This year, the Paris Olympics’ track and field arena will witness some of the most compelling participants from all over the world. Team USA has already geared up to send in their best contenders, including previous year’s World champions and former Olympians. However, with several nations involved, fans might want a mixed bag of results.
Continuing their ritual before the Olympics, Sports Illustrated listed their medal predictions for each sport category. Citius Magazine curated a list of track athletes from the US who were expected to bring in gold according to the predictions.
The names featured some of the A-lister track and field athletes, including Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Valarie Allman, and many more. Given their terrific performances at the Olympic trials finals, SI firmly believed that these athletes might make it to the top.
As they do before every Olympics, Sports Illustrated has released its medal predictions for all 329 events across all sports at the Olympics – as compiled by Brian Cazeneuve.
1️⃣8️⃣ projected
Here’s who @SInow has winning gold in track and field for Team USA at #Paris2024 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/mwr8XUoZMJ
— CITIUS MAG (@CitiusMag) July 22, 2024
However, fans expected a healthy mix of nations as a result, instead of every category having a US-based athlete. Many pointed out Jamaica’s historic track dominance and wondered how the list was solely focused on the US.
It is like the other countries are not participating including Jamaica
— Kachwanya (@kachwanya) July 22, 2024
Some even called them out for their biased predictions.
lol the bias here is real
— Jamcore (@Jamcoreinv) July 22, 2024
Others felt it was a bit too optimistic.
Very optimistic list
— Pinky Sithole (@pinkysithole17) July 22, 2024
However, some enthusiasts commented that these were just predictions and not the final results.
People here in the comments need to just relax rn. These are just predictions, not as if they are MEANT to be real
— Maliaki Kiki (@MaliakiHK) July 23, 2024
And lastly, some fans had their doubts about the 100m category that predicted Lyles’ win.
I don’t see Noah winning the 100m.
— Dr. Paco Hinton Jr Podcaster (@DrPacoHinton) July 22, 2024
All in all, despite the supposed bias in the list, it would be interesting to see how the results would turn out in the end. While contenders like Richardson and Lyles have some tough competition lined up, champions like Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone have only one competitor to worry about.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has a chance to dominate the track and field hurdles
This year, the 400m hurdles Olympic trials witnessed the magic of McLaughlin-Levrone as she surpassed all her competitors to secure a seat to Paris. However, this win wasn’t just an easy way to the Olympics for her, since it doubled up as a threat to her international competitors.
The 400m hurdle battle this year is expected to witness the 24-year-old go up against Dutch track and field icon Femke Bol, who has been equally dominant. However, with McLaughlin-Levrone breaking her world record to create a new one during the Olympic trials, things might be looking tough for her competitor.
The American already has several projects coming up this season, including a new Grand Slam Track and Field league contract offered by legendary Michael Johnson. With the Olympics just around the corner, she seems to be ready to take on some great challenges.
