Team USA's Best Chances for Track and Field Gold
Death and taxes.
Ol' Benjamin Franklin reminded us that those are the only two absolute certainties in life, and Olympians know it to be true. Track and field is about to get underway in Rio, and Team USA comes off a showing at the London Olympics that included gold medals in nine of the 47 track and field events.
The heavily decorated likes of decathlete Ashton Eaton and sprinter Allyson Felix are well-known favorites in their respective events, and the U.S. has remarkable depth in contests like the women's 100-meter hurdles and women's long jump. Also, the absence of nearly the entire Russian team leaves even more room for contenders, leaving windows open for athletes like Kerron Clement in the men's 400 hurdles.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
Here are Team USA's best chances for gold medals at the Olympic Stadium.
Men's Triple Jump: Christian Taylor
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Christian Taylor is not focusing on the other Olympians in Rio as much as the world record of 60 feet set by Great Britain's Jonathan Edwards at the 1995 World Championships.
“It’s an amazing feat, and it took a special guy to do it. I think I can do it,” he said Wednesday in Rio.
Due to a knee injury, he has started jumping off of his right foot instead of his left since winning gold in London, but it has not slowed him down. He is the reigning world champion in the event, having set a personal best of 59'9" (18.21 meters) in Beijing last August.
Three more inches and he'll have himself an iconic Olympic moment.
Men's Shot Put: Joe Kovacs
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Kovacs, 27, is the reigning world champion in shot put and the clear favorite in Rio. His personal-best is a quarter-inch over 74 feet (22.56 meters), which would be good enough to break the Olympic Record of 73'8.25" (22.47 meters) that Finland's Ulf Timmermann set way back in 1988.
The Penn State grad has also always been a fashion aficionado, according to his Twitter account. You've gotta love eccentric shot-putters.
Women's High Jump: Chaunte Lowe
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A lot of the hype around the high jump has been about teenage compatriot Vashti Cunningham, but it is veteran Chaunte Lowe who is the favorite in Rio, where she'll look to win her first Olympic medal after taking sixth in London.
She is a seven-time national champion who cleared 6'7", the best mark in the world this year, at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Should Lowe, 32, fail to win gold, the American 14 years her junior will also have a shot to break through on the biggest stage.
Inika McPherson is also in the mix for Team USA, and Lowe is confident that all three will make a splash.
“I think we may be able to see a sweep on the podium (in Rio),” she told USA Today.
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Men's 4x400 Relay
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Team USA should contend in all four relays, but the men's 4x400 is the best bet for American gold against what is always a tough sprinting field. The Bahamas shocked the United States by winning this event in London, but the Americans have dominated the international scene since and are back as the favorites, winning the last two world titles.
The team of LaShawn Merritt, Tony McQuay, Gil Roberts and David Verburg will have to fight off numerous upset-minded Caribbean teams, but Team USA have proved capable of doing that repeatedly since London.
Decathlon: Ashton Eaton
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Team USA’s golden boy pulled away from the rest of the world’s decathletes in the lead-up to the London Olympics and has not stopped dominating since. According to the IAAF, the last time Ashton Eaton lost a decathlon or heptathlon was back in 2011, and he’s still in his prime at age 28. He most recently broke his own world record at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, where he posted a score of 9,045 and won by over 300 points.
Eaton is well-rested, having only competed in one decathlon this year, which ended with an easy victory at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a mark of 8,750. The last man to defend an Olympic title in the decathlon was Great Britain’s Daley Thompson, who won his second straight at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
While the presence of 10 events provides plenty of time for things to go wrong, Eaton should defend his title in Rio.
Women's 400 Hurdles: Dalilah Muhammad or Ashley Spencer
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Like in the women's high jump, much of the attention in the 400-meter hurdles has gone to a teenage phenom, who in this case is 17-year-old Sydney McLaughlin. While the prep star has a shot at the podium, a Team USA elder is the one making this a golden chance for the American contingent.
Dalilah Muhammad has reached the podium at an international meet only once—at the 2013 World Championships—but has surged to the top of the world rankings with a time of 52.88 seconds at the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Muhammad's main competition is Czech veteran Zuzana Hejnova, who has continued to deal with Achilles issues with injuries this year and may not be in top form. Fellow American Ashley Spencer took second to Muhammad at the Trials and could strike gold for Team USA.
100-Meter Hurdles: Brianna Rollins
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If you had to put your money on one event that Team USA will win, it’s the 100-meter hurdles. The top seven performers in the event this year are all American, and the top three of those moved on to Rio from the Trials.
The favorite in the field is Brianna Rollins, who blazed to a mark of 12.34 seconds at the Olympic Trials, just a hundredth short of the meet record, according to the IAAF. To put Team USA’s depth into perspective, the athlete with the world’s fastest time in the world this year, Keni Harrison, finished in sixth place at the Trials. Should Rollins falter, teammates Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin will be next in line.
Cue "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Women's Long Jump: Brittney Reese
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No woman has ever defended an Olympic long jump title, but here comes Brittney Reese.
The 29-year-old hit a rough patch after surgery in 2014, which led to an early exit at the 2015 World Championships. However, she bounced back to win her third World Indoor Championship earlier this year and soared to a personal best of 24 feet (7.31 meters) at the Trials. The IAAF points that out as the best mark in a dozen years.
Should Reese have a rough final, fellow American Tianna Bartoletta would be the next in line as far as world rankings.
Women's 400: Allyson Felix
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There will be no more juggling of multiple events for Allyson Felix.
A bonafide superstar, the reigning 200-meter champion will wrap up her vaunted Olympic career by focusing on just one distance in Rio. An April ankle sprain slowed her at the Trials, where she failed to qualify in the 200 and missed out on her chance to pull off an Olympic double.
Although not operating at full strength in July, she won the 400 and now has tunnel vision in that race. She'll have to fight off Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, who finished second to her at the 2015 World Championships. If she does, she will have a fifth gold medal to her name.
Men's 400 Hurdles: Kerron Clement
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Kerron Clement is 30 and has not medaled at an international event in seven years.
How does that make him an Olympic favorite?
He finished fourth at last year's World Championships in Beijing, and the three medalists from that competition have since fallen hard. The gold-medalist from last year, Kenya's Nicholas Bett, has just the 43rd-best time in the world this year, while Clement recently set a personal best of 48.40 seconds for the world's top time.
Russian Dennis Kudryavtsev, who was second to Bett, is disqualified with the rest of the Russian team, and bronze-medalist Jeffrey Gibson of the Bahamas ranks 18th in the world this year.
The runway has been cleared for Clement.
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