Events and athletes to get excited about in October 2024
What is Simone Biles doing after the Olympics? Not resting, that’s for sure. Plus, the kickoff of the NBA and Big Air seasons are keeping the excitement going after Paris 2024. Find out what to watch in October.
After the wrap up of Paris 2024, the Olympic flame has been put out, but athletes and sporting events around the world have done anything but slow down.
From the kickoff of the 2024-25 NBA season to Big Air’s snowboard and freeski season opener in Chur, Switzerland, there are so many events in October to keep the sporting excitement going.
Plus, if you thought Simone Biles and the rest of USA Gymnastics had hung up their grips and leotards for the year, you would be dead wrong.
Here are five sporting events coming in October to get excited about.
Simone Biles of Team United States poses with her Paris 2024 Olympic medals following the Artistic Gymnastics Women's Floor Exercise Final on day ten of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Bercy Arena on August 05, 2024.
NBA Season Start
The 2024-25 NBA season is upon us and will officially kick off on the night of 22 October with two games, one of them being the reigning NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics, against the New York Knicks, another one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
After a successful run by USA Basketball at Paris 2024, where they extended their reign to five consecutive Olympic titles, the biggest names in the league are swapping in their USA jerseys and will no longer be playing with each other on a united front, but against each other in hopes of clinching the 2025 NBA title. So for those Olympics, it’s been a jam-packed summer with a short hiatus before the season opener, but the athletes look like they will return to the league hungry and ready to go for another round.
Chicago Marathon
Returning to the Windy City on Sunday, 13 October, 45,000 runners and 1.7 million estimated spectators will show out for the 46th Chicago Marathon.
Known for its flat and fast course, the marathon has produced four world and seven national records since the race began, and with the lineup of athletes set to compete this year, it’s not unlikely that more could come. Keira D’Amato and Betsy Saina headline the lineup for the American women, as D’Amato set a then-U.S. record of 2:19:12 at the 2022 Houston Marathon, while Saina had a breakout moment at the 2023 Tokyo Marathon with a personal best time of 2:21:20, then topped that at the same race the following year with a 2:19:17. Ethiopia's Sutume Kebede is looking like the woman to beat, though, as she has run the fastest marathon by a woman thus far this year, with a blistering 2:15:55 in Tokyo.
Kenya’s Amos Kipruto is going into the men’s race towards the top of his field with three podium finishes in Abbott World Marathon Majors, but Vincent Ngetich, also of Kenya, shares an identical personal best of 2:03:13
Keira D'Amato of Team United States reacts as she crosses the finish line of the Women's Marathon on day four of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 18, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.
Gold Over America Tour
Starring the most decorated gymnast of all time - Simone Biles - Team USA’s Paris 2024 medallists will be returning to the limelight with the Gold Over America Tour for a “pop concert-style spectacle” that is touring the United States through the month of October.
As described on the tour’s website, the performances are “an exhilarating display of jaw-dropping athleticism and high-energy choreography…[that] will have audiences on the edge of their seat with every tumble, twist and gravity-defying trick.” So, if you thought that gymnastics couldn’t get any more exciting, tune into the Tour for quite the elevated experience. Other athletes featured include Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Katelyn Ohashi and so many more.
The America’s Cup
As the oldest continuous competition in international sport, the 37th America's Cup will come to a thrilling end towards the end of the month, where new champions will be crowned for the first time since New Zealand’s Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron took the Cup in 2021.
According to the Cup’s organization, this year was set to be “one of the most intense America’s Cups in the event’s 174-year history,” and as of 27 September, there has been already victory and heartbreak as Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team came out on top of the semi-finals, and are now tied with Great Britain’s Ineos Britannia after the first two of 13 rounds. The winner of those will go on to challenge the reigning Kiwi’s for the 2024 Cup. Staged in Barcelona, Spain, the organization quoted Montserrat Caballé and Freddy Mercury when describing the city as “a jewel in the sun,” and said that it is “shining even brighter” as they prepared it for the race.
The American Magic AC75 'Patriot' boat sails offshore during a training session on July 11, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. The Barcelona's waters will host the 37th America's Cup from September to October of 2024.
Big Air Season Opener in Chur
The 2024-25 FIS Park and Pipe big air World Cup season is kicking off in October with a bang, starting with the Big Air Chur festival on the 18th and 19th of the month.
Chur, the capital of Switzerland’s Graubunden canton, will host the freeski competition on the first of two days and will be followed by the snowboard competition, all while a festival of music, art and festivities accompany the competition. It will be quite the Swiss spectacle over the weekend. Following this season opener, five snowboard and six freeski big air World Cups will follow, starting with Beijing at the end of November, then Big Air Klagenfurt, Kreischberg, Aspen, and Tignes.
