Saint-Denis, France – Olympic track and field begins at Stade de France on Friday with Arkansas totaling a NCAA-leading 20 current Razorbacks or alums in the Paris Games.
Arkansas also has the most members on Team USA at seven spread across the sprints, middle distance, jumps, heptathlon, and relays. Eight Razorbacks are on Team Jamaica in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and discus.
Athletics in the 2024 Olympic Games have a dominant number of entries from SEC schools. Following the Razorbacks total of 20 competing in track and field are Georgia (17), Florida (15), LSU (14), Texas Tech (11), Texas (10), Tennessee (10), Texas A&M (10), USC (10) and Stanford (10).
“I think it really goes to show the level of athleticism that track and field has in the SEC,” noted Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “It’s just an amazing development in having those kind of numbers at the Olympic Games.
“Having 20 athletes is off the charts. Now it’s time to try to get those athletes a medal. I think it bolds well for our program and the great staff Chris Johnson has and what they’ve been able to accomplish this year. It’s a pretty amazing number.”
Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson added: “That’s the thing with Arkansas, we cover a lot of different event areas and I think it’s fantastic to have this type of representation at the Olympic Games.
“It speaks to the values of the program and the history of the program on the men’s and women’s side. It’s exciting, we’re very happy with the representation we have, and we look forward to having a fantastic Games.”
Members of Team USA from Arkansas include Chris Bailey (400m, 4 x 400m relays), Taliyah Brooks (heptathlon), Kaylyn Brown (4 x 400m relays), Rachel Glenn (high jump), Nikki Hiltz (1,500m), Jarrion Lawson (long jump), and Isabella Whittaker (4 x 400m relays).
Razorbacks with Team Jamaica include Romaine Beckford (high jump), Janeek Brown (100m hurdles), Jaydon Hibbert (triple jump), Carey McLeod (long jump), Ackera Nugent (100m hurdles), Wayne Pinnock (long jump), Nickisha Pryce (400m, 4 x 400m relays), and Rojé Stona (discus).
Additional international Razorbacks include Amber Anning (400m 4 x 400m relays | Great Britain), Sanu Jallow (800m | The Gambia), Shafiqua Maloney (800m | St. Vincent & the Grenadines), Ayden Owens-Delerme (Decathlon | Puerto Rico), and Tina Śutej (Pole Vault | Slovenia).
Owens-Delerme starts things off in the decathlon while the first day also includes field event qualifying in the women’s high jump for Glenn, the Razorback school record holder, as well as the men’s shot put for two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Ryan Crouser.
The shot put final will be contested on Saturday, August 3, while the high jump final is on Sunday, August 4.
On the track the first round of the women’s 800m includes national record holders Jallow and Maloney racing in adjacent lanes in the fifth of six heats. Maloney, the national record holder for St. Vincent & the Grenadines at 1:58.69, is in lane 7 while Jallow, the national record holder for the Gambia at 1:59.29, is in lane 8.
The top three in each first round heat of the 800m advances to the semifinal on Sunday while others in the field will race in the repechage round on Saturday to seek a place in the semifinal.
Friday’s schedule also includes the mixed 4 x 400m relay with Jamaica, United States, and France in heat one while heat two includes Great Britain, Netherlands, and Ireland.
Saturday’s schedule includes the conclusion of the decathlon for Owens-Delerme along with the finals of the shot put and mixed 4 x 400m relay.
Track & Field News formcharts for the Paris Olympics have the following predictions for Razorbacks and the pro group who train in Fayetteville.
Owens-Delerme, who improved his decathlon national record to 8,732 points this season, is predicted to finish in the bronze medal position behind Germany’s Leo Neugebauer, the NCAA champion from Texas, and Canada’s Damian Warner.
With world record holder Kevin Mayer of France (9,126) announcing he will not contest the decathlon in the Paris Olympics on Thursday, Warner has the leading career best score in the field of 22 with 9,018 points and scored 8,804 in 2023.
Neugebauer is the 2024 world leader at 8,961 points while leading scores from the 2023 season include 8,756 by Estonia’s Johannes Erm, who competed at Georgia, and 8,756 by Grenada’s Lindon Victor, who competed at Texas A&M.
