Noah Lyles © Getty Images

American Sha’Carri Richardson will compete for the Olympic 100-meter gold medal when Noah Lyles competes in the men’s heats of the blue-ribbon event at the Stade de France on Saturday.

SuperSport took a closer look at the five standout competitors of the third day of athletics.

MEN 100m

Noah Lyles is making his Paris Olympic debut in the 100-meter dash.

The American athlete, who won three medals at last year’s world championships in Budapest, is seen as the favourite to add Olympic gold to her medal haul.

Lyles was one of the faces of the recently released Netflix docuseries “Sprint” alongside Richardson.

She comes to Paris after a personal best of 9.81 seconds at the London Diamond League.

“A personal record and being faster before Paris,” Lyles said. “I know exactly where I am ahead of Paris.”

MIXED 4x400m RELAY RACE

Femke Bol is in the running for a potential triple gold medal in the mixed 4x400m relay final.

Bol is part of one of the biggest rivalries at the Paris Games with American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the 400m hurdles.

Bol is a competitor who loves to compete.

This season, she came first in the 400-meter flat race at the World Indoor Championships held in Glasgow in March, won two gold and one bronze medals at the European Outdoor Championships held in Rome in June, and also participated in various athletics competitions.

The third medal challenge could come in the women’s 4×400-meter relay.

WOMEN 100m

Sha’Carri Richardson is aiming to complete her three-year run of Olympic glory with a gold medal after missing the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to testing positive for marijuana.

The 24-year-old from Texas stunned high-caliber athletes from the outside with a stunning victory in the 100m at last year’s World Championships in Budapest.

The American athlete’s path to victory was paved by the injury setbacks for Jamaica’s reigning champion Elaine Thompson-Herah and Shericka Jackson, who withdrew from the 100m to focus on the 200m.

But Richardson, who comfortably advanced to Saturday’s semi-finals with the fourth-fastest time in Friday’s heat, will be wary of the threat posed by experienced athletes Marie-Josee Ta-Lou Smith and two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Ta-Lou Smith took first place in Friday’s qualifying with a time of 10.87 seconds, while Fraser-Pryce came in second with a time of 10.92 seconds.

MEN POLE VALVING

Sweden’s Armand Duplantis aims to open a new chapter in his incredible dominance in the men’s pole vault as the final heats begin.

Described as the rock star of athletics by World Athletics Federation President Sebastian Coe, the 24-year-old US-born prodigy has been virtually unbeaten in the sport for five years and has won every major title in the sport since taking silver at the 2019 Doha World Championships.

Duplantis won Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago before winning back-to-back outdoor World Championships in 2022 and 2023. He has two more world indoor titles in 2022 and 2024, as well as three consecutive European Championship titles in 2018, 2022 and 2024.

The big question surrounding Duplantis is how high he can go. He set a new world indoor record of 6.24m earlier this season and holds the outdoor record of 6.22m.

MEN THROWING ROSES

Ryan Crouser was bidding for a historic third Olympic title, never achieved by any man or woman, but was forced out of the race due to hamstring and pectoral muscle injuries.

The 31-year-old American has shown his resilience in the past by winning the world title last year despite being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis less than three weeks before the championships.

He finished second in the Diamond League held in London before the Games, behind Italy’s European champion Leonardo Fabbri.

Fabbri is in a position to become Italy’s second Olympic men’s shot put champion; Alessandro Andrei triumphed in Los Angeles in 1984.

In an event that World Athletics Champion Sebastian Coe has praised as “not to be missed” in recent years, the wild card could be two-time Olympic silver medallist Joe Kovacs.

In what will likely be the 35-year-old’s final Olympics, the aging warrior, coached by his wife Ashley, has shown this season that a fairytale finish is a realistic possibility.