Top 5 Stories from the U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Andscape

The U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials concluded Sunday, and the U.S. team looks poised for a successful performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begins July 26.

Countless storylines emerged from the June trials, featuring 48 medal events across both men and women. Defending 800-meter gold medalist A-Sing Mu fell during trials, ending her chance to defend her title. Three-time Olympian Lolo Jones attempted a comeback at age 41, reaching the semifinals in the 100-meter hurdles. Heptathlete Anna Hall, who broke her leg during the 2021 Olympic trials and missed out on qualifying for Tokyo, finally qualified for the Olympics by winning gold at this year's trials.

But with less than a month until the track and field events begin, Andscape will be highlighting the top five American stories to come out of the qualifiers.

5. A high school genius. The only headline you should read about Quincy Wilson is that he is the youngest American male athlete to compete in the Olympics. The 16-year-old high school student captured the world's attention at the June 24th Olympic Trials and is heading to Paris as a member of the men's 4×400 relay. Wilson, who doesn't yet have a driver's license, Start your own Twitch accountWilson shot into the spotlight last week at the Trials when he twice broke the under-18 world record in the 400 meters. The record (44.69 seconds, set by Darrell Robinson in 1982) stood for 42 years until Wilson ran 44.66 seconds in the first round of the Trials and 44.59 seconds in the semifinals. Wilson finished sixth in the 400 meters in Paris, but his 44.94 seconds in the final marked the third time he had broken 45 seconds in three days, earning him a place in the relay.

4. Can anyone catch Gabby Thomas? Thomas, a bronze medalist in the 200 meters at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and a silver medalist at the 2023 World Championships, is already the favorite to win gold in the 200 meters in Paris. She has the two fastest times in the event this season, both of which she ran at the Olympic Trials. If Thomas wins next month in Paris, she will be the first American woman to win gold in the women's 200 meters since 2012 (Allyson Felix). That path is made easier by the fact that two-time Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Hera of Jamaica will miss this year's Olympics due to injury. But never mind that. Thomas casually held her wrist and smiled after running a world-leading 21.78 seconds in the women's semifinal on June 28. It showed that it might be that easy for her to win at the Olympics. Unless, that is, redshirt senior Mackenzie Long of Ole Miss, who had the third-fastest time in the 200 meters this season (21.83 seconds) and won the NCAA Championship, has something to say about it.

3. It's best to do that. The only reason Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone isn't a bigger name in American track and field is because her event, the 400-meter hurdles, isn't as glamorous as the sprints or relays. But know this: McLaughlin-Levrone is the best hurdler ever, the past, and the future. She set a world record for the hurdles in 2021 with a time of 51.46 seconds, then broke the record four times in the next three years. if McLaughlin-Levrone will be looking to win gold in Paris next month, but the question is what time she will do it in. No woman has ever broken 50 seconds in the 400m hurdles, but with McLaughlin-Levrone consistently setting new standards over the last few years, that could happen. To further impress upon you how good McLaughlin-Levrone is, she owns the fastest time in the 400m and the sixth-fastest time in the 200m this season.

2. Can Noah Lyles make history? Perhaps the least notable thing about Lyles is that he's the best sprinter in the world right now. His (no pun intended) track record speaks for itself: World leader in the 200 meters this season. Three-time world champion in the 200 meters. Top American male sprinter. But instead, it's all of Lyles' shenanigans and pranks that make him one of the most fascinating athletes heading into Paris. He became a star in 2023, when after winning gold at the world championships that year, he criticized the winners of the NBA Finals for calling themselves “world champions.” That was the beginning of a feud with American basketball players, but on reflection, Lyles had a point. Now, a year later, Lyles is pulling out a rare Yu-Gi-Oh trading card on the starting block before the race and puffing up his chest after an easy win. Barring a win by Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, who set the world's best 100-meter time (9.77 seconds) at Jamaica's Olympic Trials on June 28, Lyles has the potential to become the first American man to win both the 100 and 200 meters at an Olympic Games since Carl Lewis in 1984.

1. Shacarie Richardson is back. Richardson's story is well known. After winning the 100m at the 2021 Olympic Trials, Richardson tested positive for THC and was banned from the 2021 Olympics. Richardson did not take the loss well, lashing out at critics on Twitter and then finishing last in the 100m at the Prefontaine Classic in August 2021, behind Jamaican sprinters Thompson-Heller, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sherica Jackson. However, after a two-year hiatus, Richardson returned with an upset win over Fraser-Pryce and Jackson in the 100m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Richardson continued her comeback by winning the gold medal in the 100m on June 24. Richardson placed fourth in the 200m, missing out on a spot in Paris, but that was more down to circumstance than ability. She ran the second-fastest time in the heats and the sixth-fastest time of the year, 21.92 seconds, but had already run five races by the time she qualified for the 200 final. Richardson looks set for a rematch with Jackson and Fraser-Pryce in the 100 in Paris, and based on her performances so far (she has run four of the world's 11 fastest 100s this year), she is the favorite to win.