Noah Lyles headlines crowded men’s 100m and 200m fields while Sha’Carri Richardson stars on the women’s side as the United States track and field team trials for the Paris Olympics kick off in Eugene, Oregon on Friday.
World champion Lyles will have his work cut out in the 100m, with 2019 world champion Christian Coleman expected to compete alongside teen phenom Christian Miller.
But Lyles, who ran 9.85 seconds in Kingston earlier this month, predicted he would be the one breaking the tape.
“Whoever’s going out there, if you have any type of different mentality of not trying to win, I don’t think this is the right sport for you,” he told reporters in New York this month.
He won his season opener in the longer sprint at the NYC Grand Prix in 19.77 and faces his biggest challenge in that event from world leader Kenny Bednarek, who won the Diamond League meets in Doha and Eugene last month.
“I have the power for sure. I need to find the rhythm again,” said 200m Tokyo bronze medallist Lyles.
Richardson hopes to reignite her Olympic dream in Eugene after a positive test for cannabis saw her miss out on competing in Tokyo.
She has few peers in the 100m after picking up gold in Budapest but will have a tougher road in the 200m against Tokyo bronze medallist Gabby Thomas and McKenzie Long, who won the collegiate championship in a world-leading 21.83 this month.
World record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone will defend her 400m hurdles Olympic title, sticking to her signature event despite successful forays into the 200m and 400m flat.
“Just kind of fine-tuning things,” McLaughlin-Levrone said on Tuesday at an event to launch the new Grand Slam Track circuit. “The hardest team to make so obviously you’ve got to go out there put a performance on.”
Olympic champion Athing Mu has only competed once since her bronze finish at the World Championships last year but is expected to make her season debut in the 800m.
Michael Norman, the 2022 world champion in the 400m, will continue his comeback tour in his signature event after taking time away last year due to injuries.
Men’s shot put world record holder Ryan Crouser will duel again with rival Joe Kovacs, while back-to-back world champion in the women’s event Chase Jackson hopes to punch her ticket to Paris after disappointing fifth at the trials in 2021.
The trials run from June 21-30.