Complete Preview of the 2016 US Olympic Track and Field Trials
Track and field events are among the most popular competitions in the Summer Olympics, and Americans always fare well in them.
With the exception of the marathon and race walking, the United States' Olympic representatives in track and field will be determined in the U.S. Team Olympic Trials for track and field, which will be held July 1-10 in Eugene, Ore. The Olympic track and field competition will be held Aug. 12-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
An International Olympic Committee ruling may allow only some Russian track athletes to compete in the Games, per the Associated Press (h/t CBC/Radio-Canada), which could open the door for more U.S. medals.
Decathlete Ashton Eaton and sprinter Allyson Felix are among America's best hopes for Olympic gold medals, but they must first qualify in the trials. In track and field, the U.S. Olympic Trials are often as competitive as the Olympic Games.
What You Need to Know
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The Event: The U.S. Olympic Team Trials for track and field will be held at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.
The top-three finishers in each event will qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio, assuming the Olympic qualifying time or distance has been achieved. The U.S. Olympic Trials for the marathon and 50-kilometer race walking have already been held, and the trials for 20-kilometer race walking will be held June 30 in Salem, Ore.
The Schedule: The track and field trials run from July 1-10. The schedule for some of the headline events includes the July 3 men's and women's 100-meter finals, the July 9 men's 200-meter finals, the July 10 women's 200-meter finals, and the July 3 men's and women's 400-meter finals.
TV Information: NBC, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra will present 76 hours of coverage. It begins July 1 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time with coverage of men's shot put and the 10,000-meter finals, and it concludes July 10 with coverage of the men's and women's 400-meter finals and men's high-jump finals beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
Top Storylines
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Overcoming kidney transplant
Aries Merritt, pictured above, won the Olympic gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles in 2012, but he has had a kidney transplant since then.
With under 20 percent kidney function, he placed third in the 2015 world championships, per the New York Times, and then received a transplanted kidney from his sister in a surgery performed last September.
He placed only fourth in the Prefontaine Games in May (behind two Americans), so it remains to be seen whether he can improve enough in two months to qualify for the Olympics and compete for another medal. If he makes it to Rio, he will provide an inspirational story.
Long-distance double
Galen Rupp has already qualified for the Olympics in the marathon, finishing first at the trials in the first marathon he ever ran, per USA Today.
Now he wants to qualify in the 10,000 meters, an event in which he won a silver medal in the 2012 Olympics. He is trying to become the first man to compete in both events in the Olympics since Dan Browne did it in 2004, when he finished 12th in the 10,000 meters and 65th in the marathon.
Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia had never run a marathon before he captured the Olympic gold medal in the event in 1952. He also won gold in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters at those Games in Helsinki, Finland.
The sprint battles
American sprinters have high hopes for the Olympics. Allyson Felix has set her sights on winning gold in both the 200 and 400 meters in Rio, and her performance in Eugene may indicate whether that is a realistic goal.
Felix won the gold medal in the 200 at the 2012 Olympics and placed first in the 400 at the 2015 world championships.
Justin Gatlin heads a strong field of men's sprinters who figure to earn medals in Rio, but claiming an Olympic berth in that field of runners won't be easy.
Meanwhile, Tori Bowie and Tianna Bartoletta excel both as sprinters and long jumpers, with Bowie having a shot in the 100 meters and 30-year-old Bartoletta having her best chance in the latter.
Notable Events
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Men's 100 meters
Justin Gatlin, pictured above, finished just 0.01 seconds behind Usain Bolt at the IAAF 2015 World Championship and has been running well this year.
Americans have dominated this event over the years, but a U.S. athlete has not won Olympic gold in the 100 since 2004, when Gatlin triumphed. But he has a chance to beat Bolt in Rio.
Gatlin will have to perform well against a strong Olympic trials field that includes Tyson Gay and 21-year-old Trayvon Bromell to get his shot against Bolt. The top-three finishers in the U.S. trials figure to be contenders for medals in Rio.
Women's 100-meter hurdles
Dawn Harper-Nelson, Brianna Rollins and Keni Harrison all could be competing for medals in Rio if they get there, so the competition in the trials will be fierce.
Finishing in the top three in this field will be a significant accomplishment and even the third-place athlete could be thinking about gold in Rio.
The United States has won six medals, including two gold, in this event in the past four Olympics. Nelson won in 2008 and was a silver medalist in 2012.
Women's long jump
A strong field of Olympic medal contenders will compete for spots on the U.S. team. Brittney Reese was impressive in winning the long jump at the Prefontaine Games in May against a field that included many probable Olympians.
However, she will be competing against the likes of veteran Tianna Bartoletta, who won the long jump at the 2015 World Championships, as well as several other top American jumpers.
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Locks for Rio
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Ashton Eaton, decathlon
Ashton Eaton, pictured above, won the decathlon gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, and he won the World Championship in that event in 2015, taking the gold by a wide margin while posting a world-record point total.
Despite the presence of potential Games medalist Trey Hardee at the trials, no other American seems to be in Eaton's class at the moment, and he should have no problem qualifying. Assuming he qualifies, he will be favored to win his second Olympic gold medal in Rio.
Joe Kovacs, men's shot put
Joe Kovacs is setting his sights on gold in Rio and should have little trouble qualifying.
Kovacs captured gold in the 2015 World Championship, and he also won the USA Track and Field Championships in both 2014 and 2015.
He was ranked No. 1 in the world at the end of 2015 by Track and Field News, and he should be motivated at the trials after finishing fourth in the 2012 trials and missing the Olympics. He has just turned 27 and seems to be approaching his peak.
