With the track and field competition at the 2024 Olympics set to begin on Thursday, this is the perfect time to refresh your memory about the nine athletes with New Jersey ties who will be in action at Stade de France in Paris, France.
The six NJ high school graduates who will be competing in Paris, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Union Catholic, Class of 2017), Curtis Thompson (Florence High, Class of 2014), Sam Mattis (East Brunswick High, Class of 2012), Keturah Orji (Mount Olive, Class of 2014), Jaden Marchan (Leonia, Class of 2024), and Cheickna Traore (Snyder, Class of 2019).
And there's also Salif Mane, Rudy Winkler, and Allie Wilson, who attended college in Jersey.
Seven of the nine athletes will be competing for the U.S. Marchan (Trinidad & Tobago) and Traore (Ivory Coast) are the two who are representing other countries.
Here's an inside look at all nine NJ track and field athletes to keep your eye on during the Olympics.
SALIF MANE
Mane, who graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University last month with a degree in civil engineering, soared a personal best 57-5.75 to blowout the competition in the men's triple jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Mane won by nearly 2 feet over runner-up Russell Robinson of the University of Miami, second with a 55-9.75.
Mane, who also edged Robinson to win the NCAA triple jump title earlier this month with a then PR of 56-2.75. Mane, who graduated from Taft Educational Campus in the Bronx, N.Y. in 2019, is a seven-time All-American (tied for most in Northeast Conference history), is a four-time First Team All-American triple jumper (twice outdoors), also tied for the most in NEC history.
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JADEN MARCHAN
Marchan, who graduated from Leonia High last month, ran a NJ No. 4 all-time 46.30 in the 400 at the Trinidad & Tobago National Championships to earn a spot on that countries 4x400 relay.
The Georgetown-bound Marchan won the 400 at the indoor and outdoor Meet of Champions this past year and ran a NJ record 1:17.66 in the 600 last December.
SAM MATTIS
Mattis, a 2012 graduate of East Brunswick High, finished second in the men's discus with a season best throw of 216-9 (66.07 meters) at the Olympic Trials to make his second Olympic team.
Mattis nearly won his second straight U.S. Championship and his third overall (he also won in 2019) when he finishing just behind Andrews Evans, who launched his winning throw of 218-6 on his third attempt to overtake Mattis for the lead.
Mattis, who set the still-standing NJ high school discus record with a 218-4 in 2012, won the discus at the 2015 NCAA Championships while he was at UPenn, finished 8th at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo and was 16th at the World Championships last year. He owns a PR of 225-4.
SYDNEY MCLAUGHLIN-LEVRONE
McLaughlin-Levrone, who will turn 25 on Aug. 7, is favored to successfully defend her 400 hurdles title in Paris after she sent the track and field world into a frenzy yet again at the Olympic Trials with another head-spinning and breathtaking performance for the ages when she burned up the track and stopped the clock at 50.65 to break her own world record.
The masterpiece by McLaughlin took down the world record of 50.68 that she ran to strike gold at the World Championships at Hayward Field in 2022. It's the fifth time in the last three years that McLaughlin has broken the world record in the 400 hurdles!
KETURAH ORJI
The greatest triple jumper in U.S. history, the 28 year-old Orji is competing in her third and final Olympic Games. She has announced that she's retiring after this season.
Orji, a 2014 graduate of Mount Olive High School, seemed to be on the verge of winning her seventh U.S. Outdoor TJ title and the 11th overall in her career at the Olympic Trials (she's won four indoors), as she held the lead through the first five rounds.
But in the sixth and final round, Jasmine Moore came up with a 46-9.50 to rally to win the title. Orji responded with her best jump of the competition with a 46-8, just short of Moore's winning mark.
Orji, the American record holder in the triple jump with the 48-11she leaped in 2021 in Chula Vista, California, is the first U.S. woman to ever make the U.S. Olympic Team in the triple jump three times.
She was fourth in Rio in 2016 and in 2021, Orji placed seventh in Tokyo. Orji has also competed at three outdoor Worlds and four under cover. At the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow this past March, Orji again narrowly missed the podium, placing fourth.
No U.S. woman has ever medaled in the TJ at the Olympics. Can Orji become the first when the Olympics Games are held in Paris from Aug.1-Aug. 11. That certainly would be an amazing way to finish her legendary and historic career.
CURTIS THOMPSON
Thompson added another remarkable chapter to his amazing career when he once again rose to the occasion when it mattered most by winning his fourth U.S., National title in the men's javelin to make his second Olympic Team.
Thompson, a 2014 graduate of Florence High, has come up with several clutch throws in the later rounds to rally for victories. But this time there was no drama as Thompson unloaded a first round bomb of 272-5, the second best throw in meet history, to end any suspense on his way to a second straight title. Thompson won by 11 feet, 5 inches over Capers Williamson, who placed second with a 261-0. Williamson, sixth at the Olympic Trials in 2021, also finished second to Thompson at the U.S. Championships last year.
The 272-5 by Thompson is his season best, the fifth best throw of his career, and it came within 8 inches of the meet record of 273-1, set by Cyrus Hosletler in 2016 when he edged runner-up Thompson for the win.
Thompson, who also had throws of 242-6 and 264-11 and three fouls on Sunday night, has won three of the last 4 U.S. titles in the javelin and four overall (2018, 2021, 2023, 2024). He joins a very short list of NJ high school graduates who have won four or more U.S. National Outdoor Championships in the men's competition.
Not sure on the exact number yet, but so far Reuben Frank and I have come up with six other NJ high school grads who have won at least 4 national outdoor titles on the men's side. Carl Lewis (13), Eulace Peacock (8), Mel Sheppard (5), Marty Liquori (5), Andy Stanfield (4) and Dennis Mitchell (4). We are aiming to have a final list on Monday.
CHEICKNA TRAORE
ALLIE WILSON
The 28 year-old Wilson, who won the 800 at the U.S. National Indoor Championship this past February, was in fifth-place at the bell after a 57.98 opening 400. Wilson, who starred at Strath Haven High in Pa. (Class of 2014), moved into fourth coming off the final turn and then picked off Stanford's Juliette Whittaker and LSU's Michaela Rose to secure the runner-up finish and a spot on the Olympic Team..
RUDY WINKLER
Winkler, who attended Rutgers as a grad student in 2018 and is the American record holder in the hammer throw, finished second in the men's hammer with a season best throw of 258-10 at the Olympic Trials to secure a spot on his third Olympic team.
Winkler, who has captured four U.S. Championship (2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023), will attempt to become the first American to medal in the hammer throw at the Olympics since Lance Deal earned the silver medal in Atlanta in 1996.
In 2021, Winkler, who starred at Averill Park High School (Class of 2013) in upstate N.Y. and was 2017 NCAA champ for Cornell, broke the American record in the hammer when he won the U.S. Championship with a massive 271-4.25 and then placed seventh at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.