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The Tokyo Olympics formally kicked off on July 23 with the Opening Ceremony, and monitor and discipline steps into the highlight on July 30, which is the primary of 10 days of occasions.
Based mostly on current performances and expertise, the Runner’s World editors have picked the runner who we predict is a lock to complete on the rostrum in every working occasion, from the 100 meters all the best way to the marathon. Here’s a breakdown of our predictions for every occasion.
How to watch track and field at the Tokyo Olympics
100 meters
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Girls: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaica
Lower than two months in the past, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce ran a ten.63 within the 100 meters in Kingston, Jamaica—it’s the fastest time in the world this year, and solely world record-holder Florence Griffith-Joyner has run quicker (10.49). The 34-year-old, who has medaled on this occasion at each Olympics since 2008 (two golds and a bronze), is in prime place to win her fourth medal. If she wins gold, she might turn out to be the oldest person to win an individual Olympic sprint and the primary girl to win three 100-meter golds on the Olympics.
Males: Trayvon Bromell, United States
Trayvon Bromell has clocked the two fastest times in the world this year on this occasion (9.77, a private greatest, and 9.80, profitable the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials), placing a goal on his again in Tokyo. That is Bromell’s second Olympic Video games; he completed eighth within the 100 meters in Rio, badly hampered by an Achilles tendon damage. The 26-year-old raced sparingly between 2017 and 2019, rounding again into type in 2020. Can he preserve his standing because the quickest man on the planet this yr and be the primary American man to win Olympic gold within the occasion since Justin Gatlin in 2004?
100-meter/110-meter hurdles
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Girls: Keni Harrison, United States
When Staff USA swept this event in Rio in 2016, Keni Harrison was watching at dwelling. After coming into the Trials as an undefeated favourite, she completed a disappointing sixth. Her quest for redemption started simply two weeks later, when she broke the world document with a 12.20 on the London Müller Anniversary Video games, and has continued since, with highlights together with a silver medal on the 2019 IAAF World Championships.
Like Harrison, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn has additionally prevailed in each race she completed this yr and has unfulfilled Olympic desires—she fell within the semifinals in Rio. However Harrison, 28, has newer championship expertise and seems to have timed her peak completely, profitable the finals at Trials with a season-best 12.47.
Males: Grant Holloway, United States
In February, Grant Holloway set the indoor world record of seven.29 within the 60-meter hurdles. 5 months later, within the Trials semifinals within the 110-meter hurdles, he narrowly missed one other world mark when he ran a personal-best 12.81 (the world document is 12.80, set by American Aries Merritt in 2012). He went on to win the final in 12.96. The eight-time NCAA champion for the College of Florida and 2019 world champion, 23, mentioned afterward breaking the document on the Olympics felt potential, however it isn’t his major objective: “So long as [the medal is] a gold, it doesn’t matter what the time is,” he mentioned.
200 meters
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Andy LyonsGetty Photos
Girls: Gabby Thomas, United States
Gabby Thomas’s triumphant Trials finish—arms with a single pink sleeve held excessive, whilst she clocked a world-leading 21.61, the third-fastest time ever—rocketed world wide, incomes her appearances on Today and tweets from everybody from actress Kerry Washington to White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki. And, it suggests even quicker occasions—doubtlessly, threats to Florence Griffith Joyner’s 21.34 world document—could also be forward for the 24-year-old Harvard alum and College of Texas public-health graduate scholar, who trains underneath famend coach Tonja Buford-Bailey.
Males: Noah Lyles, United States
After a heart-breaking fourth-place end within the 200 meters on the 2016 Trials, Noah Lyles gained the occasion on the 2019 world championships. He kicked off the 2020 season with a world record, kind of. Lyles ran 18.90 on the Inspiration Video games, a digital competitors, however it was later revealed {that a} lane mixup left his run 15 meters brief (Usain Bolt’s world document 19.19, set in 2009, nonetheless stands). As extra conventional competitions returned, Lyles posted extra victories, profitable the USATF Golden Games at Mt. SAC in 19.90 earlier than working a world-leading, season’s-best 19.74 seconds to win the Trials. Now, the 24-year-old is poised to return Staff USA to the rostrum within the 200 after a shutout in Rio in 2016.
400 meters
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Girls: Stephenie Ann McPherson, Jamaica
For the primary time since 2013, Stephenie Ann McPherson, 32, broke the 50-second barrier within the ladies’s 400 meters, exhibiting she’s prepared for a breakthrough efficiency in Tokyo. To win the Jamaican Championships on June 27, McPherson completed the one-lap race in 49.61, a private greatest and the fifth-fastest time on the planet thus far this yr. The Jamaican sprinter has been a mainstay on the worldwide stage, amassing 5 prime six finishes within the 400 meters at each world championship since 2013. Her final particular person medal was bronze on the 2013 IAAF World Championships, and she or he appears poised to earn extra {hardware} in her second Olympic Video games.
