The 2024 Summer Olympics will get under way in Paris on July 26.
Al Jazeera picks out the top five rivalries to watch at the upcoming Games:
Women’s 400m Freestyle – a trio of the world record holders
Three of the biggest stars in world swimming – Katie Ledecky, Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh – will collide in the 400 freestyle in a contest already being widely dubbed as swimming’s “race of the century”.
Already one of the greatest swimmers ever and a multiple world record holder throughout her career, Ledecky will head to Paris looking to add to her six individual Olympic gold medals.
The 27-year-old qualified in the 200-metre, 400-metre, 800-metre and 1,500-metre freestyle – although she expects to drop the individual 200-metre to focus on the 800-metre and 1,500-metre free, considered her best shots at victory. Ledecky is aiming for a fourth straight 800-metre free gold and another 1,500-metre crown.
But it’s in the blue-ribband 400-metre freestyle event where three of the greatest swimmers of the modern era will collide.
Ledecky, the 2016 400-metre Olympic champion, faces stiff competition from Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who stunned the American in the 400-metre freestyle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and currently owns the world record.
Both Ledecky and Titmus will also have to be wary of sensational Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh, who also held the 400-metre world record until early 2023, when Titmus snatched it back at the 2023 world championships.
The 17-year-old McIntosh is expected to be a gold-medal contender in several events, including the 800-metre free that has been ruled for more than a decade by Ledecky. McIntosh snapped Ledecky’s 13-year undefeated run in that event at a sectional meet in Florida, posting a time that was faster than Ledecky’s gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo.
Men’s Javelin – a South Asia duel
All eyes will be on reigning gold medallist Neeraj Chopra, but the Indian can expect plenty of fight from his South Asian opponent and friend Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan.
Chopra catapulted himself into superstardom three years ago when he threw 87.58 metres in Tokyo to earn India’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in athletics.
In 2023, the 26-year-old also became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships, when he pipped Nadeem with an 88.17-metre effort in the final.
Chopra’s personal best throw is 89.94 metres, which he recorded at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022. His coach Klaus Bartonietz told Reuters in May that Chopra is eager to join javelin’s elite 90-metre club but will happily settle for a shorter throw in Paris if it proves enough for him to hold on to his Olympic title.
Unlike Chopra, Nadeem has breached the magical 90-metre mark, throwing 90.18-metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham to end Pakistan’s 60-year wait for a CWG gold medal.
Nadeem, standing 1.9 metres (6 feet 3 inches) tall and blessed with incredible natural strength, is one of only 24 athletes worldwide in the 90-metre club and only the second Asian after Taiwan’s Chao-Tsun Cheng. He believes the Paris Olympics are his best chance to go for gold.
Women’s 100m Sprint – USA vs Jamaica
Three years after a positive marijuana test saw her kicked off the US team for the Tokyo Olympics, Sha’Carri Richardson has earned a chance for Olympic redemption.
Richardson will be the one to beat in Paris as she arrives in the French capital following her gold medal triumph in the World Athletics Championships last year in Hungary. The 24-year-old holds the world-leading record of 10.71 seconds this season, having won the 100-metre final at the US trials before the Games.
With reigning Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah out with an injury, Richardson can expect competition from the incredible Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, as the classic rivalry between the US and Jamaica will be rekindled in Paris.
At 37, Fraser Pryce is in the twilight of her career, but as the most decorated 100-metre sprinter with eight Olympic medals, the Jamaican sprint queen has experience on her side and can cause problems for Richardson, who will be making her Olympic debut.
Men’s Marathon – two legends back in the race
The longstanding rivalry between Ethiopian running legend Kenenisa Bekele and reigning Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge will be unexpectedly renewed at the men’s marathon in Paris.
The 41-year-old Bekele last competed at the 2012 London Olympics when he finished fourth in the men’s 10,000-metre before being overlooked for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. However, a remarkable second-place finish at the London marathon in April earned him a place in the Paris Olympics, where he will line up against 39-year-old Kipchoge, the former marathon world record holder.
While Bekele has won three Olympic golds in the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre, Kipchoge has won two Olympic marathon golds and is aiming for an unprecedented third.
Bekele and Kipchoge’s rivalry dates back to their first meeting at the 2003 World Championships final and the last time they raced together was at the London Marathon in 2018 when Kipchoge won.
High Jump – inseparable favourites
Rarely have two athletes been so inseparable in world sport as Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi and Mutaz Essa Barsham of Qatar.
These towering stars created history at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo – and the Games’ most heartwarming moment – when they decided to share the high jump gold medal after they could not be separated after both had jumped 2.37 metres.
Two years later, they were still inseparable, topping the world rankings in 2023.
Anyone who witnessed Tamberi and Barsham’s incredible spectacle at the Tokyo Olympics will look forward to these two impressive athletes renewing their rivalry at the Paris Olympics 2024, where both are again the favourites for gold.
⚽ Keep up to date:
You can follow the action on Al Jazeera’s dedicated Paris 2024 Olympics tournament page with all the news and features, as well as event build-up and live text commentary on selected football, basketball, tennis and boxing fixtures.
