2024 Olympics track & field schedule: Noah Lyles, Sha'Carri Richardson among Team USA athletes seeking gold

Just when it seemed like swimming and gymnastics were about all that mattered for the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer, the track-and-field contingent has finally arrived.

The 20-kilometer men's and women's race walks got things going on Thursday and it'll be a full complement of introductory outdoor action on Friday -- including the 100-meter portion of the 10-event decathlon, and qualification rounds for the women's 100 meters, women's high jump and the men's hammer throw, among others.

In fact, competition in Paris will go all the way through Aug. 11 when it concludes with the women's marathon.

What it all means is that there will be compelling events of all shapes and sizes across the last 11 days of the Games and we compiled a list of the ones that could warrant the most interest for medal-thirsty Americans.

All times Eastern

• Men's 100 meters: Prelims, Saturday (4:35 a.m.) / Finals, Sunday (3:55 p.m.)
• Men's 200 meters: Prelims, Monday (1:55 p.m.) / Finals, Aug. 8 (2:30 p.m.)

American Noah Lyles is the reigning world champion in both the 100 and 200 and won both at the U.S. Olympic Trials. He has been among the world's elites in both events this season and could become the first American to win both since Carl Lewis in 1984. Lyles was disappointed in his result at the Tokyo Games when he earned the bronze medal in the 200.

• Women's 100 meters: Prelims, Friday (4:35 a.m.) / Finals, Saturday (3:20 p.m.)

Sha'Carri Richardson has the world's best time (10.71 seconds) this season, was world champion in the event in 2023 and arrives to Paris as a favorite to capture her first Olympic medal. No American has won gold in the 100 since Gail Devers at Atlanta in 1996.

• Women's 400-meter hurdles: Prelims, Sunday (6:35 a.m.) / Finals, Aug. 8, (3:25 p.m.)

A gold for Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone would make her the first woman in Olympic history to win the event twice. She ran a world-record 50.65 at the trials and is one of only two women, along with Femke Bol of the Netherlands, to run the event in under 51 seconds.

• Women's 200 meters: Prelims, Sunday (4:55 a.m.) / Finals, Tuesday (3:40 p.m.)

It's a genuine pick'em between two-time Olympic medalist Gabby Thomas, who won bronze in the 200 in Tokyo, and Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, a two-time world champion. Thomas has the season's world-best time, a 21.78 she ran at the trials.

• Men's 110-meter hurdles: Prelims, Sunday (5:50 a.m.) / Finals, Aug. 8 (3:45 p.m.)

American Grant Holloway was the silver medalist in the event at the 2020 Games in Tokyo and has the world's best time this season with a 12.86 at the trials. That put him within six-hundredths of a longstanding world record set by Aries Merritt in 2012.

• Men's 400-meter hurdles: Prelims, Monday (4:05 a.m.) / Finals, Aug. 9 (3:45 p.m.)

If Rai Benjamin's objective is to bump his silver at the 2020 Games to a gold this time around, he's in prime form. He has the world's best time this season with a 46.46 and has three of the five fastest times this season, too.

• Men's Shot Put: Prelims, Friday (2:10 p.m.) / Finals, Saturday (1:10 p.m.)

It'd be hard to imagine a bigger favorite in the field than Ryan Crouser, who can become the first man to win the shot put in three consecutive Olympics. His personal-best throw of 77 feet, 3 3/4 inches is the world record, and he has the four best throws of all time.

• Women's Discus: Prelims, Friday (12:55 p.m.) / Finals, Monday (2:30 p.m.)

Valerie Allman can become the first American woman to win consecutive Olympic golds in the discus and she arrived in Paris with the second-best throw in the world this year, a toss of 232 feet, 7 inches that won at the trials by more than 20 feet.