Maria Lasitskene
Before the Olympic season, Maria Lasitskene could be considered one of the most reliable favorites in athletics.
Apart from her, none of the girls have won the last three world championships in one discipline.
And few of the men succeeded - only the Polish hammer thrower Pavel Faydek and the American triple jump specialist Christian Taylor, who will not perform in Tokyo due to injury.
But the Russian high jumper almost lost her status.
The season for her began with jumps of 1.80 m and 1.88 m, with which it is impossible to qualify even for reaching the final of the Olympics.
At the end of May, Lasitskene was injured, which did not allow her to compete in many tournaments.
Some media even suggested that the three-time world champion would not make it to the national team at all.
Fortunately, the black stripe has changed to white.
Lasitskene recovered and at the very first tournament after an injury (in Moscow on July 10) improved her result to 1.95 m.Four days later she won the competition in Finnish Joensuu with a height of 2.00 m - only five athletes in the world were able to conquer her this summer ...
And on the eve, Maria won another victory, breaking the bar by 1.92 m in her best attempt.
On the one hand, Lasitskene returned to the race for the only title that is not yet on her track record.
On the other hand, there is one point that cannot but worry the Russian fans.
Usually, before big tournaments, Maria was the main contender for victory simply because few of the girls were, in principle, ready to compete with her on equal terms.
Often she won in the classroom, crossing out the efforts of her rivals in one jump.
In the same season, the situation is different.
Lasitskene has a worthy competitor in the person of the Ukrainian Yaroslava Maguchikh.
Over the past month, she has conquered the two-meter mark in four tournaments - none of the foreign women have done this since 2010.
Maguchikh is leading this season with a score of 2.03 m, which Lasitskene herself has not shown outdoors since the victorious world championship in Doha.
The rest of the rivals are still not as dangerous.
This season, the American Vashti Cunningham conquered 2.02 m, becoming the third at the 2019 World Cup, but she showed this result back in May, and performed worse in the selection for the national team.
Ukrainian Yulia Levchenko, who has been expected to compete with Lasitskene in recent years, has not yet said her word.
She is still struggling to gain shape after the coronavirus and has only a 1.94 m jump.
Angelica Sidorova
In addition to Lasitskene, pole vaulter Angelika Sidorova will perform as the current world champion in Tokyo.
Her medal claims can be considered a little more substantiated.
This season, she conquered a very decent height of 4.80 m three times, and the best result was an attempt at 4.91 m. With her, Sidorova takes second place in the world top list.
The first one is Katie Nagiotte from the USA - a real discovery this year.
The 30-year-old athlete, who had the best result in the world championship in seventh place in her career, is doing something incredible in the pole vaulting sector.
She managed to win six tournaments in a row with a score of at least 4.80 m - in the past, only Elena Isinbaeva and the current Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi from Greece have achieved this.
To be more precise, during this series, Najotta did not fall below 4.84 m. She showed the best result in the national selection, having conquered a height of 4.95 m. It was this height that brought gold to Sidorova two years ago.
During this time, the American managed to add 13 cm to her personal record, which cannot but inspire respect.
At the same time, other athletes, who invariably claim medals, have not disappeared anywhere in the women's pole.
Holly Bradshaw, an American, Sandy Morris, and Stephanidi were in full view throughout the season.
Only the Swede Angelika Begtsson is disappointing.
Once one of the most promising six-pole gymnasts two months before the Olympics, she stopped working with her coach, under which her results dropped to a very modest 4.66 m.
Sergey Shubenkov
A month ago, Sergei Shubenkov could not be sure that he would perform at the Olympics in his signature 110 meter hurdles race.
The medalist of the last four world championships was awaiting a verdict on his doping case, which lasted about six months.
As a result, the 30-year-old athlete was acquitted, and he was able to enter the team.
Shubenkov has already had the 2012 Games in his career, at which he was not yet among the favorites and was little known to a wide circle of fans.
