T&F Collegians At The 2016 Rio Olympics: Medal Contenders

NEW ORLEANS — With the Olympic Games underway in Rio, it’s time to look at which collegians from the 2015-16 academic year have the best shot at winning a medal in athletics.

QUICK LINKS: Collegians in Rio | World-Ranked Collegians

There are three recent collegians ranked in the top-3 of their individual events according to Road-To-Rio.com: Devon Allen, Ryan Crouser and Jarrion Lawson. Allen and Crouser were both U.S. champions in their respective events back in July at the U.S. Olympic Trials – Track & Field, while Lawson finished runner-up.

Let’s break down their chances with a deeper look at each of their events.

Jarrion Lawson, Arkansas

Long Jump

What’s standing between Jarrion Lawson and an Olympic medal?

If you just look at the world ranking: Nothing.

A wind-legal leap of 28-1¾ (8.58m) at the U.S. Olympic Trials – Track & Field in July left Lawson, a 2016 Bowerman Award finalist, as the world leader, six centimeters in front of compatriot Jeffrey Henderson and 14 ahead of third-ranked Michel Tornéus.

Look at past history of the long jump on the world stage and you’ll see Lawson’s path has a few more roadblocks — namely Greg Rutherford of Great Britain and Fabrice Lapierre of Australia. Rutherford, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and outdoor world champion, is ranked fourth in the world, while Lapierre, the silver medalist at the 2015 IAAF World Championships, is eighth.

Historically, though, 2016 might not be a good year to be an American long jumper with medal aspirations. Americans haven’t earned medals in consecutive Olympic Games since 1992 (clean sweep) and 1996 (gold, bronze). Will Claye won the bronze medal last time out, so we’ll see if Lawson — or any other Americans — can reverse the trend.

Qualifying in the men’s long jump begins Friday with the final set for the next night.

Devon Allen, Oregon

110 Hurdles

Dating back to the very first Olympic Games in Athens 120 years ago, an American has medaled in the 110 hurdles in all but one of those competitions. That came back in 1980 when the United States boycotted the Games held in Moscow, Russia.

So when the United States sends athletes, they usually come back with medals.

That bodes well for Devon Allen, who thrives when the pressure is on. Allen is 3-0 in NCAA finals, 2-0 at the U.S. Championships and is the reigning U.S. champion.

It won’t be easy for Allen as he must contend with two men who went sub-13 seconds in the qualification period: Spain’s Orlando Ortega (12.94) and Jamaica’s Omar McLeod (12.97). Allen is knocking on the sub-13 door (13.03), but has yet to walk inside.

This will also be the first time that we’ve seen Allen and McLeod — the two best hurdlers in the NCAA system the past three years — compete against each other. Allen won NCAA titles in this event in 2014 and 2016, while McLeod took the crown in 2015 with Allen on the shelf (knee injury). Allen and McLeod also combined to win the past three 60-meter hurdle titles indoors (McLeod in 2014 and 2015; Allen in 2016).

In terms of former medalists entered, it’s pretty open. None of the medalists from the 2012 Olympic Games (Aries Merritt, Jason Richardson, Hansle Parchment) or the 2015 IAAF World Championships (Sergey Shubenkov, Parchment, Merritt) are in the mix.

Qualification in the 110 hurdles begins next Monday with the semifinal and final rounds transpiring Tuesday night.

Ryan Crouser, Texas

Shot Put

Two names have dominated the men’s shot put at the international level the past five years: Poland’s Tomasz Majewski and Germany’s David Storl. Majewski won gold at the past two Olympic Games and Storl, who was the silver medalist in London, placed top-3 at each of the past three IAAF World Championships.

Neither is favored entering the Rio Olympic Games, however, as that distinction belongs to Joe Kovacs, an American who is ranked No. 1 and the reigning world champion.

Kovacs is one of three men to eclipse the 72-foot barrier during the qualification period. Storl is currently ranked second and former Texas Longhorn standout and 2016 NCAA Indoor champ Ryan Crouser sits third on the world chart.

For Crouser to medal, he must not only go through Kovacs, Majewski (currently ranked 18th) and Storl, he will face Jamaica’s O’Dayne Richards, who is currently ranked fifth and nabbed a bronze medal in Beijing last summer.

To Crouser’s credit, he hit his stride at the U.S. Olympic Trials. It was at Hayward Field where Crouser launched four throws farther than 21 meters, including his title-winning heave of 22.11m (72-6½).

When Crouser won in Oregon, he had to throw twice in one day — once in the morning and then at night. The Olympic Games should be right up his alley as event qualifying is early on Thursday, August 18 with the finals happening later that evening.