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Jonathan White

Track and field is the main draw of any Olympics and that is not expected to change at Tokyo 2020 with the sprint events being the jewel in the crown.
There will be no Usain Bolt, at least not on the track, but there are athletes eyeing his Games titles and his place as the crowd favourite.
Among them are several first-time Olympians and teenage sensations that have made their case in track and field events since the Rio Games.
Here are some of the athletes who are are predicted to disrupt the established order and shine with medals in Tokyo:


Michael Norman (USA)
Norman rose to prominence at the US trials for Rio when he beat then US champion Justin Gatlin in the 200m – not bad for someone in high school. He failed to make it to the team but went on to win two golds at the junior worlds later that year. Since then Norman has completed college and gone pro, where he has enhanced his reputation by becoming joint fourth fastest man in history over 400m. However, there has been rough with the smooth. The favourite limped out of the 400m semi-finals at last year’s worlds and lost the US 400m crown to Fred Kerley.


Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway)
The 19-year-old middle distance runner has had a breakthrough few years. Two golds at the European championships in 2018 – at 1,500 and 5,000m – were followed by victory at the London Diamond League stop-off last July. The teen broke Norway’s national record for the 5,000m at the same time. He also found time to be a pacesetter for Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two hour marathon.


Christian Coleman (USA)
Coleman was part of the 4x100m relay team in Rio but was not running when they were disqualified from the final. A year later he beat Usain Bolt to silver in the 100m final at the worlds before turning pro in 2018. The 23-year-old finished the year with a 9.79, the fastest time in three years, and after appealing a Wada ban for missing tests, carried on in 2019. He won the 100m at the worlds with a new PB – 9.76 seconds – becoming the sixth fastest man in history.


Mariya Lasitskene (Russia)
The high jumper was expected to soar in Rio but Russia’s ban from competition meant she missed out on a first Games and a probable gold. She returned to international competition in 2017 after being given approval to compete under a neutral flag and she has not looked back. The 26-year-old has won gold at two world championships, the indoor worlds and Europeans with each coming at above 2m – well clear of Ruth Beitia’s Rio gold jump of 1.97m.


Noah Lyles (USA)
There is no Usain Bolt but Lyles comes a close second, at least in terms of personality. The 21-year-old fell foul of the Jamaican track legend for some social media hubris but he gets the fans off their seats with his antics and novelty socks. Lyles is more than a character and backs it up with wins – he did not lose in the 200m in 2018 and won gold at the 2019 worlds over 200m and the 4x100m relay.

****WATCH****

How Jordan Diaz jumped a World U18 best 17.30m in Nairobi. And he's only just SIXTEEN!#wu18nairobi2017 pic.twitter.com/Wf5UYX9Yl4
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) July 14, 2017

Jordan Diaz (Cuba)
The Cuban’s opposition at the last Youth Olympics could only see his heels as he won the triple jump by more than a metre. The 18-year-old carried the flag in Buenos Aires and he has an under-20 world record of 17.41m, having set the under-18 mark at 17.30m as a 16-year-old. Diaz only came to the triple jump after doing high jump and long jump.


Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine)
Another high jumper who could have troubled the medals in Rio, she won the Youth Olympics with a 1.95m jump and has improved dramatically since. The 18-year-old cleared 2.04m in Doha to win a worlds silver, setting a new world junior record and matching Lasitskene, but the Russian took gold for a perfect record. It could be some battle between the pair in Tokyo.


Mykhaylo Kokhan (Ukraine)
The hammer prodigy was another to dominate in Buenos Aires, where his gold throw of 85.14 was almost three-and-a-half metres ahead of silver. That has not equated to medals since the step up to the men’s hammer weight but he set a new PB of 77.39m at the worlds in October to signal his intent in the event, a distance that would have earned him fourth in Rio.


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Christian Coleman beat Usain Bolt to silver at 2017 worlds, while Noah Lyles has irked Jamaican track legend on social media
High jump stars Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Mariya Lasitskene set to battle it out for gold in Japan



Christian Coleman beat Usain Bolt to silver at 2017 worlds, while Noah Lyles has irked Jamaican track legend on social media.


Tokyo 2020: Usain Bolt’s crown up for grabs and Christian Coleman, Noah Lyles want it

Christian Coleman beat Usain Bolt to silver at 2017 worlds, while Noah Lyles has irked Jamaican track legend on social media High jump stars Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Mariya Lasitskene set to battle it out for gold in Japan

Christian Coleman beat Usain Bolt to silver at 2017 worlds, while Noah Lyles has irked Jamaican track legend on social media

High jump stars Yaroslava Mahuchikh and Mariya Lasitskene set to battle it out for gold in Japan