U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials: Will Sha’Carri Richardson claim the throne?

It has left potential gold medalists sobbing and heartbroken. It has reminded aging champions of their mortality. It has rocketed young unknowns to superstardom.

Welcome to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, a nerve-fraying, pressure-packed test of mettle.

From June 21 to June 30, America’s best runners, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers will descend upon Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to attempt to secure their spot at the Paris Olympics later this summer. The top three finishers in every event will make it as long as they’ve achieved the Olympic “A” standard. The rest will grapple with waiting another four years.

Other countries have grown a heart and inserted safety nets into the selection process. They’ll consider season-long performance or previous Olympic or World Championship results. In the U.S., there is no politics involved, no big names resting on past achievements. The system is brutal yet honest, cutthroat yet fair.

Among the gold-medal contenders trying to survive that pressure cooker this year are sprinters Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles, hurdlers Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Grant Holloway and throwers Valarie Allman and Ryan Crouser. Here are five storylines to keep an eye on as Trials get underway:

Sha’Carri Richardson of Team USA wins the women’s 100 meter dash during the Wanda Diamond League Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field on May 25, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

1. Can Sha’Carri Richardson claim the throne?

Three years ago, Sha’Carri Richardson was one of the faces of the Tokyo Olympics without even being there. The 21-year-old sprinting sensation blew away the competition in the women’s 100 meters at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, only to have that result invalidated weeks later when she tested positive for marijuana.

The debate over the fairness of Richardson’s Olympic ban brought her more attention than a gold medal ever would have. Richardson’s following on Instagram soared past two million. Nike and Apple-owned Beats by Dre featured her in ad campaigns. The list of celebrities who expressed support for Richardson included everyone from Seth Rogen and Cardi B, to Patrick Mahomes and Megan Rapinoe.

Richardson’s bid for redemption will make her one of the featured athletes at the Paris Games … but she has to qualify first. She’ll be the heavy favorite to win Saturday’s women’s 100 final and she is a contender to qualify for Paris in the women’s 200 as well.

There’s a lot of pressure on Richardson to live up to expectations this summer, but recently she has run with trademark confidence and swagger. Appearing in her first world championships last summer, Richardson took gold in the 100 and bronze in the 200. She opened her 2024 season at the Prefontaine Classic in late May by outclassing a strong field in the 100.

As Richardson herself famously put it last summer, “I’m not back. I’m better.”