2021 Olympic Games Women’s Top 10 Predictions

OUR INTERNATIONAL PANEL has crunched all the data for Tokyo, and the overall results say that the U.S. women will enjoy a medal haul almost exactly like the one they had in Rio 5 years ago. The crystal ball says 16 total podium spots, split as 6 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze. The number of overall medals stays the same last time, as does the number of golds.

Comparing the projections to what happened at the most recent World Championships, the total is up 3 from 13 and the number of wins rises from 4 to 6. Doha also had 6 silvers and 3 bronzes.

We have listed our Top 10 in each event. Any Team USA members who don’t make the top 10 are listed in alphabetical order at the end. The right-hand column is the athlete’s PR and the year in which it was made (except in the relays, where the mark is the best from the qualifying period).

Chart based on best information available as of July 27:

100 METERS
•Punctuationally speaking, 4 hyphens (in the absence of an apostrophe) look to battle it out for the podium places, just as they did at the ’19 WC… SAFP is favored to win her record third title, having PRed at age 34… Right behind her though is defending champion Thompson-Herah… Asher-Smith is undefeated so far… Our top 4 finished 1-4-2-3 in Doha… Americans don’t look like much of a factor.
1.	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	10.63 (’21)
2.	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	10.70 (’16)
3.	Dina Asher-Smith	Great Britain	10.83 (’19)
4.	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Côte d’Ivoire	10.85 (’18)
5.	Blessing Okagbare	Nigeria	10.79 (’13)
6.	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	10.77 (’21)
7.	Javianne Oliver	USA	10.96 (’21)
8.	Daryll Neita	Great Britain	11.04 (’21)
9.	Mujinga Kambundji	Switzerland	10.95 (’18)
10.	Teahna Daniels	USA	10.99 (’19)
Other American:
Jenna Prandini 10.92 (’15)

200 METERS
•Reigning world champ Asher-Smith and yearly leader (to say nothing of being No. 2 of all time) Thomas haven’t met since ’18, so there’s a dearth of crossover data in that department. The Briton has more international experience, so she gets the nod… SAFP hasn’t run the half-lapper at a major title meet since she won the WC gold back in ’13. But she’s working on a PR here too and definitely looks podium-bound… Miller-Uibo could end up only in the 400, which would have her running the 400 heats the morning of the 200’s evening final.
1.	Dina Asher-Smith	Great Britain	21.88 (’19)
2.	Gabby Thomas	USA	21.61 (’21)
3.	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	21.79 (’21)
4.	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	Bahamas	21.74 (’19)
5.	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	21.82 (’21)
6.	Elaine Thompson-Herah	Jamaica	21.66 (’15)
7.	Jenna Prandini	USA	21.89 (’21)
8.	Marie-Josée Ta Lou	Côte d’Ivoire	22.08 (’17)
9.	Anavia Battle	USA	21.95 (’21)
10.	Blessing Okagbare	Nigeria	22.04 (’18)

400 METERS
•If she’s doubling back from the 200, SMU will have run the 400 heats and 200 final the night before the 400 semis on Wednesday. Then, fortunately, she’ll catch a break as the 400 final isn’t until Friday as she attempts to defend her title… Rio 6th-placer McPherson is doing the best running of her life at 32, although U.S. champ Hayes beat her convincingly in their meeting early this year… Paulino’s best when the year began was only 51.88… WA’s DSD rules on testosterone removed some major players from the event.
1.	Shaunae Miller-Uibo	Bahamas	48.37 (’19)
2.	Stephenie Ann McPherson	Jamaica	49.61 (’21)
3.	Quanera Hayes	USA	49.72 (’17)
5.	Marileidy Paulino	Dominican Republic	49.99 (’21)
4.	Candice McLeod	Jamaica	49.91 (’21)
6.	Allyson Felix	USA	49.26 (’15)
7.	Roneisha McGregor	Jamaica	50.02 (’21)
8.	Wadeline Jonathas	USA	49.60 (’19)
9.	Cynthia Bolingo	Belgium	50.29 (’21)
10.	Cátia Azevedo	Portugal	50.59 (’21)

