Athletes chasing qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will face much tougher entry standards than for the Paris Games, with World Athletics on Tuesday tightening benchmarks across track events while increasing reliance on world rankings.
The global governing body said around 40 per cent of athletes would qualify through entry standards and 60 per cent through world rankings, compared with a 50-50 split at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The qualification system includes 23 men's events, 23 women's events and two mixed relays - the 4x100m mixed relay, making its Olympic debut and the 4x400m mixed relay.
The toughest increases came in the endurance events, where athletes will need to run substantially faster than the marks required for Paris.
World Athletics lowered the men's marathon standard from 2:08:10 to 2:05:00, more than three minutes quicker than the Paris benchmark, and tightened the women's requirement from 2:26:50 to 2:22:20.
In the men's 5,000 metres, the standard was cut from 13:05 to 12:50, while the women's equivalent fell from 14:52 to 14:34.
Sprint events have also became more demanding. The men's 100m standard dropped from 10.00 seconds to 9.93, while the women's mark was cut from 11.07 to 10.96.
Middle-distance athletes face steeper targets as well, with the men's 1,500m standard reduced from 3:33.50 to 3:30.00 and the women's from 4:02.50 to 3:57.50.
World Athletics said meeting the entry standard alone would not automatically secure an Olympic berth.
If more athletes achieve the standard than available quota places in an event, spots will be awarded to those with the best performances during the qualification period.
"In this case no athletes will be qualified by world rankings," the governing body added.
For marathon runners, the qualification period will run from November 1, 2026, to April 30, 2028.
The window opens on December 19, 2026, for the 10,000m, combined events, race walks and relays, while all other events will have a qualification period from June 19, 2027, to June 18, 2028.
The athletics competition at Los Angeles 2028 will be held from July 15-30 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will host the primary track & field programme.
Source: Reuters
– Agencies
