After four long years of waiting, the Olympics are back! Many athletes trained tirelessly for these events, and this does not include the best track and field competitors in the world. On day one of track and field events, there were no Americans that took part in an event. The only two events to occur were the Men’s and Women’s 20km walk race. The men’s heat saw Spain’s Alvaro Martin take bronze, Brazil’s Caio Bonfim take silver, and Ecuador’s Brian Pintado take gold. On the women’s side Australia’s Jemima Montag won bronze, Spain’s Maria Perez won silver, and China’s Yang Jiayu took home the gold.

Day two saw a plethora of events, including numerous U.S. athletes looking to make their mark. A majority of the events were held as qualification rounds, and few medals were received.

In the Men’s 10,000m, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won gold with a time of 26:43.14 with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi finishing just 0.3 seconds behind for silver. Finally, in the No. 3 spot, United States’ Grant Fisher took bronze just 0.02 seconds behind Aregawi.

In the thirteen different track and field qualifying events, a total of 21 U.S. athletes qualified. The U.S. also qualified as a whole in the Mixed 4x400m Relay, placing No. 1 with a new world record time of 3:07.41; breaking the previous record of 3:08.80 held by another U.S. team. This team consisted of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Deadmon and Kaylyn Brown.

In the decathlon, many athletes began through five different events: 100m and 400m run, Long Jump, Shot Put and High Jump. After day two, Germany’s Leo Neugebauer sat at No. 1 with a total of 4,650 points thanks to scoring in the top four three times in the five events, never straying out of the top 13 and finishing at No. 2 twice. U.S. athlete Harrison Williams sat at  No. 8 with 4,432 points and fellow U.S. athlete Heath Baldwin sat at No. 11 with 4,366 points.

On day three, few medals were handed out. In the decathlon, Norway’s Markus Rooth came all the way from the 8th place spot after day two to win gold with 8,796 points. This gave Norway their one and only medal of the entire Olympics as of August 4th. 

In second, Germany’s Leo Neugebauer won silver with 8,784 points. In the bronze spot was Grenada’s Lindon Victor, which also gave his nation their one and only medal of the 2024 Olympics so far. U.S. athletes Harrison Williams and Heath Baldwin didn’t move around the standings much, as Williams finished at No. 7 with 8,538 points and Baldwin finished at No. 10 with 8,422 points.

Many other medals were handed out on day three, most of which went to the U.S. In the Men’s Shot Put, the U.S. took home both the gold and silver. Ryan Crouser took gold with a distance of 22.90 meters while Joe Kovacs acquired silver with a distance of 22.15 meters. The U.S. almost took bronze as well, but Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell beat out Payton Otterdahl’s distance by 0.12 meters.

The U.S. also took a medal in the Mixed 4x400m Relay, placing No. 2 between the Netherlands at No. 1 and Great Britain at No. 3. In the Women’s 100m, the U.S. once again took up a majority of the podium, as Sha’Carri Richardson took silver with a time of 10.87 and Melissa Jefferson took bronze with a time of 10.92. Finally in the Women’s Triple Jump, there was yet another podium finish for the U.S.. Jasmine Moore took bronze with a 14.67 distance, just 0.2 behind Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts and 0.35 behind Dominica’s Thea LaFond. This gave Dominica its one and only medal so far.

On day four, U.S. athletes finished out the Men’s 100m with two medals, as Fred Kerley earned bronze and fan favorite Noah Lyles took home gold, beating out Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by just five thousandths of a second.

In other medal races, no more U.S. athletes won any more medals, though Vashti Cunningham came very close during the Women’s High Jump. Australia’s Eleanor Patterson and Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko tied for bronze, while Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers took silver and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh took gold, resulting in two countries ending with two athletes in the “top three”. Ukraine also got on the podium in the Men’s Hammer Throw, as their athlete Mykhaylo Kokhan took bronze with a 79.39 meter throw, just 0.58 meters behind silver medalist, Hungary’s Bence Halasz and 4.15 meters behind Canada’s gold medalist, Ethan Katzberg.

In qualifying and semifinals news, 24 U.S. athletes advanced, as 10 of the 11 events saw at least one U.S. athlete in the top-five. Four U.S. athletes were No. 1, as Gabby Thomas won round one the Women’s 200m, Grant Holloway won round one of the Men’s 110m Hurdles, Michael Norman won round one of the Men’s 400m and Yared Nuguse won the semifinals of the Men’s 1,500m.

Edited by Dylan Heinrich | [email protected] 

Copyedited by Hannah Taylor | [email protected]
Edited by Emily Skidmore | [email protected]