performs well against the world’s best. The final person on this list is another American, Gabby Thomas. Thomas, was the silver medalist at the World Championships in Budapest last year, she also placed third in the 200m at the last Olympics in Tokyo. She also has won four diamond league races in this event over the span of her career. This 200m race, like all 200m, will be one to watch for, and like the previous race I talked about, any of these three could walk away with the gold. 

Men’s 100m

Like the 200m, the 100m is fun, fast, and entertaining. Another thing that separates sprint events from distance races is that there is sometimes a little bit more drama or more electric personalities. One of those electric personalities is Noah Lyles from the U.S. Lyles is the fastest man in the world in both the 100m and 200m, as he is ranked number 1 in the world in both races. Along with being fast, he has also had some a great deal of success on the world stage. In Budapest, at the world championships, he won the 100m, 200m, and the 4x100m relay. Along with that Lyles placed third in the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics. Next on the list is another American, Christian Coleman. Coleman is known for his incredibly fast starts and this is further shown with his world record 60m time of 6.34. Along with that, Coleman has been a multi-time NCAA Champion, and he has also won multiple Diamond League and World Championship races. The final person on this list is Zharnel Hughes, Hughes is from Great Britain and he has been very dominant in Europe. He has won four European titles and multiple diamond league races. Last year in 2023 in Budapest at the world championships Hughes placed third in the 100m and fourth in the 200m. Like all of the races, this one will all come down to the day, and who is the fastest.

Women’s 5000m

The last race on this list is the women’s 5000m. The 5000m has become one of my favorite races in track over the past few years, and this Olympic race will certainly be one to watch. The first person I would like to talk about is Faith Kipyegon, from Kenya, who is in my opinion one of the greatest track distance runners ever. Kipyegon is actually more of a 1500m oriented runner, but at the 2023 Paris diamond league she bumped up to this event and ran the world record at the time of 14:05.20. Along with that world record she also holds the world record in the 1500m and the mile, both of which she broke this year. Along with being fast, she has also won two Olympic titles in the 1500m. As I mentioned her 5000m world record was broken, and it was broken by the next person on this list, Gudaf Tsegay. Tsegay is from Ethiopia and she was the reigning bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics last year. Also as I mentioned earlier she is the world record holder in the 5000m. She has also won two world titles, in 2022 she won the 5000m, and last year she won the 10000m. The last person on this list is Sifan Hassan, a time Olympic and world champion. Her Olympic titles come from the last Olympics in Tokyo, where she won both the 5000m and 10000m. Her two world titles are from 2019 where she won the 1500m and the 10000m. Last year she placed second in the 5000m. Since then Hassan has started running the marathon and has had some great success. It is unsure whether she will run the marathon or track events at this year’s Olympics. 

Dates/Times of Races* 

7/4/24: Men’s 100m Final: 9:50 pm Local Time/ 2:50 pm CST

7/5/24: Women’s 5000m Final: 9:10 pm Local Time/ 2:10 pm CST 

7/6/24: Men’s 1500m Final: 8:50 pm Local Time/ 1:50 pm CST

7/6/24: Women’s 200m Final: 9:40 pm Local Time/ 2:40 pm CST

*Subject to change

Kicking For Home Guide to the Paris Olympics

The KFH Guide to Paris Olympics will be a once a day newsletter discussing every day events at the Olympics and all you need to know.