Anticipation for track & field events at the 2024 Paris Olympics finally comes to an end as numerous competitions get underway at Stade de France on Friday. The first half of the men’s decathlon takes place, along with opening heats for the men’s 1500-meters event and the women’s 100-, 800- and 5000-meters competition. Meanwhile, medals will be at stake for the men’s 10,000-meters.
Other men’s events beginning on Friday are the qualifying rounds in the hammer throw and shot put. On the women’s side, qualification in the high jump, triple jump and discus throw will take place. In addition, the opening heats for the 4×400-meters mixed relay will take place. Before locking in any 2024 Summer Olympics picks or track & field predictions, you need to see what SportsLine Olympic insider Dan O’Brien has to say.
O’Brien is a highly decorated decathlete who won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, becoming the first American to accomplish the feat since Bruce Jenner 20 years earlier. O’Brien is also a five-time U.S. champion and three-time world champion in the event, and he held the decathlon world record from 1992-99 and the heptathlon world record from 1993-2010. As a result of his achievements, O’Brien is a member of the USATF, USOC and IAAF Halls of Fame.
Now, O’Brien has broken down the 2024 Paris Olympics track & field events from every possible angle and revealed his best bets for the competitions that begin on Friday. You can visit SportsLine now to see his 2024 Summer Olympics track & field medal picks.
Top 2024 Summer Olympics track & field predictions
One athlete O’Brien believes will come away with a gold medal in track & field at the 2024 Paris Olympics is American Sha’Carri Richardson, who is the -300 favorite to win the women’s 100-meter sprint. It will be the Olympic debut for Richardson, who qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games but was unable to compete after being suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after failing a drug test. The 24-year-old from Dallas warmed up for the Summer Games by winning the U.S. Trials in June with a time of 10.71 seconds.
Richardson, who posted a personal-best time of 10.65 to win the gold medal at the 2023 World Championships, is looking to end Jamaica’s Olympic reign in the women’s 100m and become the first American to capture the gold since 2008, when Marion Jones gave the United States five straight winners in the event before being stripped of the medal seven years later following her admission to using performance-enhancing drugs prior to the Sydney Olympics.
Richardson’s path to victory became a bit easier when Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah, who is the two-time reigning Olympic champion, announced she would not compete due to an Achilles injury and compatriot Shericka Jackson, the bronze medalist in Tokyo, withdrew in order to focus on the 200-meter sprint. See more track & field predictions from O’Brien at SportsLine.
How to make 2024 Paris Olympics track & field picks
O’Brien has analyzed the 2024 track & field events and made his selections to win medals. We can tell you one of his top picks is an athlete who is “a cut above” the competition in their sport, and he has also made multiple gold-medal bets that would return +175 or higher. He’s only sharing his picks here.
Who is O’Brien backing to win medals in track & field at the 2024 Olympic Games, and which athlete will shock the world? Visit SportsLine now to see Dan O’Brien’s 2024 Summer Olympics track & field medal picks and analysis, all from the 1996 Olympic decathlon gold medalist who is also a three-time world champion in the event.
