Alicia Schmidt is a rising star in German track and field. She specializes in the 400 meters race. While she hasn't yet medaled individually, she has achieved success on the national team. Schmidt was part of the silver medal-winning 4x400 meter relay team at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships. She also won bronze as part of the German team for the same event at the 2019 U23 Championships. Most recently, she helped Germany place fifth in the 4x400 meter relay at the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
While she was part of the German relay squad that traveled to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she didn't participate in any races. However, she recently qualified for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics in the 4x400 meter mixed relay.
Janja Garnbret, from Slovenia, is widely considered the greatest competitive climber of all time. She holds the record for most International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Climbing World Cup gold medals. She has also dominated the World Championships, winning six titles across Bouldering, Lead, and Combined disciplines.
Garnbret's crowning achievement came at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she secured the gold medal in the inaugural women's sport climbing combined event. She is aiming to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics to defend her gold medal and has already qualified for the games.
Anna Hall is a rising star in American track and field, excelling at the heptathlon and pentathlon events. Hall holds the North American indoor record for the pentathlon and boasts top-five finishes all-time for both the heptathlon and pentathlon worldwide. Her impressive medal haul includes a silver at the 2023 World Championships in heptathlon and a bronze at the 2022 World Championships.
Despite a major injury in 2021, she has come back stronger than ever. During the 100m hurdles, the opening event of the heptathlon at the U.S. Olympic Trials. she collided with a hurdle. Breaking a bone in her left foot, she required surgery and months of recovery. This, unfortunately, kept her out of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, she has now qualified to participate in the 2024 Paris Games and is a strong medal contender.
Nevin Harrison is a history-making American canoe sprint athlete. She became the first ever U.S. athlete to win a gold medal in this discipline at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, dominating the women's C-1 200m race at only 19 years of age. Her talent extends beyond the Olympics, with a gold medal in the same event at the 2019 World Championships.
Harrison's dedication started young, with gold medals in both the C-1 500m and 200m races at the 2018 International Canoe Federation Olympic Hopes Regatta, foreshadowing her future success. This young athlete is already a legend in her sport and has her sights set on defending her Olympic title in Paris this summer at the age of only 21.
Katie Moon is a dominant force in pole vaulting. She has a trophy cabinet overflowing with achievements. Her most prestigious win came at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she soared to claim the gold medal. She will be competing to defend her Olympic gold at the 2024 games in Paris.
Moon is a two-time World Champion, having secured victories in both 2022 and 2023. She's also proven her prowess indoors, bringing home a silver medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Further solidifying her track record, Moon secured a silver medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, a young Ukrainian high jumper, has quickly established herself as a force to be reckoned with. Her accomplishments include a gold medal from the prestigious 2023 World Championships in Budapest, solidifying her arrival in the sport. Mahuchikh also showcased her talent on the Olympic stage, claiming a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games. She will be competing in 2024 in Paris.
Indoors, she's equally impressive, having secured the gold medal at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. Mahuchikh is also a two-time World Championship silver medalist (2019 and 2022) and the reigning European Champion from 2022. With such a decorated career at a young age, the future is certainly bright for this rising star.
Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss are a young force to be reckoned with in beach volleyball. Despite their relatively short time together, they've achieved incredible things. Their college career at LSU culminated in an undefeated 36-0 season, a remarkable accomplishment. Transitioning smoothly to the professional ranks, they took home the win in their very first AVP tournament in Atlanta in 2021. This dominant debut earned them the prestigious AVP and VolleyballMag Team of the Year award, solidifying their position as the number one ranked American beach volleyball team.
Their talent has propelled them to become the seventh-best team globally in the rankings. They also won a bronze medal at the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. Most impressively, Kloth and Nuss secured their spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics in record time, becoming the first U.S. team to qualify. Now they have their sights set on Olympic gold!
Caroline Marks has carved her name into surfing history at a young age. She was the youngest competitor ever in a World Surf League event at just 13 years old. Two years later, she shattered another record by becoming the youngest qualifier ever for the prestigious WSL Championship Tour. Marks' competitive spirit is undeniable, evidenced by her Rookie of the Year title in 2018.
Marks went on to win two Championship Tour events in 2019 and finished a close second in the world rankings. In 2021, Marks became surfing's youngest Olympian, representing the USA in Tokyo at the age of 19. Most recently, she capped off an incredible season by claiming the 2023 WSL Women's World Tour Champion title, breaking the dominance of past champions and showcasing a new era in women's surfing.
Evy Leibfarth is a rising star in canoe slalom, excelling in both kayaks (K1) and canoes (C1). She started young, competing internationally at just 12 years old. In the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, she secured first place in both K1 and C1, becoming the first American woman to qualify for three canoe/kayak events in a single Olympics (Tokyo 2021 games).
While her Olympic debut resulted in 12th and 18th place finishes in kayak and canoe respectively, it provided valuable experience that has fueled her drive. Leibfarth continues to dominate at the national level, with multiple first-place finishes at the USA National Championships and Pan American Games. Her sights are set on the podium for the 2024 Paris games.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is a phenomenon in the world of track and field, particularly the 400-meter hurdles. Her dominance is evident in the record books. She shattered the world record a staggering four times in just 13 months, becoming the first woman to break both the 52-second and 51-second barriers in the event. This culminated in a gold medal performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she not only secured the top spot but also set a new Olympic record.
Her prowess extends beyond the hurdles, with another gold medal win in the 4x400m relay at both the Olympics and World Championships. Because of her speed in the hurdle events, she has recently shifted focus to the flat 400m (without hurdles). In 2023, she clocked the second-fastest time in American history for the 400m event. While 2023 was an injury-shorted season for McLauglin-Levrone, she does plan to try and qualify for hurdles to defend her Olympic gold as well as enter the flat 400m race at the 2024 Paris games.