Competitions in Tokyo will give him the chance to win Russia's first hurdle sprint medal.
Under the USSR, the Olympic bronze was won by Anatoly Mikhailov and Alexander Puchkov in the distant 1964 and 1980.
Shubenkov's season is not going well. He managed to perform only once outside Russia and run in 13.19 seconds - this was only enough to take 13th place in the world ranking. But during his career, the 30-year-old athlete managed to accustom him to the fact that he needs time to get in shape, and by the main start of the season he certainly manages to come up in good shape.
In addition, the title of Olympic champion cannot be defended by Jamaican Omar McLeod.
He did not perform well in the national selection and with his season record of 13.01 s, will remain at home.
The winner of the fifth time this year, Rashid Broadbell, who was injured before the Jamaican selection, will not take part.
All this should make it easier for Shubenkov to fight for second or third place.
American Grant Holloway, who was the only one this year ran out of 13 seconds, is very persistently claiming the first one.
Ilya Ivanyuk and Mikhail Akimenko
The only discipline in which the Russian Olympians are leading in the world season is the men's high jump.
Ilya Ivanyuk conquered the 2.37 m mark back in May, showing the best result since the last World Championship, in which he won the bronze medal.
In early July, Belarusian Maxim Nedosekov climbed to the same height.
Both of them are one centimeter ahead of American Juvon Harrison, an athlete who will also perform in the long jump in Tokyo.
At the same time, it is Ivanyuk who has the right to be considered the real leader of the season.
Nedosekov never again turned out to be above 2.30 m, and the Russian showed 2.33 m in three more tournaments in the summer - with this result, a huge group of high-altitude climbers shares the fourth place in the top list.
In the ratio "result - stability" Ivanyuk this season has no equal, which allows him to seriously count on the Olympic gold.
Mikhail Akimenko also conquered the grandmaster height of 2.33 m.
The current vice-champion of the world was on it three times, and in late June - early July.
He has not yet managed to repeat his personal record, which is two centimeters higher, but there is an explanation for that - this year his coach Yevgeny Zagorulko died.
The athlete admitted that now he lacks the tips of the titled mentor.
So far, in the high jump for men, there is a situation in which the Russians have everything in their own hands.
This season has not shown that someone can be as unattainable as the Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim has been in recent years.
By the way, the winner of the last two world championships has not yet jumped above 2.30 m and with such a result can easily be left without an Olympic final.
Valery Pronkin
Hammer thrower Valery Pronkin became famous in 2017, when he unexpectedly became the silver medalist of the World Championship.
Then in London, he managed in the last attempt to bypass Pole Wojciech Nowitzki, ahead of him by only 13 cm. The second place for the 23-year-old athlete was a real breakthrough - by that time the Russians had not won medals in the hammer for eight years.
However, Pronkin never turned into a worthy rival for Faydek.
He missed the next year due to a foot injury, after which he conquered 79 m only twice - for modern hammer throwing, this is the minimum that can be considered an elite athlete in this discipline.
This season Pronkin showed 79.06 m and is in ninth place in the world.
It will be difficult for a Russian who is still young enough for a men's hammer to claim a medal.
However, it should be noted that in recent years it has become not at all obligatory to throw a projectile even at 79 meters in order to be in the top three.
This is clearly demonstrated by the results of the recent Olympic Games and World Championships.
However, this season, for the first time in seven years, four athletes have conquered the 80-meter line at once, so in Tokyo you still have to expect very high results, which Pronkin has not yet shown.
Elvira Khasanova
Elvira Khasanova will represent Russia in women's 20 km walking.
The appearance of the 21-year-old athlete may seem rather unexpected, because she does not yet have big titles, and in the world ranking of the season she is in eighth place.
But in fact, her presence in the team is more than justified.
Taking into account the fact that other Russians will not be able to perform at the Olympics, and the powerful Chinese team will be limited to three athletes, Khasanova is already in fourth place this year.
