World Athletics has come to the rescue of countless Olympians by instituting a repêchage round for 12 track events at Paris 2024.
The races impacted include the 100-metre hurdles for women and 110m hurdles for men, as well as the 200m, 400m, 400m-hurdles, 800m and 1,500m races for both men and women. Each of these events will now feature four rounds of competition.
Repêchage has been a staple in rowing, wrestling and cycling events at previous Olympics, but the widespread, second-chance option has never before been extended to athletics.
Had it been in place for Rio 2016, Canadian sprinter Brendon Rodney would have received another shot at advancing to the 200-metre semi-finals. Instead, his 20.34-second clocking left him in third place in his quarter-final heat and on the outside looking in, while three other athletes who ran times of 20.42, 20.44 and 20.58 advanced by finishing in the top two in their quarter-finals, as did another athlete with the same time as Rodney.
Fleshing out the field of 24 sprinters in the semi-finals were the so-called four “fastest losers.” Canada’s Aaron Brown was one of them, having finished third in his heat with a time of 20.23 seconds.
The World Athletics Council approved inclusion of the repêchage rounds during a meeting in 2022, ensuring that every athlete competing in Paris in the impacted events will have at least two races. By doing so, they also eliminated the “fastest losers” system of qualification for advancement to the next round.
The 100m was not tabbed for a repêchage round because it already comprises four rounds. A preliminary round precedes the heats. It was also decided that distances longer than 1,500m would not be included, given the need for proper recovery between rounds.
“After consulting with our athletes and broadcasters, we believe this is an innovation which will make progression in these events more straightforward for athletes and will build anticipation for fans and broadcasters,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in 2022. “The repêchage rounds will give more exposure to our sport during the peak Olympic period and will be carefully scheduled to ensure that every event on our Olympic programme retains its share of the spotlight.”
The schedule of repêchage rounds in Paris starts with the women’s 800m and men’s 1,500m on Aug. 3, the women’s 200m and 400m-hurdles and men’s 400m on Aug. 5, the women’s 400m, men’s 110m-hurdles, 200m and 400m on Aug. 6, women’s 1,500m on Aug. 7 and women’s 100m-hurdles and men’s 800m on Aug. 8.