It has left potential gold medalists sobbing and heartbroken. It has reminded the aging champions of their mortality. It has turned young unknowns into superstars.
Welcome to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, a nerve-wracking, pressure-packed test of courage.
From June 21 to June 30, America’s best runners, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers will descend on Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to try to secure their spot at the Paris Olympics later this summer. The top three finishers in each event will make it, as long as they have achieved the Olympic “A” standard. The rest will have to wait another four years.
Other countries have taken heart and placed safety nets in the selection process. They will take into account performance during the season or previous Olympic or World Championship results. In the US there is no politics, and there are no big names basing themselves on past performance. The system is cruel yet fair, cutthroat and fair.
Among the gold medal contenders trying to survive the pressure cooker this year are sprinters Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, hurdlers Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Grant Holloway and throwers Valarie Allman and Ryan Crouser. Here are five storylines to keep an eye on as Trials get underway:
1. Can Sha’Carri Richardson claim the throne?
Three years ago, Sha’Carri Richardson was one of the faces of the Tokyo Olympics, without even being there. The 21-year-old sprinting sensation blew away the competition in the women’s 100 meters at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, but that result was invalidated weeks later when she tested positive for marijuana.
The debate over the fairness of Richardson’s Olympic ban brought her more attention than a gold medal ever would have. Richardson’s number of followers on Instagram rose to over two million. Nike and Beats by Dre, owned by Apple, featured her in advertising campaigns. The list of celebrities supporting Richardson included everyone from Seth Rogen and Cardi B to Patrick Mahomes and Megan Rapinoe.
Richardson’s bid for redemption will make her one of the most important athletes at the Paris Games… but she must qualify first. She will be the heavy favorite to win Saturday’s Women’s 100 final and she is also a contender to qualify for Paris in the Women’s 200.
There’s a lot of pressure on Richardson to live up to expectations this summer, but lately she’s been walking with her signature confidence and swagger. Richardson competed in her first world championships last summer, taking gold in the 100 and bronze in the 200. She opened her 2024 season at the Prefontaine Classic in late May by topping a strong field in the 100.
As Richardson himself famously put it last summer, “I’m not back. I am better.”
2. Can Noah Lyles position himself to challenge for four medals?
Noah Lyles wants to achieve something in Paris that even the legendary Usain Bolt never did. The American told ‘The Tonight Show’ earlier this month that he hopes to win Olympic gold in four different running events.
At last year’s World Championships, Lyles claimed the high sprint, winning the men’s 100 and 200 before leading the US 4x100m relay team to gold with a dazzling anchor leg. Lyles hopes USA Track & Field will give him the opportunity to add the 4×400-meter relay to his repertoire this summer.
“[Bolt] has already won three and he holds the world records when he did that,” Lyles told Jimmy Fallon. ‘What do you have to do to get better than that? You should get four. No one has done four. Now you go up Mount Rushmore. Now you are the greatest of the greats. That’s what I’m trying to achieve.”
Lyles heads into the Trials as the favorite to win the men’s 100 and 200, but the U.S. is loaded with sprinters who could take advantage if he has a bad day. Christian Coleman, Kenny Bednarek, Fred Kerley and high school phenom Christian Miller are all threats in the 100. Bednarek, Kerley, Erriyon Knighton and Courtney Lindsey loom in the 200.
Even if Lyles survives that gauntlet, his greatest achievement might have to be gaining permission to run a leg of the 4×400-meter relay final in Paris. The US has a deep stable of 400-meter specialists who won’t be happy about being passed by someone with little meaningful history at that distance.
3. Will Athing Mu flee? And will she run like her old self?
Athing Mu has previously been criticized for competing so little, but this season she is taking that to a new level. Her 2024 season opener will be the first of three rounds of the women’s 800 at Trials on Friday evening.
Mu, now 22, has been one of the brightest stars in American athletics since she was old enough to legally order a glass of wine at a restaurant. She broke NCAA records at Texas A&M, captured Olympic gold in the 800 and 4×400 meter relay in 2021 and confirmed that with a victory on American soil at World Championships the following year.
It looked so easy. Until it didn’t.
Weeks before the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Mu’s coach told the Los Angeles Times that Mu had doubts about competing. Mu ultimately opted to run, but suffered a rare defeat, settling for bronze after Mary Moraa of Kenya and Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain passed her before the finish.
The last time she competed, Mu avenged that loss and broke her own American record at the Prefontaine Classic last September. This year she has postponed her debut three times, reportedly due to a persistent hamstring injury.
At her best, Mu would be untouchable in the women’s 800 at Trials, but it is unclear what form she will bring to Eugene. Other contenders in the 800 include reigning U.S. champion Nia Akins, 2021 Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers and 2024 NCAA champion Michaela Rose.
4. Does Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone have an answer for Femke Bol?
Perhaps the most intriguing race at the Paris Olympics is the women’s 400 hurdles. American world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dutch star Femke Bol tend to produce something special every time they face each other.
At the Tokyo Olympics, McLaughlin-Levrone ran 51.46 to lower her world record and fend off Bol and America’s Dalilah Muhammad. A year later, at the 2022 World Championships, McLaughlin-Levrone dropped an eye-opening 50.68 to break her world record and force Bol to settle for silver.
While McLaughlin-Levrone took a break from hurdles last season to focus on the open 400, Bol dominated the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. McLaughlin-Levrone has opted to focus solely on the 400 hurdles at Trials this year, despite casually dropping the world’s fastest time in the open 400 in May and the second-fastest time in the open 400 in early June 200.
Earlier this month, Bol recorded a victory in the 400 hurdles at the European Championships in a world-leading time of 52.49 seconds. How McLaughlin-Levrone reacts in Eugene could predict whether she will arrive in Paris as a slight favorite over Bol or as an overwhelming favorite.
5. Which new face will be the breakout star of this year’s Olympic Trials?
Collegiate stars are always at a disadvantage in the U.S. Olympics. They’ve been beating up their bodies during a series of championship matches in May and early June, while the pros can train to perform for Trials and for the Games themselves.
Among the college athletes with the best chance of overcoming these adverse conditions is an Ole Miss sprinter who won the 100-200 double at the NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month. McKenzie Long is capable of making the U.S. Olympic team in both sprint events, but her specialty is the 200, where she has produced multiple wind-legal sub-22-second performances in her career.
Another college standout is Texas Tech’s Caleb Dean, the only man in NCAA Division I history to win the 60-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles in the same year. Dean’s NCAA championship-winning time of 47.23 seconds in the 400 hurdles was the second-fastest ever by a college athlete. He will put pressure on Rai Benjamin if he can duplicate or better that time in Eugene.
Florida’s Parker Valby could be the future of American distance running after winning a pair of NCAA doubles, the 3,000 and 5,000 indoors and the 5,000 and 10,000 outdoors. She has competed in both the 5,000 and 10,000 at Trials and is a threat in both races with her fearless, on-the-throttle racing style.
