There will be plenty of stars to admire in the Stade de France and on the streets in both the marathon and race walking events, with icons such as USA's Noah Lyles and his four gold dream, Ryan Crouser and Sha'carri Richardson, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon, Sweden's Armand Duplantis, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou and Spain's Álvaro Martin and Maria Perez will take centre stage from 2-11 August.

However, it is the short hurdles that will provide some of the most intriguing duels. In the men's event, the current world record holder and Olympic champion, Karsten Warholm of Norway, Eugene 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos of Brazil and this year's world champion and Tokyo 2022 runner-up Rai Benjamin of the USA will compete in one of the most eagerly anticipated events. 

Nevertheless, the women's 400m hurdles is set to be one of the key events of the upcoming Olympic Games, with two great starts, both at the best moment of their careers: USA's Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol of the Netherlands.

The American is back at the centre of athletics after a difficult year in 2023, when she was forced to withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest due to a series of physical problems. She is a double Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 (400m hurdles and 4x400m) and the current world record holder with the astonishing 50.65 she set a few weeks ago, shaving three hundredths off her old mark.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was crowned double world champion in the 400m hurdles and 4x400 with the Dutch team and missed out on a triple gold medal when she fell in the final metres of the mixed 4x400 as the USA team overtook her. 

While the fastest woman ever in the 400m hurdles has just improved on her personal best, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist has set a new European record in the event of 50.95 in a superb season in which she won double gold at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow (400m and 4x400m) and the European Championships in Rome (400m hurdles and 4x400m). She also broke the European400m indoor record in an astonishing 49.17.

Who is the favourite? Considering how consistently McLaughlin-Levrone has run under or at least around 50 seconds, and that Bol's best mark (50.95) was set very close to the 1,000m mark in Switzerland, the American would seem to have the edge in an event where the other rivals are very far away. 

"Honestly, praise God," said McLaughlin-Levrone after her stunning performance. "I didn't expect it, but he (Christ) can do anything - anything is possible in Christ. I'm just amazed and shocked," she added. "What just happened," Bol posted on Instagram after setting a new European record. "I hope it's going to be a nice fight (against McLaughlin-Levrone). I will try to do my best and then we will see where it goes," she told Sportstar.