Paris 2024 Olympic competition schedule published in detail

By OlympicTalkJul 25, 2022, 3:41 PM EDT

Getty

Paris 2024 Olympic organizers published the first public, detailed version of the Games competition schedule. Opportunities abound for Katie Ledecky, Sydney McLaughlin and some of the world’s top swimmers and track and field athletes.

The full schedule is here. It was first published on the eve of the two-years-out date from the Opening Ceremony, which will be the first of its kind along the Seine River.

As far as competition, this schedule (which is subject to change, consider what’s been published the latest version) was always going to be intriguing.

Start with swimming. It was previously announced that its schedule would extend from eight nights of finals to nine, leading many to wonder if the women’s 200m freestyle and 1500m free finals would be separated. In Tokyo, the first Games to include the women’s 1500m free, the finals were in the same session, creating a busy night for Katie Ledecky. She placed fifth in the 200m free (which she won in 2016) and won the 1500m.

For Paris, at least for now, the 1500m and 200m finals are two days apart. Ledecky, who dropped the 200m free from her world championships slate last month in part because it overlapped with the 1500m at that meet, said before worlds that she was undecided about the 200m free for 2024.

“It definitely would be more on the table if the schedule does open up a little bit more and creates a little more rest in there,” she said in June before taking gold in all four of her events at worlds.

If Ledecky qualifies for the 2024 Games in the same events as she did in Tokyo — 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m frees, plus the 4x200m free relay — she could swim eight consecutive days in Paris, but never have to race twice in the same session.

July 27: 400m freestyle heat and final
July 28: 200m freestyle heat and semifinal
July 29: 200m freestyle final
July 30: 1500m freestyle heat
July 31: 1500m freestyle final
Aug. 1: 4x200m freestyle relay final
Aug. 2: 800m freestyle heat
Aug. 3: 800m freestyle final (12th anniversary of Ledecky’s first Olympic title in 800m free in London)

Her slate would culminate with the 800m free final on Saturday, Aug. 3, which could be the first of consecutive crown jewel days of the Games.

In the first Olympics with swimming, track and field and gymnastics finals on both days of the middle weekend, that Saturday’s finals also include the men’s 100m butterfly (Caeleb Dressel‘s trademark event), men’s shot put (where Ryan Crouser is the two-time reigning Olympic champion, world champion and world record holder), women’s 100m (possibly including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah going for a third gold in the event) the end of the decathlon (where France’s biggest track and field star, Kevin Mayer, is reigning world champion and world record holder) and the first night of apparatus finals in gymnastics, which could include the return to action of the all-around gold medalists from earlier in the week.

An American won the last five Olympic women’s all-around titles. What’s more, 2016 champ Simone Biles has teased the idea of making a comeback as a specialist rather than an all-arounder, so if she returns, her individual target would be those apparatus finals that start Aug. 3.

In track and field, Sydney McLaughlin‘s coming decision on what event(s) she will focus on could be impacted by the 2024 Olympic schedule. McLaughlin, after shattering her 400m hurdles world record to win her first world title last week, said anything is possible moving forward, including shifting to the flat 400m, which her coach has said is in her future.

McLaughlin showed what was possible in the closing 4x400m relay at worlds on Sunday by clocking 47.91 seconds on her leg, the second-fastest split in the last 33 years, according to track statisticians.

In every previous Olympics since the women’s 400m hurdles debuted on the program in 1984, at least one round of the event was on the same day as a round of the flat women’s 400m.

In Paris, that will not be the case — in the traditional sense. A woman who advances from first round to semifinals to final of each event would have this schedule:

Aug. 4: 400m hurdles first round
Aug. 5: 400m first round
Aug. 6: 400m hurdles semifinal
Aug. 7: 400m semifinal
Aug. 8: 400m hurdles final
Aug. 9: 400m final
Aug. 10: 4x400m relay final

A caveat is that the Paris Games will introduce repechage rounds, an extra, second-chance round for athletes who do not advance from the first round to the semifinals. That’s something that McLaughlin and the rest of the world’s top athletes shouldn’t have to worry about.

