Paris awaits for Sha’Carri, Lyles and dozens more, but Olympic spots must be earned at trials
EUGENE, Ore. — The endorsement deals have been signed, the commercials have been shot. In some cases, a plane ticket – perhaps for a friend or family member – has already been purchased.
There’s one more item that needs to be crossed off the list before everyone can get rid of it Sha’Carri Richardson Unpleasant Noah Lyles Unpleasant Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone are starting their journey to Paris for the Olympics – and it’s no small detail at all.
They have to make the team. No athlete, no matter how famous or successful in the past, gets a free ride at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, which begin Friday and are the only place where the team’s roughly 120 spots heading to Paris can be officially honored. earned.
The top three in each event earn a spot on the team, assuming they have met the Olympic standard for that event.
“I feel like trials are always a good time to find out what the rounds are like and how fit they are,” says McLaughlin-Levrone, who, even as the world record holder in the 400-meter hurdles, still has to earn her mark. way. “We still have some time before Paris, but it is always the most difficult team to form, so obviously we have to go out and put in a performance first.”
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor is now 34 and there is no guarantee he will make the U.S. team in the triple jump. That has not always been the case. He won every gold medal at the Olympics and World Championships from 2011-2019. Then, as now, no one gave him anything when he walked into Hayward Field in Eugene with a spot on the line.
“I always felt like I had so much to lose because everyone expected it,” Taylor said. “Everyone said, ‘Of course you’re going to make it.’ But you can’t take the American team for granted.”
The trials run from June 21 to 30 on the University of Oregon campus.
A growing debate on the circuit is whether the 100 metres, which crowns the fastest man and woman in the world, will be replaced by the 400 meter hurdles as the most electric race on the programme.
That answer may not be fully fleshed out until after the Olympics. Richardson, Lyles and McLaughlin-Levrone will all have a big influence on how things will play out.
McLaughlin-Levrone has helped elevate the women’s 400-meter hurdles to must-watch status. She has lowered the world record four times in the past 36 months – three of those times taking place on the track in Eugene – to a once-unthinkable mark of 50.68 seconds.
She also has a potential rival in the making: reigning world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who finished second to McLaughlin-Levrone at the 2022 world championships and third, also behind 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad, at the Olympics the year before. .
Richardson may be the biggest name in Eugene during these 10 days.
Three years after A positive test for marijuana kept her out of the Olympics (after winning the 100m at trials), she is back and seems to be in top form. She will try out for the 100 and 200, and would be a shot in the arm for the women’s 4×100 relay team.
What happens at Jamaica’s Olympic Trials from June 27 to 30 will dictate the narrative in Paris. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah, the two-time defending 100m and 200m champion whose health is in question, would all be considered contenders for Olympic gold if they make their team.
Lyles headlines a new Netflix documentary that takes a look at the track. Like Richardson, he’s also hard to miss on NBC or wherever there’s an Olympic advertising campaign.
The men’s sprint game has struggled to stay in the spotlight since Usain Bolt left the sport after the Rio Games in 2016. Quickly name the defending 100m Olympic champion: it’s Marcell Jacobs of Italy; American sprinter Fred Kerley finished second.
Lyles is positioning himself as the circuit’s next big star. One way to do that is to win three – maybe even four – medals at the Olympics. He won gold in the 100, 200 and 4×100 relay at the World Championships last year and – much to the chagrin of some 400 meter runners on the American team – has also competed in the 4×400 relay.
If you haven’t heard of some of these runners yet, you will soon:
— Parker Valby, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Florida, recently broke a 14-year-old NCAA record in the 10,000 meters by 28 seconds, finishing in 30 minutes, 50.43 seconds. She is also the NCAA record holder in the 5,000 meters and competes in both events.
— Ole Miss senior McKenzie Long won NCAA titles in the 100 and 200 meters; her time of 21.83 is the fastest in the world this year.
— Nico Young, a 21-year-old from Northern Arizona, shaved nearly 16 seconds off the men’s college record in the 10,000 meters in March.
If she makes it to the starting line at trials, it will be the first race of the year for defending Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu.
She suffers from injuries. Last month she withdrew from the Prefontaine Classic with what coach Bobby Kersee said was a hamstring soreness.
The 22-year-old Mu looked like one of America’s top stars after winning the Olympics and then going on to win a world title in 2022.
But she almost skipped last year’s worlds, then admitted she enjoyed going on holiday and not having to think about the track. She hasn’t raced since winning the 2023 version of the Pre Classic last September.
___
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games