KINGSTON, Jamaica – For the first time at the Olympic Games in Paris there will be a ‘repechage’ round in track and field where athletes who fail to advance on placements in events between 200m and 1500m and hurdles events will get a second chance.

The repechage round, which has been used in other sporting disciplines for years, will replace the system of athletes advancing ‘by time’, World Athletics announced recently.

Traditionally, athletes would earn automatic qualification to the semi-finals based on where they placed in the first round and a number of ‘fastest losers’ joining them.

According to a release from World Athletics, “In July 2022, the World Athletics Council approved an innovation to the regular competition format for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, introducing a repechage round to all individual track events from 200m to 1500m in distance, including the hurdles events.

“In the new format, athletes who do not qualify by place in round-one heats will have a second chance to qualify for the semi-finals by participating in repechage heats,” the release pointed out.

“This will replace the former system of athletes advancing through fastest times (usually denoted by a ‘q’ in results) in addition to the top placings in the first round heats (denoted by a ‘Q’ in results),” World Athletics explained, “These events will now have four rounds – round one, repechage round, semi-finals and the final.”

-Paul A Reid