All time, five women and 45 men have competed in both the 400m and 400m hurdles at the same Games, according to Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org. None of the women earned a medal in either event. American Harry Hillman won both events at the 1904 St. Louis Games, where the fields were small and largely American.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Iga Swiatek sweeps into French Open final, where she faces a surprise

By OlympicTalkJun 8, 2023, 5:30 PM EDT

Iga Swiatek marched into the French Open final without dropping a set in six matches. All that stands between her and a third Roland Garros title is an unseeded foe.

Swiatek, the top-ranked Pole, swept 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-2, 7-6 (7) in Thursday’s semifinal in her toughest test all tournament. Haddad Maia squandered three break points at 4-all in the second set.

Swiatek dropped just 23 games thus far, matching her total en route to her first French Open final in 2020 (which she won for her first WTA Tour title of any kind). After her semifinal, she signed a courtside camera with the hashtag #stepbystep.

“For sure I feel like I’m a better player,” than in 2020, she said. “Mentally, tactically, physically, just having the experience, everything. So, yeah, my whole life basically.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

In Saturday’s final, Swiatek gets 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova, who upset No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus to reach her first major final.

Muchova, a 26-year-old into the second week of the French Open for the first time, became the first player to take a set off the powerful Belarusian this tournament, then rallied from down 5-2 in the third set to prevail 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-5.

Sabalenka, who overcame previous erratic serving to win the Australian Open in January, had back-to-back double faults in her last service game.

“Lost my rhythm,” she said. “I wasn’t there.”

Muchova broke up what many expected would be a Sabalenka-Swiatek final, which would have been the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 match at the French Open since Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova in the 2013 final.

Muchova is unseeded, but was considered dangerous going into the tournament.

In 2021, she beat then-No. 1 Ash Barty to make the Australian Open semifinals, then reached a career-high ranking of 19. She dropped out of the top 200 last year while struggling through injuries.

“Some doctors told me maybe you’ll not do sport anymore,” Muchova said. “It’s up and downs in life all the time. Now I’m enjoying that I’m on the upper part now.”

Muchova has won all five of her matches against players ranked in the top three. She also beat Swiatek in their lone head-to-head, but that was back in 2019 when both players were unaccomplished young pros. They have since practiced together many times.

“I really like her game, honestly,” Swiatek said. “I really respect her, and she’s I feel like a player who can do anything. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game. She plays with that kind of freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches, and I feel like I know her game pretty well.”

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s defining race; Paris Diamond League TV, live stream info

By OlympicTalkJun 8, 2023, 4:01 PM EDT

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

For Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, what happens in her first outdoor race of 2023 on Friday could dictate the rest of her season. It may impact her 2024 Olympic plans, too.

McLaughlin-Levrone strays from the 400m hurdles — where she is the reigning Olympic and world champion and four times broke the world record — to race her first flat 400m in two years at a Diamond League meet in Paris.

Peacock streams it live from 3-5 p.m. ET. CNBC airs coverage Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.

What we know is this: On Friday, McLaughlin-Levrone will race against the Olympic and world silver medalist in the 400m (Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic) and the 2019 World champion (Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain).

Next month, McLaughlin-Levrone will race the flat 400m at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, the qualifying meet for August’s world championships. She is racing that flat 400m at USATF Outdoors at least in part because she already has a bye into the 400m hurdles at worlds as defending champion.

What we don’t know: which race McLaughlin-Levrone will enter at worlds. Her coach, Bobby Kersee, said last month that she will choose between the 400m and 400m hurdles for worlds, should she finish top three in the 400m at USATF Outdoors to qualify in that second event. She will not try a 400m-400m hurdles double at worlds.

McLaughlin-Levrone was asked Thursday which event she would pick if given the choice.

“Is it bad to say I don’t know?” she said in a press conference. “Honestly, ask me after tomorrow. I don’t know. I’ve got to run this one first and see how it feels.”

McLaughlin-Levrone also doesn’t know what she will try to race at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Next year, the 400m-400m hurdles double is more feasible given one could do both events without ever racing more than once per day.

“We’re still focused on 2023,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “One step at a time, literally. Obviously that’s something as the season comes to an end we’ll kind of start to look and figure out what our plan is for next year.”

