The Paris Olympics are a week away, and things are absolutely heating up. 

With the opening ceremonies set for Friday, July 26, and track and field events following on Aug. 2, the anticipation for the 2024 Games is at a fever pitch. 

As always, there's national pride here. USA Track and Field is sending a group of 120 athletes to Paris with hopes of winning countless medals. 

Which events are of particular importance? 

Well, they all are. But we set out to feature eight women's events with engaging storylines. We'll follow with analysis on the men's events tomorrow.

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The Women's 100m

Could we see a potential sweep in the women's 100m Olympic final in Paris? 

We don't have a high probability here, but the American roster does have a fighting chance. And keep in mind, the Jamaicans did this very thing in 2021 -- Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson went 1-2-3 in Tokyo. Another Jamaican contingent also accomplished this feat in 2008.

The U.S. will be vying to repeat that feat. There's world No. 1 Sha'Carri Richardson leading the way, along with No. 4 ranked Melissa Jefferson and No. 9 Twanisha Terry. 

The trio are all part of the same training group in Clermont, Florida -- Star Athletics, led by coach Dennis Mitchell -- so there's real promise here due to a trio of factors: talent, experience and kinship. 

When you have three sprinters all rowing in the same direction, good things are bound to happen. But then again, Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred seems likely to break this up, while Jamaican star Shericka Jackson is the reigning World Championship silver medalist at the distance. 

The Americans are going to have to qualify for the final first. But after that feat is accomplished, the rest is up to them. 

The Women's 400mH 

The last time we saw Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone face Femke Bol, the year was 2022. They were both 22 years old. 

McLaughlin-Levrone won that battle at the World Championships in Eugene in a new world record of 50.68 seconds. Bol followed in 52.27.

This year, the New Jersey native re-set her world record mark at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 50.65 seconds. 

Bol, meanwhile, inched closer, too, clocking a time of 50.95 seconds at the La Chaux-de-Fond in Switzerland on July 14. 

These two ladies are essentially two seconds faster than the rest of the world -- world No. 3, Jamaica's Rushell Clayton, has run 52.51. 

So this matchup is the matchup.

With McLaughlin-Levrone out of the World Championships last year due to injury, Bol stepped to the plate and won the 400mH title in 51.70. 

This year, we can expect something saucy -- rarely have we seen these two race. 

Now ...if we get the race, then maybe, just maybe, we can approach that impossible mark under 50 seconds.

Women's 1,500m

Does an American athlete have a shot here? 

You can't help but notice times. Right now, three women have clocked impossibly fast marks this season, with Kenya's Faith Kipyegon lowering her world record by a smidge in 3:49.04 on July 7 at the Diamond League in Paris. She's met by Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, who's run 3:50.30, and Australia's Jessica Hull, who has jumped into medal contention with her 3:50.83 from that battle with Kipyegon in Paris. 

However, this is the 1,500m we're talking about. 

The Americans are ranked eighth, ninth and 10th on the world table. Nikki Hiltz leads the way from their barnstorming performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 3:55.33. Emily Mackay and Elle St. Pierre all followed Hiltz less than a second later, giving the U.S. contingent a ridiculously fast squad. 

Championship finals aren't necessarily always won -- or led -- at world record pace, though modern tactics suggest this race will be fast. 

That being said, there's no reason to think that Hiltz or Mackay or St. Pierre can't hang. The Americans are as strong as any other athlete on the world stage. 

The Women's Long Jump

Progression is the name of the game, and this year Tara Davis-Woodhall has added four centimeters to her personal best in the long jump. She produced a mark of 7.18 meters at the U.S. Indoor Championships in February. 

Now the bad news. The reigning Olympic champion in the long jump, Malaika Mihambo, has gone 7.22 meters. And she accomplished that feat on June 12.

All good things come to those who wait, though, and Davis-Woodhall has been preparing for this moment for a long time. After finishing sixth in her debut at the Olympics in 2021, not qualifying for Worlds in 2022 and tagging a second-place effort in 2023, the California native probably has all her cards on the table. 

This could be the year. Davis-Woodhall, 25, has the right stuff, so she just needs the right jump.

She's coming off a dramatic win at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a mark of 7.04 meters, while Jasmine Moore, a double-qualifier in the triple jump, netted a world No. 3 mark of 6.98 meters.

With so many variables contributing to a successful effort, nothing is certain. But we do know one thing:  At the very least, Davis-Woodhall is going to put on a show. 

The Women's Heptathlon

By Hollywood standards, this story is a pretty good one. 

Three years ago, Anna Hall broke her foot during the 100mH rounds at the U.S. Olympic Trials, her ambitious hopes to reach the Olympics at the age of 20 ending before it even began. 

Then she won bronze at the World Championships the next year, and then followed that effort by raising her record point total to 6,988 in 2023, fifth-best in history, before a second-place outing at her second straight World Championships.

Then came a knee surgery in January. Then came a dramatic win in the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials with a total of 6,614. 

She's ranked third in the world right now, behind two-time Olympic champion Nafissatou Thiam -- who has registered a best of 6,848 this season -- and Anouk Vetter of the Netherlands, who's logged a score of 6,642.

She's probably the only American with a realistic shot to medal. 

The Women's Shot Put

No women on the international stage has been better over the last two years than Chase Jackson. 

The Illinois native and New Mexico resident has won the past two World Championships, authoring championship-moments with marks of 20.43m and 20.49m, respectively. 

But if you ask Jackson, she'll probably point you back to 2021, when she failed to qualify for the Olympic Games after finishing fifth at the Trials. 

Failure always has a better way of motivating oneself more than winning, and for Jackson, perhaps that will be the idea as she looks to win her first Olympic title at the age of 30. 

She's currently ranked fourth in the world at 20.10m, behind Canada's Sarah Mitton (20.68m), Netherlands' Jessica Schilder (20.33m) and Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye (20.19m). 

Jaida Ross, a 22-year-old junior at the University of Oregon, enters having qualified for her first Olympic Games and she owns the fifth-best shot put in the world at 20.01. Rauven, the 28-year-old silver medalist from Tokyo, also should be in the mix with a best of 19.90. She finished second at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

The Women's 4x100 And Women's 4x400 

Listen, we watch the spectacle of track and field to see individual greatness. 

But there's also no better feeling than seeing your country win a gold medal in the relay, either. 

In 2021, it was Jamaica who tore apart the U.S. in the 4x100, winning by just over four-tenths of a second in 41.02. The U.S. came back to win the 4x400 in 3:16.85 over Poland by four seconds. 

The U.S.'s world record in the 4x100 has stood since 2012 with a time of 40.82. With one of the U.S.'s strongest 100 meter rosters in recent years, that could potentially go down, considering three possible members of the U.S. team all train out of Star Athletics in Clermont.

The 4x400 might be a different story, with inexperience being one such point of contention. However, the ace in the U.S.'s pocket is Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who more than likely will anchor this team. The 400mH world record-holder clocked an American record of 48.75 this year and owns the No. 2 time in the world. The U.S. has brought to Paris the second, fifth, eighth and 12th-ranked women in the world at the distance. 

When Are The Paris 2024 Olympic Games?

The Olympics begin on July 26 and end on August 11. The track and field events will begin on Aug. 1. 

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