With two major competitions in store over the summer, next year promises to be a memorable one for US sport.
The country’s soccer stars will first look to etch their names into American folklore by going all the way at the Copa America, which is taking place on home soil from June 20 until July 14.
And when that tournament draws to a close after the Miami final, attention will then turn to the Olympic Games in Paris from July 26 until August 11.
As a result, 2024 will be a crucial year for a number of US sport stars aiming to make their mark on either event – so which of them could rise to the occasion?
Dailymail.com has picked out eight athletes with the potential to do the Star-Spangled banner proud over the next 12 months.
Next year promises to be a huge one for US sport with another Olympic Games to come
The Copa America will also be taking place on home soil for the second time in eight years
Noah Lyles
This year proved historic for Lyles, who joined Usain Bolt in the history books by storming to victory in both the 100m and 200m at the World Championship in August.
Doing so made him the first man since Bolt in 2015 to capture both gold medals, and now the sprint star will be craving more records at his second Olympics in the summer.
Back in 2021, a 24-year-old Lyles claimed bronze at the Tokyo Games, finishing behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse and countryman Kenneth Bednarek.
Now, on the back of his double at the Worlds and with his 27th birthday to come in July, the Florida-born man has his eyes on the big prize in Paris.
While the rest of the athletes on this list are all expected to shine in 2024, none will have the expectation of the country on their shoulders quite like Lyles at the Olympic Games.
Noah Lyles is looking to write more history at the Olympic Games after becoming the first man to seal a 100m and 200m double at the World Championship since Usain Bolt in 2015
Christian Pulisic
For the second time in eight years America’s major international soccer tournament is set to take place on US soil – so could the hosts thrive on home advantage again next summer?
Back in 2016 the USMNT secured its joint-best finish at the Copa America by coming fourth in their first ever home tournament, with only the brilliance of Lionel Messi’s Argentina dumping them out at the semifinals.
Now, eight years on, there are even greater expectations on them following the rise of MLS and an increase in USA representatives throughout Europe’s top five leagues.
And Pulisic, the team’s talisman and star player, will be key to their success.
If they are to enjoy a run to the latter stages, USA needs the AC Milan winger to be at his absolute best throughout.
As things stand he appears likely to head into it on the back of his most successful individual season for four years. Pulisic’s current return of six goals in 19 games for Milan means he is on course to run his career-best tally of 11 goals in 34 games for Chelsea in 2019-20 close. He has also collected three assists in Serie A this term.
Christian Pulisic will be key to the USMNT going all the way at this year’s Copa America
Gregg Berhalter has some talented players at his disposal on the USMNT roster, including Gio Reyna, Folarin Balogun and Weston McKennie. However, none of the aforementioned trio have the same pedigree or experience as Pulisic – who helped Chelsea win the Champions League back in 2021.
Should he continue scoring goals and picking up assists in Milan, USA’s main man will arrive for the Copa America full of confidence and ready to stamp his authority on it.
Simone Biles
At just 26 years of age, gymnastics great Biles will head to her third Olympics as one of USA’s most decorated athletes if she makes it there in 2024, having won 23 World Championship golds over the past decade.
Her two previous Olympic appearances brought contrasting results, nevertheless, with the Ohio-born gymnast first sweeping up four gold medals along with a bronze in the balance beam in 2016.
Yet following a brief hiatus from the sport a year later, Biles’ next Games in 2021 saw her fail to live up to that breathtaking debut amid difficulties with her mental health.
After admitting that she was struggling to cope with the weight of the country on her shoulders, Biles picked up silver and bronze medals in the team and balance beam events, despite withdrawing from the latter stages of the former due to those cognitive problems.
She also pulled out of the all-around, vault and uneven finals as she dedicated her focus to overcoming her mental-health issues.
Simone Biles will head to her third Olympics as one of USA’s most decorated active athletes
‘I know I brush it off and make it seem like pressure doesn’t affect me but damn sometimes it’s hard,’ she wrote on Instagram at the time.
That difficult spell in Tokyo means Biles has often been reluctant to discuss the upcoming Games in France, yet earlier this year she admitted Paris is where she is striving to get to.
‘That’s the path that I would love to go,’ the four-time Olympic gold medalist said in September.
This time around, Biles insists she is in a strong place both ‘mentally and physically’ as she seeks redemption in the French capital. And with both greater maturity and experience under her belt, it would take a brave person to bet against her returning to winning ways.
Jahmal Harvey
By the time next summer’s Olympics gets underway, eight years will have passed since USA’s boxing teams – both men and female – last picked up a gold medal of any sort.
