The 2017 IAAF World Championships are right around the corner! Check out the breakdown of the women's 100m and 400m hurdles below, and then read the men's 110m and 400m hurdles preview when you're done.

Women's 100m Hurdles

When:
August 11, 4:45 PM CT (heats)
August 11, 1:05 PM CT (semifinals)
August 12, 2:05 PM CT (final)

Top International Contenders: Sally Pearson (Australia), Danielle Williams (Jamaica), Tobi Amusan (Nigeria), Pamela Dutkiewicz (Germany), Megan Simmonds (Jamaica), Rushelle Burton (Jamaica), Yanique Thompson (Jamaica), Devynne Charlton (Bahamas)

Team USA: Keni Harrison, Nia Ali, Christina Manning, Dawn Harper-Nelson

2016 Olympic 100m Hurdles Final:


Photo credit: Christopher Hanewinckel, USA Today

PLACE	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	TIME	BACK IN 2017?
1	Brianna Rollins	USA	12.48	NO
2	Nia Ali	USA	12.59	YES
3	Kristi Castlin	USA	12.61	NO
4	Cindy Ofili	GBR	12.63	NO
5	Cindy Roleder	GER	12.74	NO
6	Pedrya Seymour	BAH	12.76	NO
7	Tiffany Porter	GBR	12.76	YES
8	Phylicia George	CAN	12.89	YES

ANALYSIS:
I take back what I said about Omar McLeod earlier--if one thing is for certain heading into Worlds, it's that the United States ROLLS DEEP in the 100m hurdles. "How deep is the United States' contingent of elite 100-meter hurdlers," you ask? We're talking "the United States doesn't even need to qualify its world-record holder to the 2016 Olympic Games to sweep the podium" deep. We're talking "22 U.S. women ran the world-qualifying standard this year" deep. We're talking (last one, I promise) "nine of the season's top 16 times were recorded by Americans" deep… So deep (I lied) that even though only one 2016 Olympian will return to race for the red, white, and blue at the world championships this year, the U.S. could very well sweep the podium again. World-record holder (12.20) and reigning U.S. outdoor champion Keni Harrison has blown the doors off of nearly every race she's run this year--both indoors and outdoors--to stay undefeated since January.

No 2016 Olympic champion Brianna Rollins? No problem. Although she'll be missed, Harrison will be joined by a super squad: 2016 Olympic silver medalist Nia Ali, whose 12.52 is the fourth-fastest in the field; 2012 NCAA champion Christina Manning, sixth-fastest with a 12.58 season's best; and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson, 10th-fastest in 12.66. But if anyone is game enough to crash America's party, it's Australia's fearsome Sally Pearson, the 2012 Olympic champion. Ranked second in the field (12.48) behind Harrison, the 30-year-old Pearson has been on a tear this season after struggling with injury in 2016 that precluded her from pursuing another medal. Now healthy, she's running faster than she has in nearly five years and looks laser-focused on returning to her winning ways on the world stage.

Harrison was all smiles after snagging her first U.S. title less than a year after breaking the world record:

Women's 400m Hurdles

When:
August 7, 1:30 PM CT (heats)
August 8, 2:35 PM CT (semifinals)
August 10, 3:35 PM CT (final)

Top International Contenders: Zuzana Hejnova (Czechslovakia), Lea Sprunger (Switzerland), Rhonda White (Jamaica), Sara Slott-Petersen (Denmark), Eilidh Doyle (Great Britain), Ristananna Tracey (Jamaica), Sage Watson (Canada), Leah Nugent (Jamaica)

Team USA: Dalilah Muhammad, Shamier Little, Kori Carter, Cassandra Tate

2016 Olympic 400m Hurdles Final:


Photo credit: Erich Schlegel, USA Today

PLACE	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	TIME	BACK IN 2017?
1	Dalilah Muhammad	USA	53.13	YES
2	Sara Slott-Petersen	DEN	53.55	YES
3	Ashley Spencer	USA	53.72	NO
4	Zuzana Hejnova	CZE	53.92	YES
5	Ristananna Tracey	JAM	54.15	YES
6	Leah Nugent	JAM	54.45	YES
7	Janieve Russell	JAM	54.56	NO
8	Eilidh Doyle	GBR	54.61	YES

ANALYSIS:
Continuing to dive into the Mariana Trench otherwise known as the U.S. women's hurdling dynasty, it's almost unfathomable how replete the 400m hurdles talent pool has become. The top three times in the field all belong to Americans: 52.64 (Dalilah Muhammad, the 2016 Olympic champion); 52.75 (Shamier Little, the 2015 world silver medalist); and 52.92 (Kori Carter, the 2014 U.S. outdoor champion). They ran those times in the same race, the 2017 USATF Outdoor Championships 400m hurdle final, which made history as the fastest, deepest 400m hurdle race ever with the top six women running sub-54. That included 17-year-old Olympian Sydney McLaughlin, whose fourth-place time of 53.85 reset her world junior record. In total, 14 U.S. women ran the world-qualifying standard this year, including the seasoned Georgann Moline, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Ashley Spencer, and prodigies McLaughlin and Anna Cockrell, but none of them are going to Worlds.

Chances of disrupting the American ecosystem at the top of the food chain here will be slim--there hasn't been a single sub-54 performance from any other country this season. But if Sara Slott-Petersen returns to the silver medal-winning form she displayed at the 2016 Olympics and runs sub-54, she could have an outside shot at the podium. The same goes for 2013 and 2015 world champion Zuzana Hejnova (ranked No. 4 in the field with a 54.22), who rarely strays far from the fight in any 400m hurdles race. Barring major calamities in the heats and semifinals, this could become another historic hurdle sweep for the American women.

After winning the 2017 USATF outdoor title, Muhammad said she wants a 1-2-3 sweep in London: