How to Qualify for Athletics at Paris 2024: Olympics Qualifying Standards for Track Events

How to Qualify for Athletics at Paris 2024: Olympics Qualifying Standards for Track Events

Martin Moses
updated at December 14, 2023 at 12:49 PM
  • A total of 1810 track and field athletes will participate in next year's Olympic games in France
  • World Athletics unveiled the criteria they will use to determine who will qualify for the games
  • The set standards will be attained at recognised events in different timeframes before June next year

The 2024 sports calendar will be busy, with its climax coming in July when more than 10,000 athletes head to Paris, France, for the Summer Olympics.

Track and field events are among the major attractions of the games, with current world champions like Noah Lyles and Shericka Jackson going for their maiden Olympic gold medals.

Usain Bolt, Paris Olympics 2024
Usain Bolt during the Olympic torch presentation in Paris on July 25, 2023. Photo by Alain Jocard.
Source: Getty Images

Eliud Kipchoge and Faith Kipyegon will be chasing their third successive gold medals at the games. No Kenyan has ever achieved such a fete before.

How to qualify for Olympics 2024 athletics

But how do you qualify for the Olympics? The World Athletics Council published criteria last year of the standards athletes must meet to be eligible for participation in Paris.

One thousand eight hundred ten athletes will be in France for the games - 905 for each gender. For every individual category, every member country (National Olympic committees) will be required to produce at most three athletes, provided they meet the qualifying standards.

50% of the qualification will be based on achieving the entry standards within the set timeframes, with another 50% judged from the World Athletics ranking from the ranking period.

Entry standards for Paris 2024 athletics

Event

Men

Women

100m

10.00

11.07

200m

20.16

22.57

400m

45.00

50.95

800m

1:44:70

1:59:30

1500m

3:33.50

4:02.50

5000m

13:05.00

14:52.00

10,000m

27:00:00

30:40.00

110m/100m hurdles

13.27

12.77

400m hurdles

48.70

54.85

3000m steeplechase

8:15.00

9:23.00

High jump

2.33

1.97

Pole vault

5.82

4.73

Long jump

8.27

6.86

Triple jump

17.22

14.55

Shot put

21.50

18.80

Discus throw

67.20

64.50

Hammer throw

78.20

74.00

Javelin throw

85.50

64.00

20km race walk

1:20:10

1:29:20

Marathon

2:08:10

2:26:50

The time frames for attaining the set standards are as follows;

  1. Individual events - other than the 10,000m, marathon, combined events and race walks: July 1 2023 and June 30 2024
  2. 10,000m, combined events, race walks and relays: December 31 2022 and June 30 2024
  3. Marathon: November 1 2022 and April 30 2024

The Olympics will run from July 26 to August 11, with the athletics program starting on August 1.

Team Kenya's marathon team

Sports Brief has also reported that Athletics Kenya has named provisional men's and women's marathon teams for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Kenya is the defending champion for both the women's titles they won in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Authors
Martin Moses photo
Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
Tags
KenyaEliud KipchogeFaith Kipyegon