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With the Paris Olympics just over two weeks away, Pulse Sports highlights the five female athletes who head to the Games in peak conditions to break world records.
As the Paris 2024 fast approach, athletes are putting their best foot forward to be in prime condition to win medals.
A number of runners are already odds-on favourites to win gold medals but also, there are those who are looking for more than victory.
World records will also tumble and it does not get better than winning an Olympics gold while setting a new mark.
Pulse Sports looks at five female athletes who are likely to break world records at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Faith Kipyegon -1,500m
Only one place to start. The Kenyan superstar already announced her intentions in Paris last weekend when she lowered her own world record in 1,500.
Kipyegon ran an astonishing 3:49.04 in Paris to break her own world record of 3:49.11 set in Florence in June 2023 and few would bet against her doing the same at the Olympics.
The 30-year-old is looking for a third straight Olympics gold over the distance and given what has been seen, another world record cannot be ruled out.
Shericka Jackson -200m
Jamaican sprint queen Shericka Jackson is still looking for her first individual Olympics gold medal and she heads to Paris as the woman to beat in 200m.
There was a scare when she pulled up a few metres to the finish line in Hungary on Tuesday but injury fears were quickly allayed, setting the stage for a great run at the Olympics.
Jackson has the second fastest time in history after clocking 21.41 seconds at the 2023 World Championships, coming close to the world record of 21.34 seconds set by the late American Florence Griffith-Joyner (Flo-Jo) at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
She has not hidden her desire to break the world record and with defending champion Elaine Thompson-Herah missing, the stage is left for Jackson to rumble in Paris.
Gudaf Tsegay -5,000m or 10,000m
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay will be going for a hat-trick of Olympics titles in Paris after signing up for the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000 at the Olympics which might impact her ability to break a world record.
However, she is the 5,000m world record holder and had expressed her desire to break compatriot Letesenbet Gidey's 10,000m world record of 29:01.03, set back in June 2021, heading to the Prefontaine Classic in May, but it was Kenya's Beatrice Chebet who set a new world record after running 28:54.14.
Tsegay ran 29:05.92 in Eugene, to finish second behind Chebet, but has not given up on lowering the mark while in 5,000m, she will be competing with Faith Kipyegon for gold and a fast race is expected, which could yield a world record.
Peres Jepchirchir -Marathon
Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir heads to the Paris Olympics as the woman to beat in the marathon after her exploits in London.
Jepchirchir rewrote the record books as she ran 2:16:16 to improve the women-only world marathon record by 45 seconds in London in April and as the defending champion, the onus is on her to retain her title.
Just like in London, the field at the Olympics is stacked with fast runners in Kenyan compatriots Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi as well as world record holder Tigist Assefa, world champion Amane Beriso, and Megertu Alemu, all from Ethiopia, who will push Jepchirchir hard.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone -400m hurdles
American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone announced her intentions of retaining her Olympics title with a world record at the US Olympics trials last month.
McLaughlin-Levrone crossed the finish line in 50.65 seconds in Eugene, two years since running 50.68, a new world record then, at the same venue during the 2022 World Championships.
Dutchwoman Femke Bol, the world and European champion, is set to give her a run for her money but in the form she is in, few can rule McLaughlin-Levrone out of gold or a world record in the French capital.
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