800 METERS
•Installing a teenager as the favorite here is certainly unusual, but then, Mu is an unusual talent. Not only does she head the yearly world list, she’s also got the best 400 speed (49.57)… More than half the formcharters have scored PRs already this year, but the 4 DL meets have had 4 different winners and 3 of them aren’t entered here, so meaningful data is hard to come by… Almanza is the only one with a pair of 1:56 clockings.
1.	Athing Mu	USA	1:56.07 (’21)
2.	Rose Mary Almanza	Cuba	1:56.28 (’21)
3.	Jemma Reekie	Great Britain	1:56.96 (’21)
4.	Natoya Goule	Jamaica	1:56.15 (’18)
5.	Ajee’ Wilson	USA	1:55.61 (’17)
6.	Werkwuha Getachew	Ethiopia	1:56.67 (’21)
7.	Raevyn Rogers	USA	1:57.66 (’21)
8.	Habitam Alemu	Ethiopia	1:56.71 (’18)
9.	Keely Hodgkinson	Great Britain	1:57.51 (’21)
10.	Halimah Nakaayi	Uganda	1:58.03 (’21)

1500 METERS
•Two great champions are expected to go head-to-head in this one. We say “expected” because it remains unclear what combination of 15/5/10 Hassan will tackle. Chronologically this would be the middle leg of a triple… Defending Olympic champ Kipyegon and the reigning WC gold medalist are very evenly matched, their PRs being only 0.88 apart and splitting their two meetings this year. Overall, the Kenyan has an 8–6 margin and she gets a narrow edge… Muir shouldn’t be ignored.
1.	Faith Kipyegon	Kenya	3:51.07 (’21)
2.	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands	3:51.95 (’19)
3.	Laura Muir	Great Britain	3:55.22 (’16)
4.	Gabriela Debues-Stafford	Canada	3:56.12 (’19)
5.	Freweyni Hailu	Ethiopia	3:56.28 (’21)
6.	Elle Purrier St. Pierre	USA	3:58.03 (’21)
7.	Winnie Nanyondo	Uganda	3:59.56 (’19)
8.	Diribe Welteji	Ethiopia	3:58.93 (’21)
9.	Lemlem Hailu	Ethiopia	4:00.35 (’21)
10.	Jessica Hull	Australia	4:00.42 (’20)
Other Americans:
Heather MacLean 4:02.09 (’21)
Cory McGee 4:00.67 (’21)

STEEPLECHASE
•WR holder Chepkoech has broken the 9:00 barrier 7 times and Jepkemoi (also known as Kiyeng) never has, close as she is. And Chepkoech is the reigning world champion. Nonetheless, Rio silver winner Jepkemoi gets the edge here, having beaten Chepkoech in all 3 of their ’21 meetings… Rio bronze winner Coburn looked to be approaching her first sub-9:00 when she fell over the last water jump in Monaco… Yearly list leader Norah Tanui is in the process of a nationality change.
1.	Hyvin Jepkemoi	Kenya	9:00.01 (’16)
2.	Beatrice Chepkoech	Kenya	8:44.32 (’18)
3.	Emma Coburn	USA	9:02.35 (’19)
4.	Mekides Abebe Demewoz	Ethiopia	9:02.52 (’21)
5.	Winfred Yavi	Bahrain	9:02.64 (’21)
6.	Gesa-Felicitas Krause	Germany	9:03.30 (’19)
7.	Courtney Frerichs	USA	9:00.85 (’18)
8.	Lomi Muleta	Ethiopia	9:14.03 (’21)
9.	Purity Kirui	Kenya	9:16.91 (’21)
10.	Maruša Mišmaš-Zrimšek	Slovenia	9:16.82 (’21)
Other American:
Val Constien 9:18.34 (’21)

