Olympic track repechage round returns for L.A. 2028 Games

As the countdown to the L.A. 2028 Olympics continues, World Athletics announced the track and field program at the upcoming Games will now run across 13 days (two days longer than Paris 2024) and will again include the repechage round format that debuted at the previous Games.

Women’s 100m to kick-start @LA28 with athletics to cover entire Games period.

Press release 🔗 https://t.co/gR3ZTRfmlh pic.twitter.com/vjTpRhfWpy

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) November 12, 2025

The repechage round (a French term meaning “rescue”) gives athletes who missed qualifying in the initial heats a second chance to advance to the semi-finals. The format was introduced in Paris for individual track events from 200m to 1,500m. Out of 73 athletes who competed in repechage rounds in Paris, only two reached their respective finals: U.S. sprint hurdler Freddie Crittenden in the men’s 110m hurdles (who finished sixth in the final) and Águeda Marqués of Spain in the women’s 1,500m (who finished 11th).

For L.A. 2028, the repechage format will be refined to include more recovery time between rounds. Athletes in the 400m will now have at least 36 hours between the opening heats and the repechage round, while those in the 800m and 1,500m will have a minimum of 24 hours. World Athletics says its goal with this change is to improve athletes’ recovery and experience.

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A majority of the athletics program will be held at the historic L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which has hosted track and field for two previous Games, in 1932 and 1984. The track and field will run for the first 10 days (July 15 to 24), before shifting to the roads to focus on the marathon and race walk events on July 27, 29, and 30. The men’s marathon will close out athletics on the final day, with medals to be awarded during the closing ceremony (held at the Coliseum).

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said in a press release that extending the athletics schedule by two days is intended to “sustain global interest from the opening ceremony to the very end” while giving athletes the best possible stage to perform.

“L.A. 2028 is a schedule that is both innovative and also honours tradition,” Coe said. ‘With one eye on LA84, athletes can dare to dream to emulate Olympic legends of the past through the compelling proposition of the maximum amount of potential doubles.”

For now, only the event allocation per session has been finalized. World Athletics says it will continue to work with the LA28 Organizing Committee over the next two and a half years to develop the detailed event timetable.