Who will win the 100m final? Fastest sprinters revealed
There's going to be a new king in town for the men's 100m final, and a veteran superstar is gunning for a historic achievement in the women's race – who will win?
The 100m final is the moment, the spectacle, the highlight event of every Olympic Games, and if you started reading this sentence at the beginning of the men's or women's showpiece race, it's probably already over.
For 10 seconds, the world stands to attention for the quickest humans on the planet to test their mettle in a battle of raw pace.
Usain Bolt will relinquish his crown this weekend, as his reign of supremacy is now over. Tokyo 2020 is the time for the next-gen male superstars to pick up where he left off.
In the women's event, Team GB boasts a serious gold medal opportunity, but for that to happen they will need to fight past one of the GOAT female sprinters.
RadioTimes.com is here to run through the 100m final top contenders at the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo, taking place in the summer of 2021.
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Who will win the men's 100m final?
Trayvon Bromell
The fastest person in the world in 2021, he set his personal best in June with a stunning 9.77-second time – the joint-20th fastest time in history.
Bromell's time has put him seventh in the list of quickest times by athletes, with only Bolt, Tyson Gay, Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell and compatriots Justin Gatlin and Christian Coleman ahead of him – ever.
The 26-year-old is the favourite for the men's 100m final.
Akani Simbine
South African star Simbine has set the fastest time for an African competitor in history, clocking in at 9.84 seconds.
He finished fifth in Rio 2016 and three of the four contenders who finished ahead of him are all out of the field. This could be his best ever shot at gold in the 100m before a crop of young, talented Americans bursts onto the scene.
Andre de Grasse
Canadian sprinter De Grasse won bronze in 2016 with a 9.91 run. He shaved 0.01 seconds off that time to record a 9.90 at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.
That PB earned him another bronze with only Christian Coleman and Justin Gatlin ahead of him on the podium. Gatlin is out of the picture and Coleman will miss Tokyo 2020 after missing a drug test in December 2019.
De Grasse has been a strong contender for some time and with Coleman out, Gatlin unable to qualify due to an injury in the trials, Yohan Blake slowing down marginally and Bolt finished, a slightly weakened field could play into De Grasse's hands.
Others: Ronnie Baker, Fred Kerley and Team GB star Zharnel Hughes are all names to look out for in the 100m event, with the first two of those names particularly favoured to run well.
Prediction: The heart says De Grasse will build on his 2016 Olympic debut and recent form with a show-stopping next-level performance, bringing his experience to bear. But the head says Bromell will seize gold. He has been finding that next level in 2021 and he is the man to beat, especially with Coleman out of the frame. Bromell GOLD.
Who will win the women's 100m final?
Shelly-Anne Fraser-Pryce
No woman has gone where Fraser-Pryce could go this weekend. While Bolt's absence has left the Jamaican men's sprinting scene with relatively few options, the women's stable looks stacked.
The 34-year old seasoned pro has won medals in her last three 100m Olympic finals - two golds followed by bronze in 2016 -but she is not slowing down.
Fraser-Pryce stormed back to the top with a gold-winning display at the 2019 World Championships and is the one to beat here.
Elaine Thompson-Herah
Fellow Jamaican Thompson-Herah is the reigning 100m and 200m Olympic champion with growing pedigree, though she has not managed to top her 10.70 PB since 2016.
She could only manage fourth at the 2019 World Championships with a 10.93 but nevertheless, she remains a lethal threat on her day.
The 29-year old boasts the second quickest women's 100m time in the world this year after landing a 10.71 at the start of July.
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Dina Asher-Smith
This is it, this is the event for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Every medal is sacred, every gold is treasured, but you could argue that Team GB's headline act, the star of the show is our representative at the women's 100m final.
Dina Asher-Smith is Britain's fastest ever female sprinter. The best. Her top time in 2021 was a 10.91 set in July but she set the national record with a 10.83 at the 2019 Worlds final where she took silver behind Fraser-Pryce.
Asher-Smith is a genuine contender, but will likely need to smash that national record if she is to win gold as Fraser-Pryce has gone sub-10.83 three times in 2021 and six times in 2019.
Others: 21-year-old American Sha'Carri Richardson would have been in the frame for gold, but she was banned from the Olympics after testing positive for marijuana prior to the Games.
Prediction: Expect a three-way fight between the highlighted names above. Asher-Smith could indeed shatter the national record and, on her day, she could defeat the very best. But Fraser-Pryce is eyeing up another sub-10.80 and that may be a barrier too far for DAS. Fraser-Pryce GOLD.
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