5000 METERS
•WR holder Letesenbet Gidey is in the 10,000 only, removing a major challenge for 2-time reigning world champ Obiri, who also won Rio silver here… If Hassan runs the 1500 as well, she’ll have run a heat of that event at 09:35 on the morning of the 5K final (21:40)… Obiri is 5–1 against Hassan in their career meetings… Tsegay is the yearly world leader and at 3:54.01 has the speed to have won WC 1500 bronze in Doha.
1	Hellen Obiri	Kenya	14:18.37 (’17)
2	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands	14:22.12 (’19)
3	Gudaf Tsegay	Ethiopia	14:13.32 (’21)
4	Agnes Tirop	Kenya	14:20.68 (’19)
5	Senbere Teferi	Ethiopia	14:15.24 (’21)
6	Lilian Rengeruk	Kenya	14:36.05 (’19)
7	Ejgayehu Taye	Ethiopia	14:14.09 (’21)
8	Eilish McColgan	Great Britain	14:28.55 (’21)
9	Yasemin Can	Turkey	14:36.82 (’17)
10	Karissa Schweizer	USA	14:26.34 (’20)
Other Americans:
Elise Cranny 14:48.02 (’20)
Rachel Schneider 14:52.04 (’21)

10,000 METERS
•Fatigue could play a major role in the heat and humidity, as Hassan will be coming back from the 1500 and/or 5000 and Obiri from the 5000. Both will have to contend with WR-setter Gidey, who was runner-up to Hassan at the ’19 WC… If it comes down to a sit-and-kick race, note the 1500 PRs: Hassan 3:51.95, Obiri 3:57.05, Gidey 4:11.11, although the Ethiopian’s mark probably isn’t a true measure of her worth.
1	Sifan Hassan	Netherlands	29:06.82 (’21)
2.	Letesenbet Gidey	Ethiopia	29:01.02 (’21)
3	Hellen Obiri	Kenya	30:35.82 (’19)
4	Tsige Gebreselama	Ethiopia	30:06.01 (’21)
5	Irene Cheptai	Kenya	30:51.39 (’21)
6	Tsehay Gemechu	Ethiopia	30:19.29 (’21)
7	Eilish McColgan	Great Britain	30:58.94 (’21)
8	Sheila Chelangat	Kenya	30:45.81 (’21)
9	Emily Sisson	USA	30:49.57 (’19)
10	Kalkidan Gezahegne	Bahrain	29:50.77 (’21)
Other Americans:
Alicia Monson 31:10.84 (’20)
Karissa Schweizer 30:47.99 (’21)

100 HURDLES
•2-time NCAA winner Camacho-Quinn is on a roll, being unbeaten in 8 meets this year. And the Rio semifinalist dominates, owning the 5 fastest times amongst Tokyo entrants. Harrison has won all 4 of their career meetings, however, leaving the Puerto Rican as only a narrow favorite… Harrison is even more dominant against Amusan, sporting a lifetime record of 12–0… Third American Cunningham has improved all the way from 12.99 to 12.53 this year.
1.	Jasmine Camacho-Quinn	Puerto Rico	12.32 (’21)
2.	Keni Harrison	USA	12.20 (’16)
3.	Tobi Amusan	Nigeria	12.48 (’19)
4.	Christina Clemons	USA	12.51 (’21)
5.	Cindy Sember	Great Britain	12.53 (’21)
6.	Brittany Anderson	Jamaica	12.58 (’21)
7.	Tiffany Porter	Great Britain	12.51 (’14)
8.	Megan Tapper	Jamaica	12.61 (’19)
9.	Gabbi Cunningham	USA	12.53 (’21)
10.	Devynne Charlton	Bahamas	12.61 (’21)

400 HURDLES
•The up-and-coming Bol has a fine mix of speed and technique but she’ll need plenty of each in her Olympic debut if she hopes to beat either of the two Americans, given their status as World Record-setters… McLaughlin currently sits on the WR and looked like she had more in the tank in Eugene… World champion Muhammad also got Rio gold and will be looking to become the event’s first-ever repeat winner… McLaughlin also ran in Rio, finishing 5th in her semi at age 17.
1.	Sydney McLaughlin	USA	51.90 (’21)
2.	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	52.16 (’19)
3.	Femke Bol	Netherlands	52.37 (’21)
4.	Anna Ryzhykova	Ukraine	52.96 (’21)
5.	Janieve Russell	Jamaica	53.46 (’18)
6.	Anna Cockrell	USA	53.70 (’21)
7.	Viktoriya Tkachuk	Ukraine	54.02 (’21)
8.	Jessie Knight	Great Britain	54.69 (’21)
9.	Emma Zapletalová	Slovakia	54.28 (’21)
10.	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	52.83 (’13)

