2024 Olympics: Top Women In Track And Field To Watch And Follow

As the 2024 Paris Olympics are set to begin this week, spectators from around the world will be watching as their country’s athletes compete in the Summer Olympic Games. Among those athletes are the women competing in track and field events, which begin Aug. 1.  

Track and field has become the most popular high school sport for girls in the United States, according to Statista, and viewership is expected to be high for this years’ games. According to Forbes, an average of 4.5 million viewers (a 38% increase from 2021), watched the 2024 track and field Olympic trials.

As we prepare to watch women dominate these events, we’ve pulled together a list of the top women in track and field you should know:

Well known for her distinctive style, Sha’Carri Richardson rose to fame after breaking two world records on the same day in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships in 2019. Following a month’s suspension for marijuana use that prevented her from going to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Richardson is set to make her Olympics debut this year and is aiming to prove herself as one of the best sprinters in the world.

Richardson is also featured in the upcoming docuseries “SPRINT,” which follows the journey of seven athletes as they compete to make it to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Shericka Jackson’s meteoric rise is thanks to her performance at the 2021 Tokyo Games, where she earned gold and bronze team medals and a bronze individual medal in the women’s 100 meter. At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest Hungary, Jackson clocked the second-fastest time ever for the women’s 200 meter.

During that same race, Jackson appeared to suffer an injury that put her ability to compete in Paris at risk, but she is still expected to help Jamaica compete against its rival Team USA to see who is the fastest team in the world.

Three-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is set to compete for the fifth and final time at the Paris Olympics following a third-place finish in the 100 meter sprint at the Jamaican trials.

Fraser-Pryce debuted in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and was the first 100 meter sprinter to win individual medals in four consecutive Olympic Games, according to ESPN.

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Elain Thompson-Herah has been breaking records since 2016, when she competed in the Rio Olympics and became the first woman to complete the Olympic sprint double since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988. According to USA Today, her personal best time of 10.54 in the 100 meter sprint is the second-fastest time in history and her personal record of 21.53 in the 200 meter sprint is the third fastest ever.

Thomspon-Herah announced earlier this summer that she withdrew from the Paris Olympic trials due to an Achilles injury, however, she’s still a forerunner in the sport. Many will be watching to see her rebound and compete again.

Melissa Jefferson’s breakout win at the World Championships put her on the map and helped her qualify for the 100-meter sprint at the 2024 Olympics. She secured a spot on Team USA with the second-fastest qualifying time at the trials.

The NCAA All-American indoor and outdoor track athlete won the 2022 NCAA Division I Championship in the 60-meter dash and was Track & Field’s 2022 National Champion in the 100-meter dash, according to Sun News. She’ll join teammates Richardson and Terry as they compete for the gold.

Florida state champion Twanisha Terry is no stranger to success. After becoming an NCAA champion in 2021, she turned professional and competed in Diamond League meets with impressive times, according to The Miami Times.

Terry trains with fellow Team USA teammates Richardson and Jefferson under coach Dennis Mitchell.