Most Exciting Athletes to Watch

Credit score: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports activities

In a world full of uncertainty, one factor is for certain; the Tokyo Olympics this summer time will probably be not like any Olympic Video games in dwelling reminiscence.

With the world prone to nonetheless be within the throes of the Covid pandemic, likelihood is there will probably be diminished crowds – if there are any crowds in any respect – athlete numbers might effectively be tightened and with every little thing the world has been by way of over the previous 12 months, there’ll nearly actually be a unique really feel to the Video games than normal.

Nonetheless, regardless of the possible variations, there are specific to be some constants.

With athletes having had an additional 12 months to arrange for Tokyo, nearly all may have put the elevated coaching time to good use and so it’s attainable we are going to see much more extraordinary feats than have graced earlier Olympics.

The lads’s 100m stays the blue riband occasion of the Olympic Video games and this 12 months’s occasion may have a really totally different look to it than the 100m finals in latest reminiscence.

With Usain Bolt having gained the final three Olympic 100m titles, all different sprinters have been rendered also-rans.

Nonetheless, the retirement of the Jamaican means there will probably be a brand new champion this summer time. With reigning world champion and stand-out favorite, Christian Coleman, presently serving a suspension for a doping violation, there’s a enormous alternative for whoever is ready to take it.

American sprinters appear the almost certainly to take Bolt’s crown, with present 200m world champion, Noah Lyles, World Indoor Championship medallist, Ronnie Baker and veteran Justin Gatlin all contenders.

Away from the observe, Simone Biles made historical past at Rio 2016 by turning into the primary feminine gymnast to win 4 gold medals at a single Video games. By the point Tokyo rolls round this summer time, she’s going to nonetheless solely be 24-years-old and having picked up 5 gold medals at the newest World Championships, in 2019, the Texas native appears effectively on observe to change into the most-decorated gymnast of all time in Tokyo, overtaking Belarus’ Vitaly Scherbo who accrued 33 world championship medals all through his profession.

A profitable Olympics can be much more significant for Biles and her supporters as it will likely be her first main championship look since revealing she was one of many victims of sexual abuser and former nationwide crew physician, Larry Nassar.

The pool is historically one of many USA’s most fruitful venues in relation to Olympic silverware and the Tokyo Aquatics Centre is prone to be no totally different.

Floridian Caeleb Dressel will head to Japan together with his sights firmly set on claiming his first particular person Olympic titles so as to add to his two relay golds from Rio. Actually, his 13 world titles since his Olympic debut bode effectively for what he might do in Tokyo whereas Dressel’s compatriot, Katie Ledecky, will head to Japan along with her deal with cementing her standing as probably the most profitable feminine swimmer of all time.

This summer time’s Video games is the primary to incorporate skateboarding and whereas many observers will probably be unfamiliar with the intricacies of the game, it should possible not take lengthy for it to assemble sturdy assist.

Nyjah Huston, the world’s highest-paid skateboarder, would be the one to look out for within the males’s road self-discipline as he makes an attempt to win the primary gold medal in his sport.

And regardless of nonetheless being a teen, Huston’s compatriot, Brighton Zeuner, will probably be on the hunt so as to add Olympic gold to her X Video games skateboard park titles.

So regardless of the disruption to the sporting calendar over the previous 12 months, there stays loads to get enthusiastic about as Tokyo approaches.