MARATHON
•None of the WMM races went off this spring, and the year’s 3 fastest runners aren’t entered. Meaning there’s even more dice-rolling than usual here… Kosgei is historically the best of the Kenyan trio, but didn’t look sharp in her one half-marathon outing earlier this year… Chepngetich, on the other hand, broke the WR in that same race, so gets the nod…
1	Ruth Chepngetich	Kenya	2:17:08 (’19)
2	Brigid Kosgei	Kenya	2:14:04 (’19)
3	Peres Chepchirchir	Kenya	2:17:16 (’20)
4	Roza Dereje	Ethiopia	2:18:30 (’19)
5	Mao Ichiyama	Japan	2:20:29 (’20)
6	Birhane Dibaba	Ethiopia	2:18:35 (’20)
7	Lonah Chemtai Salpeter	Israel	2:17:45 (’20)
8	Tigist Girma	Ethiopia	2:19:52 (’19)
9	Helalia Johannes	Namibia	2:19:52 (’20)
10.	Mizuki Matsuda	Japan	2:21:47 (’20)
The Americans:
Sally Kipyego 2:25:10 (’19)
Molly Seidel 2:25:13 (’20)
Aliphine Tuliamuk 2:26:50 (’19)

20K WALK
•Look for the powerful Chinese team to score the first-ever Olympic medal sweep. Yang, Liu & Qieyang moved to 1-2-3 on the all-time list in March. As the defending Olympic champ and reigning WC champ Liu gets the nod over Yang, herself the WC gold medalist in ’17… Rio 4th-placer Palmisano has a good big-race résumé and looks like the best of the mortals.
1.	Hong Liu	China	1:24:27 (’21)
2.	Jiayu Yang	China	1:23:49 (’21)
3.	Shenjie Qieyang	China	1:24:45 (’21)
4.	Antonella Palmisano	Italy	1:26:36 (’17)
5.	Eleonora Giorgi	Italy	1:26:17 (’15)
6.	Mária Pérez	Spain	1:26:36 (’18)
7.	Erica de Sena	Brazil	1:26:59 (’17)
8.	Sandra Arenas	Colombia	1:28:03 (’19)
9.	Alegna González	Mexico	1:28:40 (’21)
10.	Elvira Khasanova	Russia	1:26:43 (’20)
The American:
Robyn Stevens 1:33:34 (’19)

4 x 100
•With the Nos. 1, 2 & 6 from the 100 formchart, what’s not to like about Jamaica, silver medalists at the last two Games?… Great Britain returns three-quarters of the team that won Rio bronze and improved to Doha silver… Britain can be expected to pass well, but the U.S. foursome (whoever it turns out to be) will be woefully shy on familiarity. Still, there’s plenty of elemental speed to work with and a medal is clearly a viable option… Germany looked like a medalist until training-camp injuries felled two of the scheduled members.
1.	Jamaica	41.44 (’19)
2.	Great Britain	41.85 (’19)
3.	United States	42.10 (’19)
4.	Netherlands	42.18 (’19)
5.	China	42.50 (’19)
6.	Switzerland	42.18 (’19)
7.	Germany	41.67 (’19)
8.	Brazil	43.04 (’19)
9.	France	42.93 (’19)
10.	Trinidad	42.71 (’19)

4 x 400
•Based on the 400’s formchart you could easily be led to believe that Jamaica (seeds 2, 4 & 7) has the edge over the U.S. (3, 6, 8). But Team USA has an ace in the hole: 3 of them in fact. That would be the option of pulling in runners from other events and suddenly Athing Mu is available from the 800 and Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad from the 400H. That oughta do the trick… American foursomes haven’t lost in the Olympics since ’92, but Jamaica will assure it’s not easy to continue the string.
1.	United States	3:18.92 (’19)
2.	Jamaica	3:22.37 (’19)
3.	Great Britain	3:23.02 (’19)
4.	Poland	3:21.89 (’19)
5.	Bahamas	3:29.40 (’21)
6.	Canada	3:25.86 (’19)
7.	Netherlands	3:27.40 (’19)
8.	France	3:29.66 (’19)
9.	Belgium	3:26.58 (’19)
10.	Ukraine	3:26.57 (’19)

