How to qualify for athletics at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained

Having featured in the Ancient Olympic Games, the first of which took place in 776 BC, athletics has been on the modern Olympic programme since 1896 when athletes competed in 12 men’s events in Athens. 

Women first began competing in athletics at the Olympics in the Amsterdam 1928 Games and for Paris 2024 there will be an equal number of 905 women and 905 men taking part in the athletics competition at the Games. 

Find out everything you need to know about the pathway to qualification below.

How many athletes will compete in athletics at Paris 2024?

A total of 1810 athletes will compete in athletics at Paris 2024, including 905 women and 905 men. For individual events, there will be a maximum of three athletes per NOC eligible to qualify, with a maximum of two teams per NOC per team event and one relay team per NOC for relay events.

In terms of Universality Places, any NOC that has no male or female qualified athlete or relay team will be allowed to enter their best ranked male or best ranked female athlete in either the 100m, 800m or marathon.

The maximum number of athletes per event is as follows:

What is the qualification pathway to Paris 2024?

Athletes will be able to qualify in two ways for the Paris 2024 Games, with 50% of qualification places based on achieving the entry standard for an event within the qualification period, and the other 50% based on the World Athletics Ranking within the ranking period.

The qualification and ranking period for all individual events - other than the 10,000m, marathon, combined events and race walks - will be between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. 

For the 10,000m, combined events, race walks and relays, the qualification and ranking period will be between 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2024, while for the marathon the period will be between 1 November 2022 and 30 April 2024. 

All performances must be achieved during competitions organised or authorised by World Athletics, its Area Associations or its National Federations in accordance with its rules and published on the World Athletics Global Calendar. 

For relay events, the 14 highest placed NOCs at the World Athletics Relays 2024 will qualify automatically for Paris 2024 with the remaining teams selected according to the World Athletics performance list for relays during the period of 31 December 2022 and 30 June 2024. 

Entry standards for all events at Paris 2024

What is the Paris 2024 athletics competition format and schedule?

The Paris 2024 athletics competition will take place between 2 and 11 August 2024 in and around the Stade de France.

The following is a full list of events that will be competed at Paris 2024.

• 100m (women’s / men’s)
• 200m (women’s / men’s)
• 400m (women’s / men’s)
• 800m (women’s / men’s)
• 1500m (women’s / men’s)
• 5000m (women’s / men’s)
• 10,000m (women’s / men’s)
• 100m Hurdles (women’s)
• 110m Hurdles (men’s)
• 400m Hurdles (women’s / men’s)
• 3000m Steeplechase (women’s / men’s)
• 4 x 100m Relay (women’s / men’s)
• 4 x 400m Relay (women’s / men’s / mixed)
• High Jump (women’s / men’s)
• Pole Vault (women’s / men’s)
• Long Jump (women’s / men’s)
• Triple Jump (women’s / men’s)
• Shot Put (women’s / men’s)
• Discus Throw (women’s / men’s)
• Hammer Throw (women’s / men’s)
• Javelin Throw (women’s / men’s)
• Heptathlon (women’s)
• Decathlon (men’s)
• 20km Race Walk (women’s / men’s)
• 42.195km Team Race Walk (mixed)
• Marathon (women’s / men’s): last weekend of the Olympic Games

Athletics stars to look out for at Paris 2024

On 5 December 2022, Sydney McLaughlin and Armand “Mondo” Duplantis were named female and male Athlete of the Year at the World Athletics Awards.

For 400m hurdler McLaughlin, it came after a year in which she broke her own world record en route to gold at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, following her Olympic title at Tokyo 2020.

Swedish pole vaulter Duplantis continues to raise the bar - both literally and figuratively - within his sport, setting a new world record of 6.21m at this year’s Worlds to add to the indoor world record of 6.20 he achieved earlier in the year in Belgrade.

Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas is another athlete who continues to dominate her sport. The triple jump star is Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and holds the current world record of 15.74m. She will once again be a favourite for victory at Paris 2024.

In the marathon, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge became the back-to-back Olympic champion at Tokyo 2020 and at the 2022 Berlin Marathon broke his own world record in a time of 2:01:09.

The sprint events are always a highlight of the Olympics, with a trio of Jamaicans - Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson dominating the women’s 100m and 200m. In the men’s short distances, keep your eyes on Fred Kerley, Noah Lyles and the young Erriyon Knighton, who is currently faster than the great Usain Bolt was at the same age.

Hosts France will be also be anticipating strong performances from their athletes competing on home soil during the Games. Among their strongest is decathlete Kevin Mayer, who won his second World Championships gold in 2022, following silver medals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. He will be hoping to make it onto the top step of the podium in front of his home crowd in Paris.

Other athletes you won’t want to miss at Paris 2024 include Chinese women’s shot putter Gong Lijiao, men’s 1500m runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Qatari men’s high jumper Mutaz Barshim, USA women’s 800m runner Athing Mu, USA men’s shot putter Ryan Crouser and Brazilian men’s 400m hurdler Alison dos Santos, among many, many others who will be aiming for gold at the next Olympic Games.

Athletics qualification timeline for Paris 2024

• 1 November 2022: Start of the qualification and ranking period for Marathon
• December 2022: World Athletics to confirm the entry standards for all events. The standards will be distributed to all NOCs and NFs.
• 31 December 2022: Start of the qualification and ranking period for 10,000m, Combined Events, Race Walks and Relays
• 1 July 2023: Start of the qualification and ranking period for all individual events (except 10,000m, Marathon, Combined Events and Race Walks)
• 30 January 2024: End of qualification and ranking period for Marathon (80% of quota)
• 23 April 2024: Deadline for NOCs with no qualified athletes to apply for unqualified entries in Marathon
• 30 April 2024: End of qualification and ranking period for Marathon (remaining 20% of quota)
• 1 May 2024: World Athletics to (only for Marathon)
  • confirm the list of approved Unqualified athletes
  • confirm the list of athletes qualified by Entry Standard
  • publish the World Athletics World Rankings and qualified athletes
• 3 May 2024: Deadline to decline a quota place for Marathon.
• 4-6 May 2024: World Athletics to reallocate unused quota places in the Marathon
• 8 May 2024: World Athletics shall publish the last edition of the Road to Paris for Marathon with the final list of all athletes eligible for final entry.
• April/May 2024 (Date TBC): World Athletics Relays
• April/May 2024 (Date TBC): World Athletics Race Walk Team Championships
• 31 May 2024: Deadline for NOCs with no qualified athletes to apply for unqualified entries in 100m or 800m
• 30 June 2024: End of qualification and ranking period for all events (except Marathon)
• 2 July 2024: World Athletics to:
  • confirm the list of approved Unqualified athletes
  • confirm the list of athletes qualified by Entry Standard
  • publish the World Athletics World Rankings and qualified athletes
  • publish the list of qualified Relay Teams
• 4 July 2024: Deadline to decline a quota place for all events (except Marathon)
• 5-6 July 2024: World Athletics to reallocate unused quota places in all events (except Marathon)
• 7 July 2024: World Athletics shall publish the last edition of the Road to Paris for all events (except Marathon) with the final list of all athletes and relay teams eligible for final entry.
• 8 July 2024: Paris 2024 Sport Entries deadline
• 26 July-11 August 2024: Olympic Games Paris 2024

Find out more about the qualification system for other sports that will feature at Paris 2024.