Males: Michael Norman, United States
When Michael Norman, 23, won the Trials with a 44.07, he ran as much as the stands to hug his mother, Nobue Saito Norman—now, he’s a favourite to win gold in her dwelling nation of Japan, the place she was additionally a sprinter. The second felt even sweeter since Norman not solely missed making the Rio group within the 200 meters 4 years in the past—on the time, he’d simply graduated highschool—however headed into the 2019 world championships with an damage and failed to make the finals within the 400. Now, he’s again in prime type, profitable the 400 meters on the Doha Diamond League meet Could 28 in 44.27 earlier than claiming his Trials victory.
400-meter hurdles
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Girls: Sydney McLaughlin, United States
In case you missed it, Sydney McLaughlin set the world record within the 400-meter hurdles in spectacular vogue on the U.S. Olympic Trials, working 51.90 to win the occasion. She’s the one girl to interrupt 52 seconds within the occasion, and it’s potential she’ll have to do it once more with a purpose to win Olympic gold. Nonetheless, the 21-year-old is a robust choose to medal on this occasion, assuming she will maintain off fellow American and reigning gold-medalist Dalilah Muhammad.
Males: Karsten Warholm, Norway
Warholm additionally broke the world record within the males’s 400-meter hurdles not too long ago; on July 1, he ran 46.70 on the Diamond League meet in Oslo to take down an almost 30-year-old mark. The 25-year-old has been dominant on this occasion over the past three years, profitable gold on the 2017 European U23 Championships, the 2018 European Championships, and the 2017 and 2019 world championships. Whereas that simply makes him the runner to beat on this occasion on the Olympics, he’ll face stiff competitors from American Rai Benjamin.
800 meters
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Girls: Athing Mu, United States
After a record-breaking freshman yr within the NCAA and past, plainly Athing Mu’s potential has no bounds. The Texas A&M standout broke the NCAA indoor and outdoor records within the ladies’s 800 meters, turned professional, and demolished the sector to win the U.S. Olympic Trials within the second-fastest time ever run by an American. Her profitable efficiency of 1:56.07 is a world lead and broke a 25-year-old U.S. Trials document. Despite the fact that Tokyo can be Mu’s first Olympic Video games, the 19-year-old’s development and dominant racing fashion make her a medal lock.
Males: Ferguson Rotich, Kenya
Ferguson Rotich’s consistency on the world stage makes him a favourite to medal within the males’s 800 meters. The Kenyan middle-distance runner earned bronze on the 2019 world championships in Doha, Qatar. On the Rio Video games, he completed fifth general. One yr earlier, he collected a fifth-place end on the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Whereas his present season’s better of 1:43.57 is ranked sixth in the world, Rotich can often be counted on to be inside placing distance of the rostrum.
1500 meters
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Girls: Religion Kipyegon, Kenya
Three years after giving birth to her daughter, Alyn, Religion Kipyegon lowered her personal Kenyan nationwide document within the ladies’s 1500 meters, making her a favourite to defend her Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. On the Monaco Diamond League meet, Kipyegon ran away from world champion Sifan Hassan to attain a profitable time of three:51.07, which moved her to fourth on the all-time record. The next day, she blazed the monitor once more with a 3:53 efficiency to complete second on the Golden Gala in Rome, exhibiting promising health heading into three rounds of the 1500 meters on the Video games.
Males: Timothy Cheruiyot, Kenya
Defending world champion Timothy Cheruiyot is trying poised to win his first ever Olympic medal. The Kenyan middle-distance runner rebounded from a fourth-place end on the nation’s trials by working 3:28.28, a world-leading time and new private greatest, to win the boys’s 1500 meters on the Monaco Diamond League meet on July 9. Cheruiyot gained gold on the 2019 world championships and earned a silver medal on the 2017 world championships in his signature occasion.
3,000-meter steeplechase
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Girls: Beatrice Chepkoech, Kenya
Beatrice Chepkoech began the 2021 season with a record-breaking efficiency, which confirmed nice momentum for the defending world champion heading into the postponed Tokyo Video games. On the Monaco Run in February, the steeplechase world record-holder smashed one other world document within the 5K. She ran 14:43, averaging a 4:44/mile pace on the roads. In her signature occasion, she secured a season’s greatest time of 9:04 whereas ending second on the Monaco Diamond League meet on July 9. After ending fourth in Rio, Chepkoech can be trying to win her first Olympic medal this summer season.