But it will still be difficult for her to claim a medal.
After the Russian women's walking has sunk into oblivion, the leadership is firmly held by Chinese athletes.
At the last world championship, they managed to take the entire podium - this has never happened at any major start of the season.
At the same time, they show incredible results.
At the last Chinese championship, Yang Jiayu managed to break the world record, covering 20 km in 1:23:49.
Liu Hong and Qiyang Shijie lagged behind her, but still showed the time almost two minutes better than Hasanova's personal record.
If intense heat does not interfere in the distribution of medals, a factor of which cannot be ruled out, then hardly anyone will be able to intervene in the dispute of Chinese athletes.
Vasily Mizinov
But in men's 20 km walking, Russia has a person who can perform in difficult climatic conditions.
Two years ago, Vasily Mizinov won the silver medal at the World Championships in Doha.
At the same time, he was 15 seconds behind the Japanese Toshikazu Yamanishi - at lower temperatures, there could be a struggle between them to the last meters.
This year, you will have to fight for a medal not only with the hosts of the Olympics, but also with the same Chinese walkers who know how to prepare directly for the main start of the fourth year. This season, six representatives of the Celestial Empire covered 20 km faster than Mizinov, and one can only be glad that only three of them got places in their national team. At the last two Olympics, the Chinese left only two medals to athletes from other countries, and both times they took the gold for themselves.
In favor of Mizinov is the fact that for the past four years he has shown stable results for a walker, often going out of 1:19.
The Chinese cannot boast of this.
Small doubts that they will certainly be as fast in Tokyo have the right to exist.
If they do not show themselves at the first foreign start in a long time, then Mizinov may succeed in winning the first Olympic medal for Russia in a 20-kilometer race in 13 years.
Ilya Shkurenev
Decathlete Ilya Shkurenev can be called the most unlucky representative of his discipline.
Twice he finished fourth in the world championships (plus one more time in the heptathlon indoors) and was unable to complete the competition in 2017 due to an injury sustained in a hurdle sprint.
He owns one of the best personal records among active athletes, but not always at the main start of the year he manages to come close to this achievement.
Making predictions in decathlon is extremely difficult.
Athletics' toughest disciplines don't always show their cards during the season.
Shkurenev has an active performance of 8300 points, with which he takes 11th place in the world top list.
At the same time, he is ahead of both the reigning world champion Niklas Kaul from Germany and the silver winner Maitel Uibo from Estonia.
Shkurenev is strong enough in all disciplines, except for throwing and running at a distance of more than 400 m.His success will depend on whether he succeeds in breaking personal records in at least one of the problematic events and whether his luck in high jump and pole vault, where There is no room for error.
It will be almost impossible to fight the Canadian Damian Warner, who showed 8995 points this year, but Shkurenev has long deserved silver or bronze and may finally swing at them.
Daria Klishina
Women's long jump at the Olympics can be one of the most exciting competitions.
Six girls this year exchanged the seven-meter line, and six more did not reach it only ten centimeters.
It is gratifying that the first group includes the Russian woman Daria Klishina.
Back in March, she jumped 7.01 m, and with a tailwind she was another four centimeters further.
In fact, she repeated her personal record, which allowed her to break into the world elite ten years ago.
However, it was not possible to confirm Klishina's March result.
After that, she performed only once and showed a more modest 6.79 m.However, other competitors from the world top list showed their best form in the spring, and the unexpected leader of the season Essé Bruma from Nigeria jumped 7.17 m at the end of May.
American women are considered the traditional favorites in women's long jump. They will include four-time world champion Britney Reese, who will try to repeat the success of Germany's Heike Drexler and win the second Olympic gold. Her eternal rival Tianna Bartoletta did not qualify, but she can be successfully replaced by Tara Davis, who has a 7.14 m jump. The reigning world champion Malaika Mihambo had a 7.02 m attempt in July with a tailwind, but if she repeats its record (7.30 m), it will leave far behind any competitors.