Despite her impressive ranking as the second-best female hurdler globally, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is notably absent from the list of top 10 stars announced by World Athletics.
The anticipation is high for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France, where Amusan is expected to shine.
As of June 25, Amusan trails behind Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in the 100m hurdles rankings. With area championships concluded in June and the national championships window now closed, the stage is set for the Paris Games.
Some of the sport’s biggest stars, as well as some newer names, have excelled in recent weeks. To mark one month to go until track and field action starts at the Olympic Games, here’s a run-down of the status quo among some of the current standout performers.
Having missed most of the 2023 season through injury, the super-talented Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone showed she is back to her best by winning the 400m hurdles at the US Trials in a world record of 50.65 – her fifth world record of her career so far, despite still being just 24 years of age.
Before that, she had outlined her strong form by setting a 200m PB of 22.07 and clocking a world-leading 48.75 over 400m.
Four other women heading to Paris have broken 53 seconds this season, but McLaughlin-Levrone is almost two seconds faster than her nearest rival this year – world champion Femke Bol – so the US athlete will start as the strong favourite in Paris. If she succeeds, she’ll become the first woman in history to win two Olympic titles in the 400m hurdles.
Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, another dominant force in the sport, has been undefeated so far this year. Not only that, he has already won a global title and broken a world record.
Contesting any distance farther than 1000m at altitude can often be challenging due to the lack of oxygen in the air, but Faith Kipyegon made it look incredibly easy at last month’s Kenyan Trials.
The multiple world and Olympic gold medallist won the 5000m in 14:46.28, finishing six seconds ahead of Beatrice Chebet, who had smashed the world 10,000m record just a few weeks prior. One day later, Kipyegon returned to the track and won the 1500m in 3:53.98. Both of her winning marks were the fastest times ever produced at altitude.
At the Paris Olympics, US sprinter Noah Lyles is not simply looking to replicate his feat from last year’s World Championships; he wants to go above and beyond.
World 100m champion Sha’Carri Richardson has picked up where she left off last season. She won the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in May in 10.83, then breezed through the rounds of the US Trials before taking the title in a world-leading 10.71.
A relatively new name on the international sprint scene, Kishane Thompson’s breakthrough last year went almost unnoticed.
He clocked 9.91 in the heats of the Jamaican Championships last year, but didn’t contest the final and so missed out on competing at the World Championships. Later in the season, he reduced his PB to 9.85 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Xiamen.
Ever since making the rookie error of easing up too early in her heat at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Shericka Jackson has been near flawless in the 200m.
From June 2022 until May 2024, the versatile Jamaican sprinter was undefeated at 200m, notching up two world titles and clocking three of the four fastest times in history.
When Ethan Katzberg won the world hammer title last year, he was considered one of the most surprising winners of the championships. But the Canadian has been undefeated since then, showing that his performance in Budapest was no fluke.
When an injury ruled out Nafi Thiam from defending her world heptathlon title in Budapest last year, some wondered whether the Belgian all-rounder would be able to return to title-winning form.
But the 29-year-old quashed any doubts when winning the European title last month in 6848, the third-best score of her career, despite it being her first competition since last July.
If anyone is due a global gold medal, it’s Lamecha Girma. The Ethiopian distance runner has contested five global championships to date, and has won silver every time.
But Girma – who holds world records for the 3000m steeplechase and the indoor 3000m – has started 2024 in superb form. He was undefeated indoors, then set PBs of 12:58.96 for 5000m and 3:53.82 for the mile at the start of the outdoor season.