Males: Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco
After simply lacking the rostrum on the Rio Video games with a fourth-place end, Sioufiane El Bakkali rebounded with two world championship medals. The steeplechaser from Morocco earned silver on the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London and picked up bronze on the 2019 world championships in Doha. Each podium finishes plus his season’s better of 8:08 (No. 3 on the planet thus far this season) make him a medal contender in Tokyo.
5,000 meters
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Girls: Sifan Hassan, the Netherlands
Sifan Hassan, 28, has proven unimaginable vary over previous two years. She holds the world record in the mile (4:12.33), and she or he has run 3:51.95 for 1500 meters, 14:22.12 for five,000 meters, and 29:06.82 for 10,000 meters, which was a world record for 2 days in June. She is on the beginning lists for all three occasions in Tokyo. Will she do all three? It might require 24,500 meters of racing over 9 days.
Hassan, who was born in Ethiopia and competes for the Netherlands, took dwelling two golds from the 2019 world championships in Doha, with an unprecedented 1500/10,000 double. When the bell rings for the ultimate lap of the Olympic 5,000 meters, she’ll be within the medal combine.
Males: Mo Ahmed, Canada
Mo Ahmed has pretty much as good a shot as anybody for a medal in a deep 5,000-meter discipline. Final summer season, because the pandemic had shut down most racing alternatives, Ahmed ran 12:47.20 in a Bowerman Track Club intrasquad time trial on a highschool monitor. It was the Eleventh-fastest time in historical past and a Canadian document. The 30-year-old was fourth within the 5,000 meters on the 2016 Video games in Rio, and he took the bronze medal within the distance on the 2019 world championships in Doha. In June, he ran 12:50.12 for third place on the Florence Diamond League meet, the second-fastest time of his life.
10,000 meters
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Girls: Letesenbet Gidey, Ethiopia
Letesenbet Gidey is the world record-holder in two occasions—the 5,000 meters (14:06.62) and 10,000 meters (29:01.03)—however she is focusing solely on the ten,000 meters in Tokyo. In 2019, Gidey took silver behind Sifan Hassan within the 10,000 meters on the world championships in Doha. However in June this yr, Gidey broke Hassan’s world record within the occasion, solely two days after Hassan set it. With Hassan presumably gearing as much as triple in Tokyo, Gidey can have contemporary legs going into this occasion.
Males: Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda
Joshua Cheptegei had an astonishing 2020, when he set three world data—for the road 5K in February (12:51), 5,000 meters on the track in August (12:35.36), and 10,000 meters on the track in October (26:11.00). His 10,000-meter time lowered by 6.5 seconds the earlier world document, set by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia 15 years earlier.
The 24-year-old has raced sparingly in 2021; his most up-to-date outcome was within the 5,000 meters in June at a Diamond League meet in Florence, when he ran 12:54.69 and completed sixth. Will he must be at his greatest to medal in Tokyo? His document is nineteen seconds quicker than the next-fastest Tokyo entrant. He’s entered in each the ten,000 meters and 5,000 meters in Tokyo.
Marathon
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PoolGetty Photos
Girls: Brigid Kosgei, Kenya
Kosgei surprised the world on the 2019 Chicago Marathon, the place she ran 2:14:04 and shattered the earlier world document of two:15:25, set by Nice Britain’s Paula Radcliffe in 2003. Kosgei, now 27, averaged 5:06.8 per mile throughout that record-setting effort. Her most up-to-date marathon was London final October, which she gained in 2:18:58. Kosgei ran alone from the 18th mile to the end. If she’s close to or at her greatest in Sapporo, she’ll be effectively forward of the sector.
Males: Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya
Kipchoge holds the unofficial marathon world document—1:59:41, which he ran in October 2019 at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. He additionally holds the official marathon world document—2:01:39, which he ran on the 2018 Berlin Marathon, one among eight occasions he has damaged the tape at a World Marathon Main. And sure, he’s the reigning Olympic gold medalist, profitable in 2016 by 70 seconds. (He additionally holds a silver from 2008 and a bronze from 2004 within the 5,000 meters.)
The lone blemish of the 36-year-old’s current marathon dominance was his eighth-place finish on the 2020 London Marathon, held on a looped course. There, an earache was his undoing. However in April this yr, he won a marathon in the Netherlands in 2:04:30 and was happy with it as a take a look at of his health earlier than Tokyo. “My preparations for the Olympic Video games are going very well,” he wrote on Instagram on July 12. Search for Kipchoge on the Olympic medal stand for a fourth time.
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