Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris were held between 1 and 11 August 2024, featuring a total of 48 medal events across three distinct sets: track and field, road running, and racewalking.[1] Four venues were used: Pont d'Iéna for race walking, Hôtel de Ville and Les Invalides for the start and end points of the marathon races, and Stade de France for the track and field events.
The competition featured an identical number of medal events for men and women, the first instance in Olympic history. The marathon race walk mixed relay through a marathon course was contested for the first time at these Games, replacing the men's 50 kilometres race walk in the quest for gender equality.[2]
Another significant change to the athletics program was the repechage round format in all individual track events from 200 to 1500 m and the hurdles events (110 m for men, 100 m for women, and 400 m for both), a vast opportunity for the runners to have a second chance of entering the semifinal phase. This format replaced the former system of athletes advancing through the fastest overall times (q) apart from those qualifying directly in the first-round heats (Q).[3]
Track and field events were staged at the Stade de France, with the race walks having been contested at Pont d'Iena.[1] The marathon races began at the Hôtel de Ville (city hall) and ended in Les Invalides. Along the course, runners traversed many of the city's most iconic sites and Olympic venues throughout the route.[4]
This traditional marathon course also set a particularly tough profile with an overall elevation gain or loss of 438 m. The route, specially designed for the Paris 2024 Games and approved by World Athletics, was unique, demanding, and technical. Paris 2024 unveiled the routes for the Olympic marathon and the two races – a 42.195 km course and a 10 km course – open to the general public as part of the mass event running.[5]
Road events (marathons and racewalks) were held in the morning session of the athletics program schedule, with all track, field, and combined events staging their finals in the evening session for the first time since London 2012.[6]
For the first time in its four-decade-long Olympic history since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the women's marathon occurred on the last day of the athletics program on 11 August, with the men's race having taken place the day prior on 10 August. According to Tony Estanguet, a triple Olympic slalom canoeing champion and president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, "We wanted to reverse the order in an ambition to more gender equality and bring women to the fore for the first time so the women's marathon will enjoy major visibility on 11 August to cap off the athletics program."[4]
At the end of the 2022 season, World Athletics established a qualification system for athletics competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Similar to the previous edition, the qualification system was set on a dual pathway, where the initial half of the total quota (about fifty percent) was distributed to the athletes through entry standards approved by the World Athletics council, with the remainder relying on the world ranking list within the qualifying period.[8] Each country was able to enter a maximum of three athletes for each individual event on the Paris 2024 athletics program. The qualification period for all track and field events (except the 10,000 metres, heptathlon, and decathlon) ran from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.[9]
Each relay event featured sixteen teams from their respective NOCs, composed of the following:[8]
The marathon race walking mixed relay event, covering a distance of marathon (42.195 km), featured twenty-five pairs from their respective NOCs, composed of the following:[8]
The qualification period for the marathon ran from 1 November 2022 to 30 April 2024. For the 10,000 metres, combined events (men's decathlon and women's heptathlon) and racewalking, the qualification period ran from 31 December 2022 to 30 June 2024.[8]
In the marathon races, any runner ranked higher than the sixty-fifth-place athlete on the filtered Quota Place "Road to Paris" list on 30 January 2024, was deemed eligible for immediate selection to his or her respective national team at the Games. Beyond the deadline, the remaining twenty percent of the total quota was determined by the same dual pathway qualification criteria outlined above without displacing any qualified athletes on the set date.[8][13]
* Host nation (France)
b Athletes who participated in the heats only and received medals.