MIXED-SEX 4 x 400

•This event made its big-time debut at the ’19 WC, where, not unexpectedly Team USA dominated. Other than noting that the sprint-rich U.S. should dominate again, doing a meaningful formchart is beyond us at this point, given that it’s not clear which people various nations will slot here with the men’s and women’s 4x4s still to come. Each nation has 2 men, 2 women, who can run in any order they choose. In Doha the Americans ran M/W/W/M in setting a World Record of 3:09.34.

HIGH JUMP
•If the Russian ban hadn’t kept Lasitskene out of Rio she’d likely be the defending champion. As it is, she’s “only” the 3-time reigning world champ outdoors and 2-timer indoors. And she has cleared the 2-meter barrier (6-6¾) for 8 years in a row. But at 28 it looks as if she’s slowing down currently with a balky hip, so we give the edge to the 19-year-old Mahuchikh, who won their only meeting this year. Mahuchikh has 8 over 2.00 (including a PR) this year, Lasitskene 5… Cunningham & McDermott have PRs too.
1.	Yaroslava Mahuchikh	Ukraine	2.06 | 6-9 (’21)
2.	Mariya Lasitskene	Russia	2.06 | 6-9 (’17)
3.	Vashti Cunningham	USA	2.02 | 6-7½ (’21)
4.	Nicola McDermott	Australia	2.01 | 6-7 (’21)
5.	Nadezhda Dubovitskaya	Kazakhstan	2.00 | 6-6¾ (’21)
6.	Eleanor Patterson	Australia	1.99 | 6-6¼ (’20)
7.	Iryna Herashchenko	Ukraine	1.99 | 6-6¼ (’19)
8.	Yuliya Levchenko	Ukraine	2.02 | 6-7½ (’19)
9.	Salome Lang	Switzerland	1.97 | 6-5½ (’21)
10.	Karyna Demidik	Belarus	2.00 | 6-6¾ (’19)
Other Americans:
Tynita Butts-Townsend 1.93 | 6-4 (’19)
Rachel McCoy 1.96 | 6-5 (’21)

POLE VAULT
•Nageotte and Sidorova are very evenly matched, right down to sharing PRs. The Russian is the reigning world champ and has a 12–8 lifetime edge over the American, but the OT winner has taken both of their meetings this year and has a better sequence of marks (5 of the world’s 8 highest outdoor meets of the year)… Stefanídi and Morris went 1–2 in Rio but have found major wins hard to come by this year.
1	Katie Nageotte	USA	4.95 | 16-2½ (’21)
2.	Anzhelika Sidorova	Russia	4.95 | 16-2½ (’20)
3	Sandi Morris	USA	5.00 | 16-4¾ (’16)
4	Holly Bradshaw	Great Britain	4.90 | 16-¾ (’21)
5	Nina Kennedy	Australia	4.82 | 15-9¾ (’21)
6	Katerína Stefanídi	Greece	4.91 | 16-1¼ (’17)
7	Iryna Zhuk	Belarus	4.74 | 15-6½ (’21)
8	Tina Šutej	Slovenia	4.75 | 15-7 (’20)
9	Angelica Moser	Switzerland	4.75 | 15-7 (’21)
10	Nikoléta Kiriakopoúlou	Greece	4.83 | 15-10 (’15)
Other American:
Morgann LeLeux 4.70 |15-5 (’21)

LONG JUMP
•The much-medaled Reese won gold in ’12 and silver last time out to go with 7 WC titles (4 outdoors, 3 in). She’s closing in on 35, but won the OT with a mark just 3cm off the yearly world lead… Reigning world champ Mihambo is very evenly matched with Španović, who has 2 Diamond League wins this season… NCAA champ Davis has a good collection of far jumps this year; Doha runner-up Bekh-Romanchuk does not.
1.	Brittney Reese	USA	7.31 | 23-11¾ (’16)
2.	Malaika Mihambo	Germany	7.30 | 23-11½ (’19)
3.	Ivana Španović	Serbia	7.24 | 23-9¼ (’17)
4.	Tara Davis	USA	7.14 | 23-5¼ (’21)
5.	Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk	Ukraine	6.96 | 22-10¼ (’20)
6.	Ese Brume	Nigeria	7.17 | 23-6½ (’21)
7.	Darya Klishina	Russia	7.05 | 23-1¾ (’11)
8.	Jazmin Sawyers	Great Britain	6.90 | 22-7¾ (’21)
9.	Lorraine Ugen	Great Britain	7.05 | 23-1¾ (’18)
10.	Quanesha Burks	USA	6.96 | 22-10¼ (’21)