Allyson Felix, 200 meters and 400 meters
Even if Allyson Felix fails to qualify in either the 200 or 400, she seems certain to qualify in the other. The only concern is an ankle injury that forced her to skip the Prefontaine Games in May, per NBC Sports. She should be healthy for the trials, though.
Felix hopes to win Olympic gold in both the 200 and 400, and her chances for accomplishing that feat will be gauged in the trials. She won gold in the 200 at the 2012 Games and ran a leg in both the 4x100 and 4x400 U.S. relay teams that won gold medals in London.
Felix finished first in the 400 at the World Championships last year. She is now 30 years old and this will probably be her final Olympics.
Other favorites
Others expected to qualify comfortably include sprinter Justlin Gatlin, hurdler Dawn Harper-Nelson, 400-meter man LaShawn Merritt, Brittney Reese and Marquis Dendy in the long jump, steeplechase runner Evan Jager and Christian Taylor in the triple jump.
Dark Horses to Watch
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Sandi Morris, women's pole vault
Jenn Suhr has been the dominant American female pole vaulter for years, having claimed silver in the 2008 Olympics and gold in the 2012 Summer Games. She will be favored at this year's Olympic trials, but don't be surprised if Sandi Morris, pictured above, gives her a challenge.
When Morris turns 24 on July 8, she will be 10 years younger than Suhr, and Morris has been performing well lately. She was fourth in the 2015 World Championships and second in the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
Both Suhr and Morris are expected to make the U.S. team, but the younger athlete might steal the top spot at the trials.
Robby Andrews, men's 1500 meters
Matthew Centrowitz, who won the 2016 World Indoor Championships at 1500 meters, and Leo Manzano, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist at that distance, figure to be the favorites at the trials.
However, Centrowitz missed the Prefontaine Games in May with a stress reaction in his leg, and Manzano has been battling respiratory issues that have set him back. That could open the door for Robby Andrews, who placed fourth at the indoor championships.
Tia Brooks, women's shot put
Tia Brooks is just 26 years old and seems to be improving rapidly. She had a personal-best toss of 19.73 meters while winning the Birmingham British Athletic Grand Prix in May against a strong field.
Michelle Carter remains the favorite in the women's shot put at the trials, but Brooks, a two-time NCAA champion, could emerge into stardom sometime soon.
She tweaked her technique over the winter, per Peter J. Wallner of MLive.com, and it seems to be paying off. In 2012, she placed third in the trials and 19th at the Olympics, but she is looking for better results this time around.
Future American Stars at the Trials
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Vashti Cunningham, women's high jump
Vashti Cunningham, the 18-year-old daughter of former NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham, has a chance to become the youngest female American track and field athlete to medal in the Olympics since Willye White 60 years ago, according to a Sports Illustrated article by Tim Layden. The headline of that story proclaims she is "poised to become the world's best high jumper."
Cunningham, pictured above, burst into the Olympic conversation by winning the high jump at the World Indoor Championships in March, and she is among the favorites to win the high jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She is a star of the future and, arguably, a star of the present.
Kaylin Whitney, women's 200 meters
Kaylin Whitney, 18, ran the fastest 100 and 200 meters ever run by a woman under the age of 18 in 2014, and she turned pro on her 17th birthday in March 2015, per NBCSports.com.
She finished fourth in the 2015 U.S. Championships in the 200 and captured gold in that event at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada. She faces a strong field of sprinters in the trials.
Candace Hill, women's 100 and 200 meters
Candace Hill broke Whitney's American teenage record in the 100, running it in 10.98 seconds last June, per the New York Times. She turned pro last December at age 16, becoming the youngest American track athlete ever to become a professional, as USA Today reported.
She turned 17 in February and recently completed 11th grade, according to an Atlanta Magazine article that noted she produced a 4.9 grade-point average in her last semester. Like Whitney, she faces a strong field of sprinters at the trials.
How USA Track and Field Stacks Up vs. the Competition in Rio
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A strong American team could match or accede its 2012 medal totals, when it won nine gold medals and 29 medals overall in track and field at the London Olympics, per USA Track and Field.
However, the Americans will be hard pressed to come close to the 16 gold and 40 medals they won in track and field in the 1984 Olympics, when the Soviet Union and East Germany were among the 14 Eastern bloc countries that boycotted the Games. The 1984 haul represented the most Olympic track and field medals won by the United States since 1904.
American men have a chance to claim the two mythical glamour titles: world's fastest human and world's best athlete.
Ashton Eaton will be favored to win the decathlon and capture the latter title, while Justin Gatlin will pose a challenge to Usain Bolt in the 100 meters in what may be the most intriguing event of the Olympics.
Gatlin won the 2004 Olympic gold before being banned for four years for doping, per Brendan Gallagher of the Daily Telegraph. The American men also have a shot at dethroning Jamaica in the 4x100 relay.
Allyson Felix has a chance to be the first American women since Valerie Briscoe-Hooks in 1984 to win both the 200 and 400 meters in the same Olympics, and she will be favored in the 400. American women will challenge for gold in both sprint relays as well.
Brittney Reese leads a strong contingent of Americans in the women's long jump, and Jenn Suhr and Sandi Morris both will be battling for the gold in the women's pole vault.
Paced by Dawn Harper-Nelson, the U.S. has a shot to sweep the medals in the women's 100-meter hurdles, and American men could earn multiple medals in the 110-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump.
Joe Kovacs will be favored to win the men's shot put, and Michelle Carter is expected to medal in the women's event.
As usual, the United States is expected to win considerably more track and field medals than any other country.
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