Glamour sprinters, marathon mums, pole power: 10 athletics events you can’t miss

The athletics program for Paris 2024 gets under way on Thursday with the race walks, while the purple track at Stade de France gets busy on Friday with a full schedule. Here are 10 events you can’t afford to miss.

1. Women’s pole vault

A list of the most watchable events doesn’t often start with the pole vault, but here we are. Australia’s Nina Kennedy won gold in Budapest at last year’s world champs, tying with Katie Moon of the US.

The two women were given the choice of sharing the medal or going to a jump-off, where the first one to miss at a lower height would come second. Kennedy famously looked at Moon and said, “Hey girl, you maybe wanna share this?” And they did. In Australia, the reaction was generally positive. But in the US there was blowback, especially for Moon. Kennedy says she’s fitter and stronger now and wants the gold on her own this time.

While you’re here, take a look at our 3D visual feature breaking down one of the most spectacular (and dangerous) events at the Olympics.

2. Men’s 1500m

No disrespect to the glamour sprinters, but the men’s 1500m is arguably the best event in the world at the moment. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the lippy Norwegian star with the boy-band hair and tatts, won gold in Tokyo but has been beaten twice by Brits at the world titles since then. He said he was injured or sick, and hated losing to people he knew were not as good as him. Australians Ollie Hoare and Stewart McSweyn should be at the pointy end of this field.

3. Men’s 100m

This is the most-watched event at every Olympic Games, so it’s not going out on a limb to say the men’s 100m is unmissable. Noah Lyles, the American showman, has added the 100m to his 200m dominance. A three-time world champion over 200m, he won the 100m in Budapest last year. In Tokyo, Marcell Lamont Jacobs stunned the world when he became the first Italian to win the Olympic sprint gold. He has struggled since. Australia’s Rohan Browning made the semis in Tokyo and hopefully can do so again.

4. Women’s 1500m

Australia’s Jessica Hull is a serious, world-class middle-distance runner now, and a genuine medal chance in the women’s 1500m. Recently, when Faith Kipyegon set a new world record at the Diamond League, Hull was sitting in her slipstream and pushing the Kenyan (or hanging on and being dragged around, depending on how you view it) and ran a new national and Oceania record – the fifth-fastest time in history, in fact. She’s right in the medal hunt,but it might take Kipyegon falling over for the Kenyan not to win gold. Kipyegon could evenbreak her own world record. What’s not to watch?

Jess Hull believes she could be the one to close the gap on Faith Kipyegon.Credit: Getty Images

5. Women’s high jump

The women’s high jump was already a must-watch for Australian audiences given the medal chances of Nicola Olyslagers and Eleanor Patterson, but then in July, Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke a 37-year-old world record when she cleared 2.10m. Now the high jump is a must-watch for the whole world. No one aims to peak three weeks before the Olympic Games; could the world record go down again? Olyslagers won silver behind Mahuchikh in Tokyo. Patterson won the world title two years ago and silver last year. She is quietly returning to her peak after injuries, so Australia could win two medals here.

6. Women’s 200m

Torrie Lewis is only 19 and already the fastest Australian woman ever. She’ll run the 200m and be part of the 4 x 100m relay team. Although she won’t compete in the 100m,  she’s a rising star of the track. She could be anything. In April, the tall, long-striding runner from Queensland surprised America’s world-champion 100m sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, beating her over 200m at a Diamond League meet, announcing herself to the world. Born in England to a Scottish mum and Jamaican-English dad, she moved to Australia in primary school and was a star gymnast as a kid.

7. Women’s marathon

There was a stink over selection when too many Australians qualified for the places available, but that has only added to the intrigue. The three women selected – all of them mothers – have compelling stories. Sinead Diver ran the fastest qualifying time and is the oldest of the three, Jessica Stenson ran a marathon to qualify only seven months after having her second baby, and Genevieve Gregson is a former steeplechaser going to her fourth Olympics.

8. Men’s 800m

Peter Bol was brilliant in the 800m in Tokyo, finishing fourth by a whisker in one of the great races.

Australian middle-distance runner Peter Bol.Credit: Getty Images

Since then, Bol’s off-track trials and tribulations have been well-dissected, but the short version is he was provisionally suspended for having the banned drug EPO in his system. He protested his innocence throughout, and his ban was lifted after a second test did not substantiate the first. Former training partner Joe Deng won back his national record back from Bol last year, and could be a sneaky chance.

9. Women’s 800m

Claudia Hollingsworth, like Torrie Lewis, is one of the faces of the future of athletics in Australia. Also only 19, she is already the 800m national champion and under-20 national record holder. She runs with maturity, intelligence and guts, which makes her very watchable. She’s also a talented Australian rules footballer, and possesses that deep competitive burn. Catriona Bisset, 30, is the national record holder and tends to run better in the European Diamond League than championship meets. If she can run her own race, she’ll be a contender. Abbey Caldwell, 23, is another young athlete to watch.

10. Men’s and women’s relays

Weird stuff happens in relays. People drop batons, trip over, veer out of lanes. Rohan Browning and Torrie Lewis join quick teams in the men’s and women’s sprint relays, and you just never know what might happen.

Bonus tips: javelin and race walking

Mackenzie Little, a first-year doctor in Sydney, is a big chance to win a medal in the women’s javelin. And while we wouldn’t ordinarily toss race walking up there as a must-watch sport, Melbourne medical student and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jemima Montag should place in the event, which passes by the Eiffel Tower.

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