TRIPLE JUMP
•Two big questions surround Rio runner-up Rojas, and neither of them is, “Will she win?” Instead, they are, “By how much will she win?” and “Can the World Record survive her onslaught?” The ultra-dominant Venezuelan hasn’t lost since August of ’19… Doha silver medalist Ricketts is knocking on the door of the elite 15m club… Williams has won 5 straight against AR holder Orji, who was 4th in Rio.
1.	Yulimar Rojas	Venezuela	15.43 | 50-7½ (’20)
2.	Shanieka Ricketts	Jamaica	14.98 | 49-1¾ (’21)
3.	Kim Williams	Jamaica	14.69 | 48-2½ (’21)
4.	Keturah Orji	USA	14.92 | 48-11¼ (’21)
5.	Liadagmis Povea	Cuba	14.93 | 48-11¾ (’21)
6.	Patricia Mamona	Portugal	14.65 | 48-¾ (’16)
7.	Ana Peleteiro	Spain	14.61 | 47-11¼ (’21)
8.	Tori Franklin	USA	14.84 | 48-8¼ (’18)
9.	Senni Salminen	Finland	14.63 | 48-0 (’21)
10.	Leyanis Pérez	Cuba	14.53 | 47-8 (’21)
Other American:
Jasmine Moore 14.39 | 47-2½ (’21)

SHOT
•2-time reigning world champ Gong is throwing at near-PR levels as former 2-time Olympic gold medalist Adams is far from hers. The Kiwi has dominated their history, but the two haven’t met since ’18 and Gong has more than a 2-foot edge on seasonal bests… Ramsey and Saunders scored nice PRs at the OT but we’ve slotted them behind the consistent Dongmo, who has 8 meets at 19m or better compared to Ramsey’s and Saunders’ 2 apiece.
1.	Lijiao Gong	China	20.43 | 67-½ (’16)
2	Valerie Adams	New Zealand	21.24 | 69-8¼ (’11)
3	Auriol Dongmo	Portugal	19.75 | 64-9¾ (’21)
4	Jessica Ramsey	USA	20.12 | 66-¼ (’21)
5	Raven Saunders	USA	19.96 | 65-6 (’21)
6	Danniel Thomas-Dodd	Jamaica	19.55 | 64-1¼ (’19)
7	Aliona Dubitskaya	Belarus	19.65 | 64-5¾ (’21)
8	Fanny Roos	Sweden	19.34 | 63-5½ (’21)
9	Adelaide Aquilla	USA	19.12 | 62-8¾ (’21)
10	Jiayuan Song	China	19.32 | 63-4¾ (’21)

DISCUS
•This projects as a nifty 3-way battle among the 2-time defending Olympic gold medalist (Perković), the reigning world champ (Pérez) and the hard-charging American Record holder (Allman)… Allman won the only meet this year that featured all three, but she’s still raw internationally, so give her the bronze… Perković and Pérez have split their 4 meetings this year, with the Croatian taking the last two so we give her the top spot based on momentum.
1.	Sandra Perković	Croatia	71.41 | 234-3 (’17)
2.	Yaimé Pérez	Cuba	69.39 | 227-8 (’19)
3.	Valarie Allman	USA	70.15 | 230-2 (’20)
4.	Yang Chen	China	67.03 | 219-11 (’18)
5.	Kristin Pudenz	Germany	66.31 | 217-6 (’21)
6.	Liliana Cá	Portugal	66.40 | 217-10 (’21)
7.	Bin Feng	China	65.45 | 214-8 (’19)
8.	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	66.73 | 218-11 (’16)
9.	Denia Caballero	Cuba	70.65 | 231-9 (’15)
10.	Jorinde van Klinken	Netherlands	70.22 | 230-4 (’21)
Other Americans:
Kelsey Card 63.52 | 208-5 (’16)
Rachel Dincoff 64.41 | 211-4 (’21)

