Every four years, the best American track and field athletes gather in one place to compete for spots on the U.S. Olympic team. This year’s trials are sure to be as exciting and heart-pounding as ever, with many former UO standouts in the mix to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Here are several athletes and events that the Daily Emerald thinks you should keep your eye on during this year’s trials.
100 m
Justin Gatlin, Trayvon Bromell, and Michael Rodgers currently hold the top three fastest times in this event but are separated by less than a tenth of second. Former Olympians Tyson Gay and Walter Dix will also be looking to return to team USA for potentially one last Olympic run.
200 m
Gatlin and Bromell are two of the fastest in this category too, but look for Isiah Young and Ameer Webb could also make some noise in this event.
400-meter
Lashawn Merritt’s time of 43.65 in the 400 is over three-quarters of a second faster than the second place holder David Verburg. Merritt won the silver medal at the 2015 U.S. Outdoor Championships in Beijing.
800-meter 
Arguably the most intriguing race during the trials will be the between Borias Berian and Nick Symmonds. Not only are they two of the fastest men in the US., but they are also each have recently been involved dealing with controversies surrounding Nike. Berian was sued by Nike last month — the company recently dropped the lawsuit — over a sponsorship issue. Symmonds has been locked in a head-on battle with Nike and USATF for the past 18 months and is attempting to end Nike’s chokehold on American track and field sponsorship.
1,500-meter 
Matthew Centrowitz, and former NCAA champion at the University of Oregon, now competing for Nike Oregon Project, holds the fastest time in this event by over four seconds. The former Olympian placed fourth at the 2012 Olympics and looks ready to make a return to the Olympic stage.
5,000-meter
Four out of the five top times in this event belong to Nike-affiliated runners. The fifth is Shadrack Kipchirchir, a runner from the U.S. Army who claimed silver at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2014. Hassan Mead (13:04.17) of Nike afiliate Oregon Track Club Elite owns the fastest tie this season.
10,000 m
Galen Rupp is looking to return to the Olympic for the third consecutive time. His time of 27:08.91 is 20 seconds faster than the second place time. Barring a massive upset, we should see Rupp donning the red, white, and blue again in August.
100 m hurdles
Oregon dual sport athlete Devon Allen destroyed opponents all year in this event at the collegiate level, but the Olympic Trials are a different beast. Here he’ll be going up against the likes of Aleec Harris, David Oliver, and Jason Richardson, all of whom posted faster times than Allen. Harris owns the best American time at 13.11 seconds. Allen owns a career-best time of 13.16 seconds and won the 2014 U.S. Outdoor Championship.
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris