LOS ANGELES — In a town that is known for star-studded gatherings, the second annual USATF LA Grand Prix will bring many of the top U.S. and international track and field luminaries to UCLA's Drake Stadium for an event that promises to provide a sneak peek at the athletes who will take the Olympic stage at Paris this summer. A star-studded lineup in the women's 200 has Olympic bronze medalist and World Championships silver medalist Gabby Thomas, the second-fastest American ever with a PB of 21.60, tangling with 400H world record holder and Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who has a best of 22.39 from 2018, but has done a few things since then. Add in the eighth-fastest U.S. woman ever, 2022 USATF champion Abby Steiner, and 2019 World Championships silver medalist Brittany Brown, and you have the makings of a classic race. Steiner clocked 21.77 to win the U.S. gold in 2022, and she won relay golds in the 4x100 and 4x400. Brown zipped to silver at Doha 2019 in 22.22 and lowered her PB to 21.99 in 2022. She was seventh in the 100 at Budapest last summer. Jenna Prandini has three Olympic and World 4x100 medals in her trophy cabinet and has a 21.89 PB. Watch out for Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke, the 2023 NCAA 400 champion for Texas who has been on a hot streak and has a 22.34 PB. Adeleke set the Irish record in the 400 with a 49.20 to win that NCAA gold, and she cruised to a sub-49 split in the 4x400 at the World Relays two weeks ago. Six of the nine men in the shot put have PBs of 22m or better, led by Joe Kovacs, the 2015 and 2019 World Championships gold medalist and the second-farthest thrower ever with a 23.23 PB. Kovacs medaled at the last five World Championships and has a pair of Olympic silver medals. New Zealand's Tom Walsh also has a bucket full of medals that includes two World Indoor titles, the 2017 World Championships gold, and bronzes from the last two Olympic Games. Walsh is one of the most engaging athletes on the circuit and his 22.90 PB is behind only Kovacs here. Fast-rising Payton Otterdahl blasted a PB 22.59 indoors at the Drake Relays to take over the No. 5 slot on the all-time U.S. performer list, and he won at the USATF Throws Festival with an outdoor PB of 22.41. Josh Awotunde was part of a U.S. sweep of the medals at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene and has a best of 22.29 to earn bronze, while Roger Steen has gone 22.08 in his career and made this year's World Indoor Championships team. Local favorite Rai Benjamin starred at USC and will be the one to watch in the men's 400 hurdles. Benjamin, the American record holder at 46.17, is making his 2024 debut in his specialty after running a 44.42 to win the flat 400 at the Mt. SAC Relays last month. He has an Olympic silver from Tokyo and a pair of World Championships silvers as well as a bronze from Budapest last summer. Trevor Bassitt was the bronze medalist at Oregon22 and set his PB of 47.38 to take fifth at Budapest. He earned silver in the 400 at the 2022 World Indoor Championships and was part of the gold medal U.S. 4x400 at Oregon22. Last summer's World Championships silver medalist, Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands, has run 47.08 in his career, and 19-year-old Jamaican Roshawn Clarke set a world U20 record of 47.34 to place fourth at Budapest. Khallifah Rosser is the other man with sub-48 credentials, boasting a 47.59 PB and a fifth-place finish at Oregon22. Almost good enough to be a global final, the women's 400 has the reigning world champions in the 400 and 800, along with the 2019 World Championships gold medalist in the 400. Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic streaked to a 48.76 in Budapest to claim gold, and she also took silver at the Tokyo Games. Kenya's Mary Moraa nabbed her world title at twice the distance, winning the 800 in a PB 1:56.03, but she has great shorter speed as evidenced by her 50.38 PB in the 400. The 2019 world champ, Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain, has the fastest PB in the field at 48.14, ranking her third on the all-time world performer list. Alexis Holmes is the fastest of the U.S. entrants this year at 50.24, a PB she set taking bronze at the World Indoor Championships, and she anchored Team USATF to gold in the 4x400 at the World Relays. She also anchored the U.S. mixed 4x400 to gold in an epic finish at Budapest in 2023. Two-time World Championships 400H silver medalist Shamier Little has a flat PB of 49.68 from last year. World Indoor 800 champion Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia leads the 2024 outdoor world list at 1:57.73, but that may not mean much as she lines up against 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda and former American record holder Ajee' Wilson, among others. Wilson has a pair of outdoor World Championships bronzes to go with her 2022 World Indoor gold and a pair of silvers from the undercover world meet, and she has a PB of 1:55.61 from 2017. Raevyn Rogers is another savvy racer who earned bronze at Tokyo in 2021 and silver at the Doha World Championships in 2019. Shafiqua Moloney of St. Vincent, an Arkansas star collegiately, has scored PBs across an array of distances this season, including a 1:58.69 indoors in February. USATF Indoor champion Allie Wilson brings a PB of 1:58.09 from 2022, and Sage Hurta-Klecker clocked 1:57.85 that year at the Monaco Diamond League meet. In the men's two-lapper, World Indoor champion Bryce Hoppel has won two straight USATF outdoor titles and four straight indoor national golds, and he has a best of 1:43.23. Clayton Murphy was the bronze medalist at Rio 2016 and claims the fastest PB in the field at 1:42.93. Brandon Miller, Isaiah Jewett, and Isaiah Harris have all run under 1:45 and will factor here. Miller was the 2022 NCAA indoor champion, with Jewett and Harris also claiming collegiate titles along the way. Harris has been on four World Indoor and World Championships squads, and Jewett was an Olympian at Tokyo. Top international challengers include Jake Wightman, the surprise 2022 world 1500 champion for Britain, who has a 1:43.65 800 PB, and Australia's Peter Bol, the Tokyo fourth-place finisher who has a 1:44.00 PB. Former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad, an Olympic and World champion in the 400 hurdles, has been at the top of the world scene for more than a decade. She will face Anna Cockrell, a 53.34 performer who was fifth at Budapest, along with Cassandra Tate, the 2015 World Championships bronze medalist. Jamaica's Andrenette Knight was eighth at Budapest and has clocked 53.26, while Line Kloster set the Norwegian national record of 53.91 two years ago. Panama's Gianna Woodruff was last year's Pan American Games champion and has a best of 53.69. Puerto Rico's Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, has the fastest PB in the women's 100 hurdles at 12.26, but she lines up against Tonea Marshall, the U.S. leader and world number two in 2024 at 12.42. Christina Clemons was fifth at the 2017 World Championships and took silver in the 60H at the 2018 World Indoors, while Alaysha Johnson was the bronze medalist at the 2023 Pan American Games and sports a 12.35 PB. Masai Russell placed fourth in the 60H at this year's World Indoor Championships and has a 100H PB of 12.36 from last year's Texas Relays. She made her first World Championships team last year with a third-place effort at the Toyota USATF Championships and was the NCAA silver medalist for Kentucky. Seventh at Tokyo in 2021, Gabbi Cunningham won USATF indoor 60H crowns in 2020 and 2022. The top three all-time U.S. performers are joined by two other men who are in the 6.00m club in the pole vault. Chris Nilsen, the 2023 World Championships bronze medalist and a silver medalist at Tokyo and Oregon22, has cleared 6.05 and claims five USATF indoor and outdoor crowns. American record holder KC Lightfoot has a PB of 6.07 and was fourth at Tokyo, while Sam Kendricks has two World Championships golds in his stack of international medals to go with a 6.06 PB. Kendricks has 10 indoor and outdoor U.S. titles. EJ Obiena of the Philippines was the silver medalist at Budapest with a PB clearance at 6.00 and earned bronze at Oregon22. Norway's Sondre Guttormsen won three NCAA indoor and outdoor titles for Princeton, including his PB 6.00 at the 2023 indoor meet. All but one of the women in the 100 have dipped under 11 seconds in their careers, with the fastest PBs belonging to a pair of Americans, Melissa Jefferson and TeeTee Terry, at 10.82. Jefferson won the USATF title in 2022 with a wind-aided 10.69 and went on to take eighth in that event at the World Championships before helping the U.S. to gold in the 4x100. The anchor on that winning relay, Terry repeated as a gold medalist at Budapest as the second leg of the American foursome. Reigning Trials champion Javianne Oliver has a best of 10.95 and earned silver in the 4x100 at Tokyo. Also a 10.95 performer at her best, Morolake Akinosun has 2016 Olympic and 2017 World Championships 4x100 golds and a bronze from the 2019 World Championships. Jamaica's Natasha Morrison earned gold running in the 4x100 rounds at Tokyo and has two World Championships relay golds to accompany her 10.85 PB. Four times a USATF indoor and outdoor champion, Tori Franklin has her work cut out for her in the triple jump. Franklin, the bronze medalist at Oregon22, will jump against Jamaica's Shanieka Ricketts, a 15.03 performer who was fourth at Budapest after earning silver at Oregon22. Ricketts was also fourth in Tokyo. Franklin has a PB of 14.86 and is third on the all-time U.S. performer list. Thea LaFond of Dominica, who starred collegiately at Maryland, won the World Indoor Championships gold in March at Glasgow with a PB leap of 15.01. Two men who have cracked the 3:30 barrier and the 2016 Olympic champion are among the major contenders in an intriguing men's 1500 that also features one of Australia's brightest young stars in the event. Olli Hoare, the 2022 Commonwealth Games champion for Australia who won the 2018 NCAA title for Wisconsin, has a best of 3:29.41 and also picked up a bronze on his country's relay team at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships. Kenya's Abel Kipsang was fourth at Tokyo in 2021 and earned bronze at the 2022 World Indoor Championships. He has a best of 3:29.11. In the final year of his storied career, Matthew Centrowitz has an Olympic gold on his resume from Rio 2016 and he is a dangerous tactician Centrowitz set his PB of 3:30.40 in 2015 and has silver and bronze medals from the World Championships, as well as a gold from the 2016 World Indoors and seven indoor and outdoor national titles. Cameron Myers, who turns 18 next month, has Australian hopes riding high based on his 3:33.26 PB from last year. The fastest man in the field this year is Kenya's Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot, who went 3:31.06 to win the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi last month. Last on the schedule but certainly not in depth of talent, the women's 1500 has a corps of Ethiopian stars clashing with some of the top American Olympic hopefuls. Budapest silver medalist Diribe Welteji has the fastest PB at 3:53.93 and won the inaugural World Road Mile title last year in Latvia. Freweyni Hailu was fourth at Tokyo and Oregon22, and she claimed the World Indoor gold in March at Glasgow. She has a best of 3:55.28. 2022 World Indoor Championships bronze medalist Hirut Meshesha has run 3:54.87, and 17-year-old Saron Berhe is an emerging star who has a best of 3:59.21. World Indoor Championships bronze medalist Emily Mackay nipped under 4:00 last summer with a 3:59.99, and she also earned Pan American Games bronze in 2023. A finalist at the last three global championship meets, Cory McGee's PB is 4:00.34, and she is the sixth-fastest American miler ever at 4:18.11. Oregon22 sixth-place finisher Sinclaire Johnson took USATF gold that year and also notched her PB of 3:58.85. Kenya's steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech, the 2019 world champion over the barriers, drops down in distance and has a PB of 4:01.17. One other international to keep an eye on is Britain's Katie Snowden, who was eighth at Budapest and has run 3:56.72. World Championships silver medalist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana is a rising star in the men's sprints and his 9.88 is the best of the entry times. Close behind him are Jamaica's Ackeem Blake, a 4x100 bronze medalist in Budapest with a 9.90 PB, and Elijah Hall, who also has run 9.90 and earned silver on the U.S. 4x100 at Oregon22. Kyree