Paris 2024 Olympics - Top 8 athletics events to watch during Games including men's and women's 100m

Since Usain Bolt’s retirement in 2017, there has been no singular breakout star to live up to the Jamaican's legacy. However, there is a long list of male sprinters that will be challenging for gold, including reigning world champion Noah Lyles (USA), reigning Olympic and European champion Marcell Jacobs (Italy) and reigning indoor world champion Christian Coleman (USA). But there are other strong contenders in the 10-second battle - the athletes to watch are British record holder Zharnel Hughes, six-time Olympic medallist Andre DeGrasse (Canada) and Oblique Seville (Jamaica), who ran the second-fastest time so far this year.

Paris 2024 will mark Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s (Jamaica) last time taking to the track, 16 years after winning her first Olympic gold in Beijing. Fraser-Pryce has totalled a phenomenal 10 world golds and three Olympic golds. But as she steps down, others are stepping up – Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) is the reigning world champion and will be making her Olympic debut. Other women to keep an eye on are Team GB's Daryll Neita and Dina Asher-Smith, Julian Alfred (St Lucia) and Ewa Swoboda (Poland). But the women’s sprint battle will not just be in the 100m, as most of these women will also be running the 200m. Add Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) to that list of contenders in the 200m. Importantly, the reigning Olympic champion in both races, Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica), was forced to withdraw through injury in June.

The 400m Hurdles world record holder, Sydney McLaughlin (USA), versus 400m indoor world-record holder, Femke Bol (Netherlands) – dubbed the battle of the world record holders. These two women have had a fierce rivalry since they first raced one another at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but Bol is yet to beat McLaughlin. Currently, Bol holds the world lead with a time of 52.49s with McLaughlin close behind in what was her season opener, with a time of 52.70s. Either of these women could take gold or even the world record – it is one of the most highly anticipated races of the summer.

Reigning world champion Mary Moraa (Kenya), two-time European champion Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain) and world indoor silver medallist Jemma Reekie (Great Britain) – with just two laps to separate them. This tight race has been blown wide open by reigning Olympic champion and former world champion Athing Mu's (USA) absence in Paris, as she failed to qualify after suffering a fall at the US Trials. In recent years, the women’s 800m has been a battle to the line, and with all of them appearing to be on form, it is expected to again be a race split by hairs.

This event is more than times and medals, it is highly personal for some of the athletes. Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) has twice been beaten by a Brit at a World Championships, and it is safe to say that he is not pleased. Jake Wightman (Great Britain) was the first to dethrone Ingebrigtsen at the 2022 World Championships, but withdrew from Paris through injury this week. The following year, when Ingebrigtsen was looking for redemption, Josh Kerr (Great Britain) snatched the win for himself. Since then, Kerr and Ingebrigtsen have had an intense rivalry, with Ingebrigtsen stating he could beat Kerr blindfolded. It is set to be a race fuelled by fire, so make sure to watch to see if the Norwegian can retain his Olympic title or if one of the British runners can claim another victory.

Ryan Crouser (USA), the world record holder and two-time world and Olympic champion, has dominated the shot put for a few years now, but the rest of the field is catching him up. Joe Kovacs (USA) is also a two-time world champion and currently holds the outdoor world lead of 23.13m. Also catching Crouser is Tom Walsh (New Zealand) who has thrown 22.58m and Leonardo Fabbri, who threw 22.45m to take the win at the European Championships in Rome. Crouser will be pushing himself for yet another world record, but first he needs to fight to secure the gold.

We cannot speak about world records without recognising Armand Duplantis (Sweden), commonly known as Mondo – the 24-year-old has broken the world record an astonishing eight times already. On top of his world record, Duplantis is also the reigning world and Olympic champion. Duplantis extended his world record most recently at the Diamond League in China on April 20 to 6.24m – that is two metres higher than your standard double-decker bus. If you want to witness a world record in the stadium this summer, then Duplantis is a good one to bet on.

Great Britain’s queen of athletics and two-time reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson will be aiming to add Olympic gold to her esteemed collection. Johnson-Thompson will be looking for redemption after having to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to injury. However, to claim gold, Johnson-Thompson will have to face two-time Olympic and world champion Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium) and Anna Hall (USA), who at just 23 currently tops the World Athletics heptathlon rankings, and Anouk Vetter (Netherlands) who has fallen just shy of a world or Olympic gold four times.

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