Here are the Paris entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):

12:57 p.m. ET — Women’s Shot Put
1:35 — Women’s High Jump
2:15 — Women’s Discus
2:20 — Women’s Pole Vault
3:04 — Men’s 400m Hurdles
3:15 — Women’s 800m
3:19 — Men’s Long Jump
3:24 — Women’s 5000m
3:42 — Women’s Javelin
3:52 — Men’s 110m Hurdles
4:02 — Women’s 400m
4:12 — Men’s 100m
4:22 — Women’s 200m
4:32 — Men’s 3000m Steeplechase
4:51 — Men’s 800m

Here are six events to watch:

Women’s Pole Vault — 2:20 p.m. ET
Olympic and world champion Katie Moon won the first two Diamond League meets and again faces some of her biggest domestic and international challengers in Paris. That includes fellow American Sandi Morris, who won the first three Diamond League meets last year, then took silver behind Moon at worlds on count back. Plus 34-year-old Slovenian Tina Sutej, who ranks second in the world this season.

Women’s 5000m — 3:24 p.m. ET
Includes the world record holders at 1500m (Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in her first 5000m since 2015), 3000m steeplechase (Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech) and the 5000m and 10,000m (Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey). Plus new American 10,000m record holder Alicia Monson, who is third on the U.S. all-time 5000m list at 14:31.11. Shelby Houlihan has the American record of 14:23.92.

Men’s 110m Hurdles — 3:52 p.m. ET
The three members of the U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo — Grant Holloway, Devon Allen and Daniel Roberts — could face off for the first time in nearly a year. Holloway, who has a bye into worlds as defending champion, overcame a rare defeat in the Diamond League opener in Rabat to win his last two races. He is the fastest man in the world this year at 13.01 seconds. Allen isn’t far behind at 13.12, while Roberts has yet to race the hurdles this outdoor season.

Women’s 400m — 4:02 p.m. ET
Could very well determine the favorite for worlds. Reigning Olympic and world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas is on maternity leave. Paulino is the only other woman to break 49 seconds since the start of the pandemic, and she’s done it each of the last two years. Naser is the only other active woman to have broken 49 seconds, doing so in winning the 2019 World title (before she was banned for two years, through the Tokyo Olympics, for missing drug tests). McLaughlin-Levrone’s personal best from 2018 is 50.07 seconds, but she was just 18 years old then and focusing on the hurdles. Still, that time would have won the 2022 U.S. title. Last month, University of Arkansas junior Britton Wilson ran the fastest time by an American since 2009 — 49.13 — but she might bypass the flat 400m to focus on the hurdles this summer.

Men’s 100m — 4:12 p.m. ET
Could be a meeting between the reigning Olympic men’s 100m champion (Marcell Jacobs of Italy) and world men’s 200m champion (American Noah Lyles), which hasn’t happened since the 2009 World Championships 100m final, where Usain Bolt lowered the world record to 9.58 seconds and American Tyson Gay was second in a then-American record 9.71. Later in that meet, Bolt won his first world 200m title, a crown he held concurrently with his Olympic 100m titles through his 2017 retirement. But Jacobs, citing nerve pain, scratched out of the last two Diamond League meets, which were to be showdowns with world 100m champion Fred Kerley. Jacobs did show up for Thursday’s press conference. Lyles has a bye onto the world team in the 200m, but also wants to make the four-man U.S. team in the 100m. He ranks fifth among Americans by best time this season — 9.95.

Men’s 800m — 4:51 p.m. ET
The top five from the world championships are entered, led by Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Korir of Kenya. This event was in an international doldrums for much of the time since Kenyan David Rudisha repeated as Olympic champion in 2016, then faded away from competition. But the emergence of 18-year-old Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi has injected excitement this season. Wanyonyi is the world’s fastest man this year. The second-fastest, Kenyan Wycliffe Kinyamal, is also in this field.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported the TV window for the meet broadcast. The CNBC broadcast begins at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, not 3.

OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!

Follow @nbcolympictalk

More: Olympics

More: Olympics

More: Olympics