The new year is full of highly anticipated events whether it be the presidential election, the extra day in February, or the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, occurring later this year from July 26 to Aug. 11.

Fortunately, since it has only been a couple weeks into the new year, there are still plenty of opportunities for potential athletes to qualify for Paris. Below are the current qualifiers in their respective sports.

Track and Field

On Feb. 3, there’s the women’s marathon in which three out of the four of the fastest women in U.S. history will be participating: Emily Sisson, Keira D’Amato, and Sara Hall. Other participating athletes include Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel, 2018 Boston Marathon winner Des Linden, Tokyo Olympic Trials winner Aliphine Tuliamuk, and Betsy Saina, the fastest American of 2023. 

At the 2022 World Championships, the U.S. team earned a spot for the Men’s 100m for the Olympic Trials from June 21 to 30. The potential Olympic athletes include Noah Lyles, Fred Kerley, Christian Colemen, Marvin Bracy-Williams, and Trayvon Bromell.

Artistic Swimming

The US team will be competing at the World Championship from Feb. 3 to 9. For the first time ever in history, male artistic swimmers will be allowed to compete in Olympic artistic swimming. This brings an opening to athletes like Bill May, a 45-year-old synchronized swimmer, who now has a possible opportunity to compete in the Olympics after 34 years of doing the sport.

“I think that it’s so amazing that artistic swimming is finally a competing sport in the Olympics after all these years. It’s definitely going to open plenty of doors to so many talented athletes,” junior Megan Wong cheered.

Weightlifting

The Olympic Trials for weightlifting occur from Apr. 2 to 11; weightlifters around the world have a possibility of qualifying for the Olympics. A nation is able to qualify up to three lifters per gender for Olympic weightlifter; however, going by current rankings, there is a slim, almost impossible, chance that the U.S. will be accepted.

Wrestling

The Olympic Trials for the Men’s freestyle 74 kg and 97 kg occur from Apr. 19 to 20. However, unlike weightlifting, a nation can only qualify one Olympic spot per weight division, meaning that there is only one athlete per category for a nation to be qualified. For the 74kg, the U.S. has Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist, Kyle Dake along with London Olympic gold medalist, Jordan Burroughs. As for the 97kg, there is Rio Olympic gold medalist, Kyle Snyder, along with two-time world champion J’den Cox.

Triathlon

There will be the World Triathlon Championship Series Yokohama on May 11. The U.S. is expected to have the maximum three Olympic spots for the women’s team which potentially includes athlete Taylor Knibb, who placed 5th overall at the Paris test event last August. The remaining two spots are to be determined, but are expected to include Taylor Spivey, who ranked fourth in the world in 2023, Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Katie Zaferes, and Rio Olympic champion Gwen Jorgensen.

Soccer

The women’s team roster is planned to be announced June 7, but some athletes speculated to participate include Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn.

Golf

There is the men’s U.S. Open. Qualifiers from June 13 to 16; players that plan to participate include 2023 Players champion Scottie Scheffler, 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, 2023 Open champion Brian Harman, and Max Homa. However, if their rankings drop, then Tokyo gold medalist Xander Schauffele, former world No.3 Patrick Cantlay, and 2023 PGA champion Brooks Koepka have slight chances in being permitted to compete.

The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship will take place later that month from June 20 to 30. Based on current rankings, the U.S. team would include: Lilia Vu (world No. 1), Nelly Korda (No. 5), Allisen Corpuz (No. 13) and Megan Khang (No. 14).

“I’m excited to see how golf will go in the 2024 Olympics, especially since it’s a newer addition to the Olympic program,” sophomore Sarah Trang stated. “I’ve never watched Olympic golf before, but now being on the golf team, I’ll definitely be watching, and paying attention to who takes home the gold!”

Swimming

The U.S. will participate in the Olympic Trials Women’s backstrokes (100m and 200m) from June 15 to 23. Fortunately, the U.S. seems to have a great record in this category. In the 100m back, there are four participants that have won a world championships medal in the event: Regan Smith, Katharine Berkoff, Claire Curzan and Olivia Smoliga. 

“The sport I’m most excited about is swimming,” sophomore Connor Liu admitted. “I swim myself, so watching professionals do what I do daily helps me feel inspired and motivated to get better.”

Gymnastics

The Olympic Trials for the Women’s national team will occur from June 28-30. As of right now, there are 10 women who won Olympic/world championship medals who are speculated to be training for the Olympics. This list includes Olympic all-around gold medalists Simone Biles, Suni Lee and Gabby Douglas, Olympic floor exercise champion Jade Carey, Olympic team silver medalist Jordan Chiles and 2023 World team champions Shilese Jones, Leanne Wong, Skye Blakely and Joscelyn Roberson. Not to mention, Kayla DiCello, the 2021 World all-around bronze medalist.

“My favorite gymnastics athlete has to be Simone Biles, so I really hope she’s able to compete this year,” junior Brianna Yanez shared.

Just from the beginning of the year, there already seems to be a bright future ahead for the U.S. in the Olympics. Good luck to all of the athletes competing at upcoming events this year!

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