Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics: what you need to know when and where the runs will take place
Yasmine Green
Dailysports's expert
Translated by the editors
On 26 July, the main event in the world of sport of the last four years - the Summer Olympics in Paris - will start. The Dailysports team tells you what you need to know about one of the disciplines of the games - athletics.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics: what's new?
Athletics competitions at the Games in Paris have undergone changes. Firstly, it should be noted that there will be no men's 50-kilometre race walk at the 2024 Olympics. It has been replaced by a mixed relay discipline.
Each team will have one man and one woman, who will take turns (man - woman - man - woman - man - woman) to cover distances of approximately the same length (10+ kilometres each).
An additional round of preliminary heats has also been introduced in some running disciplines, namely the 200, 400, 800, 1500 metres and the 100 (women), 110 (men) and 400 metres hurdles. It is intended for those athletes who could not qualify for the semi-finals after the main preliminary round.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics: what are the disciplines?
Men and women will have almost similar disciplines, but with some nuances. Women will have a shorter hurdles distance than men by 10 metres (100 and 110 metres) respectively, and women will also compete in the heptathlon instead of the men's decathlon.
Taking these nuances into account, the list of disciplines is as follows:
- 100 metres
- 200 metres
- 400m
- 800m
- 1500 metres
- 5000 m Run
- 10000 m Run
- 100m (women) and 110m (men) hurdles
- 400 m hurdles
- 3000 m steeplechase
- 4x100 m relay
- 4x400 m relay
- Marathon Running
- 20 km walk
- High jump
- Pole Vaulting
- Long Jump
- Triple jump
- Shot Put
- Discus throw
- Hammer throw
- Javelin throw
- Decathlon (men), heptathlon (women)
- Mixed disciplines: 4x400 metre relay race, relay walk.
Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics: when and where will the events take place?
All athletics disciplines (except marathon running and race walking) will take place at the Stade de France. Not far away, at the Stade Sebastien-Charleti, the Diamond League stages take place, but a bigger stadium was chosen for the Olympic Games.
The track and field events will start on 1 August with the 20km walk final. The main part of the finals will be held from 7 to 10 August.
History of athletics at the Olympic Games
Athletics was a part of the ancient Olympic Games, but it was a running race at distances of 1, 2 and from 7 to 27 stadia (1 stadia - 192.27 metres). This sport was not forgotten during the revival of the games in 1896. At that time there were 12 disciplines at the Olympics.
With each Games the number of track and field disciplines increased, and the last two Olympics recorded a record number of 48 disciplines.
American track and field athletes hold the palm of superiority in this sport. Only three times they did not triumph in the overall standings: in 1972 and 1980 the Soviet track and field athletes were better, and in 1976 the overall standings were won by the GDR team.
It is noteworthy that until 1928, only men competed in track and field, but at the Amsterdam Games a women's track and field programme was introduced.
