It will be a record-tying year for the LSU track and field program at the Paris Olympics next month with 15 current and former Tigers competing on the sport's biggest stage.
While a dozen athletes with LSU ties had qualified for some time, the final three were added Tuesday when USA Track & Field formally announced the 120-person contingent it's sending to the Games.
The final additions were high jumper JuVaughn Harrison, a legitimate medal contender, and sprinters Vernon Norwood and Aleia Hobbs.
Harrison and Norwood were fourth in their events at the Olympic trials, and Hobbs was fifth when a top-three finish was needed to earn a spot on the American team.
Ranked No. 3 in the world, Harrison still made his second Olympic team because he is one of just two Americans to achieve the Olympic high jump standard of 7 feet, 7¾ inches this past year.
Harrison, the silver medalist at the world championships last summer, had trouble finding a rhythm in the finals at the trials on June 30 and cleared only 7-4¼ — 4½ inches off his all-time best.
Winner Shelby McEwen had the Olympic standard, but Caleb Snowden and Tyus Wilson — who took second and third — did not. Nor were they ranked high enough in the world to land a spot on the U.S. team.
That left the door open for Harrison, who finished seventh in the high jump in his Olympics debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He also was fifth in the long jump, but he decided to concentrate on just the high jump this time.
Norwood and Hobbs, who are both veterans of U.S. relay teams, were expected to make the trip to France based on their high finishes at the trials.
Norwood was fourth in the 400 meters final and Hobbs was fifth in the 100. Both will be part of the USA's six-person relay pools.
The 32-year-old Norwood has brought home 10 medals — seven of them gold — from the Olympic Games and World championships since turning pro in 2015.
He won a gold in the men's 4x400-meter relay and a bronze in the 4x400 mixed relay (two men, two women) at the Tokyo Games. Hobbs won a silver medal with the women's 4x100 relay team in Tokyo.
When track and field is held Aug. 1-11 at Stade de France, this LSU group will match the 15 athletes the program had in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.
This year's group will represent eight countries, with the United States and Nigeria leading with four each.
Here is the complete list of current and former Tigers who are expected to compete in the Paris Olympics:
United States (4)
JuVaughn Harrison (men's high jump)
Aleia Hobbs (women's 4x100 relay)
Vernon Norwood (men's 4x400 relay, 4x400 mixed relay)
Sha’Carri Richardson (women's 100, 4x100 relay)
Nigeria (4)
Godson Brume (men's 100, 4x100 relay)
Tima Godbless (women's 100, 4x100 relay)
Favour Ofili (women's 100, 200, 4x100 relay)
Ella Onojuvwevwo (women's 400, 4x400 relay, 4x400 mixed relay)
Great Britain (2)
Amber Anning (women's 400, 4x400 relay)
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake (men's 4x100 relay)
Chile (1)
Claudio Romero (men's discus)
Jamaica (1)
Natoya Goule-Toppin (women's 800)
Liberia (1)
Thelma Davies (women's 100, 200)
Sweden (1)
Mondo Duplantis (men's pole vault)
Trinidad and Tobago (1)
Shakeem McKay (men's 4x400 relay)