World Athletics releases entry standards for LA 2028

World Athletics on Tuesday published the automatic entry standards for the Los Angeles Olympics, scheduled to be held from July 15-30, 2028.

The athletics programme in LA will comprise 23 women’s and men’s events each as well as two mixed relays – 4x100m, which makes its Olympics debut, and 4x400m.

As has been the case for recent outdoor global championships, the qualification system is based on a dual pathway. Rather than the previous 50/50 model, 40 percent of athletes are expected to qualify through entry standards and the rest through world rankings.

Should more athletes than that allotted by event achieve the entry standard, those with the best performance in the qualification period will get through. Achieving the entry standard thus does not automatically guarantee a quota place, WA said on its website. In such cases, no athlete will be qualified by world rankings.

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For Indians, two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra will have his task cut out with the entry standard in men's javelin set at 85.50m. For men's long jump, the mark is set at 8.30m while the women's standard is 6.90m, meaning the likes of Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh will have to rewrite the former's national record (6.88m) to earn a direct quota.

For marathon, the qualification and ranking period runs from November 1, 2026 to April 30, 2028. For 10,000m, combined events, race walks and relays, the window is from December 19, 2026 to June 18, 2028. For all other events, the period runs from June 19, 2027 to June 18, 2028.