King has a 9.96 PB and ran the third leg on the winning U.S. 4x100 at the World Relays two weeks ago, while Brandon Carnes handled third leg duties on the gold medal U.S. 4x100 at Budapest and has a 10.01 PB. Friday's festivities kick off with a pair of superb hammer competitions. The women's event features the gold medalists from the last three World Championships, including Americans Brooke Andersen and DeAnna Price. Andersen leads the world list this year with a 79.92 to win the USATF Throws Festival in Tucson, and she won the world title at Budapest. American record holder Price, the 2019 global champion in Doha, is back at full speed after recovering from injuries and has hit 77.05 already this season. At Oregon22, Canada's Camryn Rogers came away with the victory, and she has a best of 76.30 in 2024. Adding even more quality to the field is Janee' Kassanavoid, the silver medalist at Budapest last year and a bronze medalist in 2022 at Eugene. She is fourth on the world list with a season best of 75.99 that won the Nairobi WCT Gold meet. Another American record holder, Rudy Winkler, tops a terrific three-man U.S. contingent that has repped the country at the past three global championships. Winkler placed eighth and sixth at the past two World Championships and has a PB of 82.71 that he set in 2021 to win the U.S. Olympic Trials and claim the AR. Daniel Haugh, another 80m man with a PB of 80.18, was sixth at Budapest and eighth at Eugene, and he leads the U.S. list in 2024 with a 79.03, while Alex Young has a 78.32 PB and is seeking a spot in the all-time U.S. top 10. Ukraine's Mykhaylo Kokhan, fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, is another 80m+ performer, bringing a PB of 80.78 and a 2024 best of 80.76. Two-time World Indoor gold medalist Sandi Morris tops the women's pole vault entries. Morris has three World Championships silvers and a silver from the Rio 2016 Games, and also carries a PB of 5.00. Leading the U.S. list in 2024 at 4.83, Bridget Williams was the Pan American Games gold medalist last year. 2022 NCAA champion Gabriela Leon was also a World Championships finalist that year and has gone over 4.70 this year to equal her PB. Venezuela's Robeilys Peinado was the bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships and made the Tokyo final, taking eighth. Reigning Olympic champion and American record holder Valarie Allman is atop the U.S. women's discus list in 2024 with a 69.86, and she has silver and bronze from the last two World Championships. Last year's breakout performer, Laulauga Tausaga-Collins, won the World Championships gold in Budapest with a massive PB of 69.49 to rank second on the all-time U.S. list. Coming off her first appearance at the World Championships, Elena Bruckner upped her PB to 62.38 in April. Cuba's Yaime Perez had a stunning PB of 73.09 at Ramona, Oklahoma, on April 13 to crack the all-time world top 10 performer list with the best throw in the world since 1988. Perez won the world title in 2019 and was the Tokyo bronze medalist. Three-time NCAA champion Jorinde van Klinken of the Netherlands has a PB of 70.22 and was fourth at the last two World Championships. Tokyo silver medalist Kristin Pudenz of Germany rounds out this fantastic field. The two farthest American men in 2024, Reggie Jagers and Andrew Evans, will take on Samoa's Alex Rose in the discus. Jagers, an Olympian at Tokyo, raised his PB to 69.16 last month and was the 2018 USATF champion. He earned bronze at the 2019 Pan American Games. Evans, the 202 USATF champion, has a PB of 68.09 that he set to win at Michigan in April. He was a Rio 2016 Olympian and has made two World Championships appearances. Rose has the best PB in the field at 71.48, achieved last weekend at Allendale, Michigan, and was eighth at Oregon22. Other American hopes rest with Brian Williams, a finalist at Budapest last year and a veteran of three World Championships who has thrown 66.14 in his career. Jamaica's Roje Stona was the NCAA runner-up for Arkansas last year and recently scored an NFL tryout with the New Orleans Saints despite never having played football collegiately. Claudio Romero of Chile won the SEC gold for LSU last weekend and was the 2022 NCAA champion.