Five world records that are under threat at Olympic Games Paris 2024
What could possibly be better than becoming Olympic champion? Doing it while setting a new world record.
Amidst the anticipation of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, buzz surrounds the potential for athletes to make history.
From the pool to the track, and up the climbing wall, Olympics.com explores five world records that are in danger of being shattered in the capital of France.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Australia's Kaylee McKeown - queen of the backstroke
Earlier this year, backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown got close to her own 100m backstroke world record at the 2024 NSW State Championships. Clocking in at 57.57 seconds, she was just shy of her world best 57.33 which she swam in 2023. She now owns all six fastest times in history in the 100m backstroke.
McKeown also became world champion in the 50m,100m, and 200m backstroke in 2023 and she is the reigning Olympic champion at 100m and 200m backstroke (the 50m is not an event at the Olympic Games). McKeown holds the world records in all three backstroke disciplines and will be a strong favourite at the Olympics. Can she beat her own records again this summer?
Kaylee McKeown of Australia reacts after winning and breaking the World Record during women's 50m backstroke final during the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2023 - Meet 3 on October 20, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
Unstoppable 'Mondo' Duplantis has broken the world record eight times
It seems that the name Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis has become synonymous with the words ‘world record’ these days. The Swedish pole vault sensation has broken the world record eight times, his most recent being a 6.24m jump at the opening Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Xiamen. He has the highest jumps in history, and was a massive 15 centimetres above the rest of the field at the last 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Duplantis broke his first world record in February 2020, soaring above France's Renaud Lavillenie's almost-six-year-old mark with a jump of 6.17m (20 ft 3 in). A week later, on 15 February in Glasgow, he increased the record by another centimetre. Since then, he has been untouchable, flying higher and higher away from the rest of the field.
See all of Mondo Duplantis's record-breaking vaults below:
- 8 February, 2020 - 6.17 metres
- 15 February, 2020 - 6.18 metres
- 7 March, 2022 - 6.19 metres
- 20 March, 2022 - 6.20 metres
- 24 July, 2022 - 6.21 metres
- 25 February, 2022 - 6.22 metres
- 17 September, 2023 - 6.23 metres
- 21 April, 2024 - 6.24 metres
As usual, the reigning world and Olympic champion will be the one to beat at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. The question is, can Duplantis beat his biggest competition - himself?
The race is on to dethrone track legend Flo-Jo in the women's 200m
The women’s 200m has not been broken since 1988 when track and field legend Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner) ran 21.34 seconds. However, at the World Athletics Championships 2023, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson came dangerously close, crossing the finish line at 21.41 seconds, the second-fastest time ever in the women's 200m. The rest of the pack is close behind as well, with Elaine Thompson-Herah (21.53s) and Gabrielle Thomas (21.60s) as the third and fourth fastest in history. Could Paris 2024 see the end of Flo-Jo’s reign?
Weightlifting: USA's Hampton Morris and more
At the 2024 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Cup in Thailand, USA Weightlifting’s Hampton Morris made history by breaking the senior weightlifting world record at 61 kgs with a clean and jerk lift of 176 kilograms (388 pounds). This was the first time in 55 years that an American man set a senior world weightlifting record. Morris's record was among the highlights of the World Cup, which saw various world records broken across both the men's and women's divisions. Performances like these give excited fans a glimpse of what to expect in Paris...
Sam Watson breaks speed climbing world record twice within one hour
Sam Watson’s introduction to the sport climbing world was as lightning fast as his accent up the wall. At a recent World Cup event in China, he not only established himself as the one to beat in Paris but also shattered records in the process.
In April, 18-year-old Watson broke the world record not just once, but twice within the span of an hour. In his first run, he flew up the 15-metre (49-foot) wall in just 4.85 seconds, then did it in 4.79 seconds in his second run. The previous world record of 4.90 had been held by Indonesia's Veddriq Leonardo, who was the first man to break the five-second barrier.
At the most recent World Cup event in Salt Lake City in May 2024, Watson, the 2023 Panamerican Games champion, finished just short of yet another record, winning the speed title with 4.89 seconds. But Watson is just getting started. He now looks to break the record again, this time on the Olympic stage.
Teamwork makes the dream work: USA on the hunt to make history
Amidst the anticipation of potential world record-breaking performances, there remains a wealth of history yet to be written.
Here are some other records that could be broken this summer:
If the United States wins gold in women’s basketball, it will be their eighth consecutive gold since 1996 - a record in any team sport at the Olympics. If the US men win gold with Kevin Durant on the team, or if France's men’s handball team, with Nikola Karabatic, clinches gold, one of them could be the first male athlete to win four gold medals in any team sport.
As one of the most decorated athletes entering Paris, Katie Ledecky stands to expand on her already remarkable legacy. With just one more gold medal, she could equal Jenny Thompson's record for the most Olympic titles won by an American woman. With two gold medals she could become the woman with the most Olympic golds in swimming. And by winning three titles, Ledecky could become the woman to win the most Olympic gold medals in any sport. Emma McKeon (AUS) is also one medal shy of the record of 12 for most Olympic medals for a woman in swimming held by Thompson.
Also in the water…
If USA wins an Olympic gold medal in women’s water polo and Maggie Steffens and/or Melissa Seidemann are on the team, they will become the first-ever athlete/s to win four gold medals in water polo (in a row). A fourth medal of any color from both of them will tie the record tally of Olympic medals for a woman in water polo.
The USA also has a chance to win their 11th gold in a row in the swimming men’s 4x100m medley relay. With a near-perfect record of success, the American men have won gold in all but one Olympics (all years except 1980, 15/16 gold).
Refugee Olympic Team eyes first medal, Liechtenstein's unique record, and nations pursuing a podium finish
The Refugee Olympic Team, although not an NOC, hopes to win its first Olympic medal this year as well. Check out who on the team could make that happen:
Liechtenstein is also the only NOC to have won medals at the Olympic Winter Games but not at the Olympic Summer Games
Looking to make the podium for the first time ever are the following countries (NOCs without any Olympic medal):
Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Dominica, El Salvador, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Guam, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Kiribati, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania,Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, SaintKitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Yemen.
The countdown to Paris 2024 continues, and the world eagerly awaits the unfolding of these potential record-breaking moments, and more!