Definitely agree with all of this. I think if Sisson has a good day she could absolutely be in medal contention. The hills and heat will be an equalizer, and a lot of top-seeded athletes tend to DNF.
I am interested to see how Ray and her choose to train for the elevation profile of Paris. Despite dropping out of the 2020 Trials which made people think she is not good at running on hills, Sisson has done quite well on hilly road races. She recently said she thinks she is good at hills, but does prefer rolling hills or some flat terrain to recover on between the hills.
She typically trains on very flat biking paths in Rhode Island or Arizona.. so I am curious how she will simulate the Paris course in her training. I would say she should try training at altitude again so she can get the hill stimulus and altitude stimulus, but her training at sea-level the past couple of years has been working really well for her. In the past she says she has trouble recovering and feels constantly tired.