Now-undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields was the last American to do so at the 2016 Games, but the US will head to Paris in 2024 with a number of talented prospects at their disposal.
One of those up-and-coming stars is Harvey, the 21-year-old featherweight who claimed gold at the World Championships back in 2021.
While growing up in a rough neighborhood in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Harvey picked boxing over a potential career in professional football as a youngster, and so far he hasn’t looked back.
In nine years he has become an amateur world champion – making him the first American to do so since 2007 – and an integral member of Team USA.
Jahmal Harvey is arguably USA’s best hope of ending its boxing gold-medal drought in Paris
He also recently picked up a gold at the Pan American Games, which earned him a place in the US squad for the 2024 Olympics.
‘I knew I had to win because I ain’t really have no Plan B, like boxing had to work I had to do this to put myself in a better position,’ Harvey told The BayNet.
Out of all the fighters on the roster, the switch-hitting Harvey perhaps represents USA’s greatest shot at gold next year.
Having put in all the grueling work required to climb up the amateur ladder, he will be desperate to complete the story and end America’s drought in Paris.
Sha’Carri Richardson
Fresh from winning two gold medals at this year’s World Championship, Richardson will head to her first Olympic Games full of confidence in 2024.
The track and field sensation went to Budapest with big expectations on her shoulders and lived up to them in style, proving herself capable of handling the pressure at just 23 years of age.
‘Dreams like this come true. I’m just glad that I was able to be here for my first world championship and to do the things I’ve been working on all season,’ she said after winning gold in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Fresh from winning two gold medals at this year’s World Championship, Sha’Carri Richardson will head to her first Olympic Games full of confidence in 2024
Richardson set a championship record in her individual 100m-sprint victory after storming home in just 10.65 seconds, while also taking a bronze in the 200 meters.
As a result, the Dallas sprinter will be among the favorites to claim gold in Paris next year – and doing so would propel her to the top of both US and world sport.
Folarin Balogun
Former Arsenal striker Balogun made two huge career moves in 2023 after leaving the Premier League to sign for French team Monaco and committing his international future to the United States.
And while his club form is yet to take off in Ligue 1, with four goals to show for 12 appearances, it hasn’t taken the 22-year-old long to become an important member of Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT.
In his first eight caps for the country, which he qualified to play for after being born in New York City before moving to London at the age of two, Balogun has scored three goals and looked a constant threat at the pinpoint of their attack.
USMNT have lacked an out-and-out goalscorer for years, meaning he will be expected to lead the line at next year’s Copa America with the likes of Pulisic and Gio Reyna providing support from behind.
While Pulisic is the team’s key player, and Reyna one of its brightest talents, Balogun has slotted into the team terrifically since earning his USA debut back in June and all eyes will be on him as the focal point of the team.
Unleashed into his first major international tournament, don’t bet against the USMNT’s new center-forward enjoying a breakout summer on home turf.
Folarin Balogun already seems at home leading the USMNT line ahead of the Copa America
Joshua Edwards
Another talented boxing prospect, Edwards will represent the USA in the super-heavyweight division next summer as he looks to become only the second American ever to win gold in that weight class.
Not since Tyrell Biggs at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles has a US fighter gone all the way at super-heavyweight, but Edwards has already made history by triumphing at the Pan-American games earlier this year.
The 23-year-old from Houston became the first American super-heavyweight to prevail in that competition for two decades, earning him a place on the US Olympic squad in the process.
Standing at 6ft 3in and weighing almost 220lbs, he will head to Paris as one of the USA’s leading hopes in boxing after a long amateur journey which first began 17 years ago.
‘In terms of defense, I’m unbeatable among my peers,’ he told Top Heavyweight Boxing. ‘I’ve yet to find someone quicker in the ring.’
Joshua Edwards will bid to win USA’s first super-heavyweight boxing gold since 1984
Anna Hall
Only one US woman has claimed a heptathlon gold at either the Olympics or the World Championship, with Jackie Joyner-Kersee accomplishing the feat at both the 1988 and 1992 Games and the 1987 and 1993 Championships.
Since the latter triumph, 30 years have now passed without a female American athlete prevailing in the event. But Hall is raising hopes that she could be the one to change that in 2024.
The 22-year-old won a bronze medal at last year’s World Championship – before she had even turned professional – and then went one better by picking up a silver at this year’s meet in Budapest.
Back in May, she also scored a personal best of 6,988 points – which ranks as the fifth-highest in history.
Hall is well ahead of the curve three months before her 23rd birthday. Joyner-Kersee, by comparison, was 26 when she picked up her first Olympic gold.
Thus, there is hope that the girl from Colorado will end the long wait for a female heptathlon gold next year.