Paris 2024 Games: Track and field's BIG casualties confirmed to lose their Olympic titles

Elaine Thompson-Herah // Imago

Paris 2024 Games: Track and field's BIG casualties confirmed to lose their Olympic titles

Funmilayo Fameso 17:58 - 29.06.2024

At least five track and field events will have the crowning of new Olympic champions at the Paris 2024 Games.

With just a month before the start of track and field events at the Paris 2024 Games, five Olympic champions will not be defending their titles due to injuries and not making their country's individual selected team.

Without further ado, here are the 5 track and field events set to have new Olympic champions in Paris.

1 - Women's 800m

Athing Mu won the Olympic 800m title in Tokyo three years ago. She was on course to make her second consecutive team after qualifying for the final at the US Olympic trials.

Reigning Olympic 800m champion Athing Mu.

Sadly, Mu had a bad fall in the final which ended her Olympic dreams of finishing in the top three, and due to USATF's strict policy of only selecting the medallists, the talented 800m runner will not be defending her title in Paris.

2 - Women's Triple Jump

Venezuela's triple jump legend Yulimar Rojas will miss competing at Paris 2024 after a bad fall in training led to the diagnosis of an injury to her left Achilles tendon.

Yulimar Rojas

Rojas holds the indoor World Record (WR) at 15.67m, and outdoor WR at 15.74m. She became the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion with her first jump in a new Olympic record of 15.41m, thus breaking Françoise Mbango's 15.39m record set at Beijing 2008.

On her final attempt, she improved the record to 15.67m, also breaking the WR which had previously been held by Inessa Kravets since 1995 at 15.50m (50 ft 10 in). Her historic achievement in Tokyo made her Venezuela's first female Olympic gold medalist.

3 - Women's 100m and 200m

Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah officially withdrew from the Jamaican trials and her non-participation at the Paris Olympic Games.

The world's fastest woman alive penned an emotional letter on her Instagram page announcing her inability to heal on time for the Jamaican trials, after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury at the NYC Grand Prix in May.

Elaine Thompson-Herah || Imago

Therefore, Thompson-Herah's quest of making history in Paris by becoming the first woman ever to complete winning double sprint titles at three consecutive Olympics is over, thus can only aim for greater history-making performances in the future.

4 - Women's 400m

Bahamian sprint legend Shaunae Miller-Uibo will likely not defend her Olympic 400m title after she pulled up injured in the 200m at the Bahamian Athletics Championships and didn't appear for the 400m final, despite qualifying in 53.02s.

Reigning Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas. Photo: Imago

According to BAAA's President Drumeco Archer, it's wait and see, saying consideration could be made for her to make the relay for Team Bahamas in Paris.

5 - Men's 800m

Emmanuel Korir failed to make it to the final at the Athletics Kenya Olympics trials, paving the way for a new champion to be crowned in Paris.

Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir of Kenya celebrates after winning men s 800 meter final during day 9 of the 2022 World Athletics Championships on July 23, 2022 in Eugene.

Korir went into the trials under immense pressure as he had been out of form and dealt with injuries for nearly one year, and more worrying, he had not hit the Olympics qualifying standard.

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