HAMMER
•Włodarczyk may be the defending champion and WR holder, but she’s got her hands full with yearly list-leader Price, who has won their last two meetings. The reigning world champion American also has 6 meets over 75m this year to the Pole’s 1. Włodarczyk is coming back from a pair of knee surgeries… Interestingly, Price and Włodarczyk both have losing seasonal records to their teammates, Andersen and Kopron.
1.	Deanna Price	USA	263-6 | 80.31 (’21)
2.	Anita Włodarczyk	Poland	272-3 | 82.98 (’16)
3.	Brooke Andersen	USA	256-6 | 78.18 (’21)
4.	Malwina Kopron	Poland	252-1 | 76.85 (’17)
5.	Alexandra Tavernier	France	247-3 | 75.38 (’21)
6.	Zheng Wang	China	254-10 | 77.68 (’14)
7.	Gwen Berry	USA	255-2 | 77.78 (’18)
8.	Annette Echikunwoke	Nigeria	247-8 | 75.49 (’21)
9.	Rosa Rodríguez	Venezuela	241-7 | 73.64 (’13)
10.	Hanna Skydan	Azerbaijan	247-0 | 75.29 (’17)

JAVELIN
•After finishing 4th in Rio (with an NR in the qualifying round) Andrejczyk needed shoulder surgery, which apparently has acted up a bit this year. But she’s in the form of her life, pacing the yearly list. She had the farthest throws in both DL meets to date and has handled Hussong 3–0… Lu has medaled in the last 3 WCs (a silver and 2 bronze) but will have her hands full holding off the surging AR setter Malone.
1.	Maria Andrejczyk	Poland	71.40 | 234-3 (’21)
2	Christin Hussong	Germany	69.19 | 227-0 (’21)
3.	Huihui Lu	China	67.98 | 223-0 (’19)
4.	Maggie Malone	USA	67.40 | 221-1 (’21)
5.	Shiying Liu	China	67.29 | 220-9 (’20)
6.	Kathryn Mitchell	Australia	68.92 | 226-1 (’18)
7.	Barbora Špotáková	Czech Republic	72.28 | 237-2 (’08)
8.	Tatsiana Khaladovich	Belarus	67.47 | 221-4 (’18)
9.	Liz Gleadle	Canada	64.83 | 212-8 (’15)
10.	Liveta Jasiūnaitė	Lithuania	63.98 | 209-10 (’19)
Other Americans:
Ariana Ince 63.54 | 208-5 (’19)
Kara Winger 66.67 | 218-8 (’10)

HEPTATHLON
•An expected titanic rematch between the defending Olympic (Thiam) and reigning world (Johnson-Thompson) champions lost a lot of steam with the Briton’s ongoing Achilles problems… Thiam hasn’t been at her previous levels either but led the world indoors with a PR pentathlon, so remains the one to beat… Krizsán and Vetter went 1–2 at Götzis… Kunz beat Bougard at the OT but will likely find it hard to duplicate the rash of PRs which led to her big score.
1…	Nafi Thiam	Belgium	7013 (’17)
2.	Xénia Krizsán	Hungary	6651 (’21)
3	Anouk Vetter	Netherlands	6636 (’17)
4	Erica Bougard	USA	6725 (’19)
5	Annie Kunz	USA	6703 (’21)
6	Yorgelis Rodríguez	Cuba	6742 (’18)
7.	Katarina Johnson-Thompson	Great Britain	6981 (’19)
8	Kendell Williams	USA	6683 (’21)
9	Verena Mayr	Austria	6591 (’19)
10.	Ivona Dadic	Austria	6522 (’18)

Thanks from the T&FN staff to those correspondents who aided us in crafting these prognostications: Jonathan Berenbom, Sean Hartnett, Richard Hymans, Dave Johnson, Kevin Saylors, Jesse Squire, Steve Vaitones & Frank Zarnowski.