Throw the farthest, run/walk the fastest, jump the highest/farthest or score the most points in the multis
Jumps:
M/W High Jump
Athletes will ‘flop’ over the bar back first and arched onto a mat
Athletes get 3 attempts at each height, but those strikes can act as the tiebreaker if athletes both end on the same height
Once an athlete clears a height, they get 3 more attempts at the next height
Athletes can ‘Pass’ on a height including in the middle of the turn (after 1 miss) but then on the next height they will only have 2 attempts
M/W Pole Vault
Athletes use a pole to launch themselves over a bar onto a soft mat (‘pit’)
Poles are usually made of fiberglass or carbon fiber and are flexible enough to bend with the athlete’s weight to fling them over the bar. The pole does not slide out of position due to ‘the box’ that the athletes put the bottom of the pole into.
Athletes may use multiple poles and will chose to ‘go up’ a pole meaning use a stiffer pole as they clear higher and higher bars
Same foul/attempt rules apply for the PV as the HJ. However if the pole hits the bar off, it still counts as a miss.
M/W Long Jump
Athletes will run as fast as they can and take off as close to the line on the toe board (8 inches) as possible while jumping as far as they can into a sand pit
Jumps are measured from the shortest point the athlete made in the sand
So if an athlete puts their hand back to help catch themselves, then that is where the mark will be measured from
Athletes get 3 jumps in prelims, the top 8/9 athletes will move onto the finals and get 3 more jumps
The longest jump wins, no matter if it was first or the last attempt
M/W Triple Jump
Athletes will run down the runway then preform a hop, bound and jump into the sand pit. The first jump lands on the same foot that they took off from, then land on the other foot next and then jump from that foot
All other rules and measurements are the same as LJ
Athletes get 3 jumps in prelims, the top 8/9 athletes will move onto the finals and get 3 more jumps
Throws:
M/W Shot Put
Athletes throw/push a ball (M 16lbs / W 8.8lbs) as far as they can. Furthest throw wins. Originally athletes threw cannonballs.
Throwers cannot leave the 7ft circle on their throw/until after the shot has landed and must have their throw land inside the throwing sector
M/W Javelin Throw
Athletes hurl a spear as far as they can.
Javelins are weighed in before every meet. Men’s javs must be 8ft 6in – 8ft 10in and weigh 28oz. Women’s javs must be between 7ft 3in – 7ft 7in and weigh 21oz
Throwers cannot cross the line and the javelin must land in the throwing sector, however it does not have to stick. The tip of the jav must hit before anything else for the throw to count.
M/W Discus Throw
Athletes throw a heavy disc (M 2kg / W 1kg) as far as they can
Throwers must make their throw from inside a 2.5m circle that is 20mm deep. Throws must land inside the throwing sector
M/W Hammer Throw
Athletes throw a ball on the end of a wire (M 16lbs / W 8.82lbs) as far as they can.
Usually athletes swing the hammer 2xs before moving their whole bodies 2-3xs before letting go. Throws must land inside the throwing sector
Relays:
4x100m Relay
Each athlete runs 100m and the first team to cross the finish line with the baton, wins
The baton must change hands inside the exchange zone (20m marked on the track) and is usually done in a ‘blind handoff’
If you drop the baton, you can go back and get it as long as it is not disruptive to anyone else and the person responsible for dropping it, retrieves it
4x400m Relay
Each athlete runs 1 lap and the first team to cross the finish line with the baton, wins
The 1st leg runs the entire 400m in their own lane
The 2nd leg runs the first curve in their lane then break in on the back straight away (2nd 100m)
The next 2 legs will run the 400m in lane 1 (although they don’t have to) and the final baton pass will happened in the exchange zone before the finish line
The baton must change hands inside the exchange zone but in this relay, athletes use the open handoff consisting of the outgoing athlete watching the incoming one and actually turning to run full speed after getting the baton. This is because in the scheme of things in a 400m, that couple of milliseconds you might save by a blind handoff isn’t that important.
Racewalk:
Rule 230.2 – no visible loss of contact with the ground aka no running
Scientists have studied the biomechanics of the race walk to find the most efficient way of walking without ever running
Why watch? Because on average 1 in 8 athletes will be DQ’d
Events:
Sprints: M/W 100m, M/W 200m, M/W 400m, W 100m Hurdles, M 110m Hurdles,
Fun Fact: The USA Men’s team has had terrible luck in the past couple of Olympics will getting the baton around/DQs. At the World Championships in 2019, the US team finally won after 12 years.
Field Events:
Jumps: M/W High Jump, M/W Long Jump, M/W Triple Jump
Road Events: M/W Marathon, M/W 20km Race Walk, M 50km Race Walk
Unlike swimming, athletics is not 100% equal events wise between the men and women, the men have 1 additional event in the 50km Race Walk
Events with no prelims or semifinals: 10km, 20km walk, 50km walk, Decathlon, Heptathlon and Marathon
Events with no Semifinals: Relays, 5000m, 3000m Steeplechase, all field events
Vocab to Know:
AR – American record
Baton – the stick that is passed between athletes during relays
Bell lap – final lap of the race (only in events longer than 1 lap)
CR – Country Record
Decathlon – a men’s event combining 10 events over 2 days
DNF – Did not finish
DNS – Did not start
Can also be depicted as ‘SCR’ as in scratched
DQ – Disqualified
Common ways to be disqualified: false start (by far the most common), relay handoffs, running out of your lane,
False start – when a runner moves before the gun that signals the start of the race
Usually in elite competitions, it is one and done meaning that the athlete will be automatically DQ’d. There are exceptions to this however, if the crowd is loud and causes a sound similar to the gun, etc. But they will throw out anyone and I mean anyone!
Field events – anything not competed on the track: throws, jumps, pole vault
Foul – when an athlete commits an illegal/unfair act
Throws – if an athlete goes out of the circle or steps on the ….
Jumps – if an athlete passes the black line on the toe board during a jump
Handoff – when the baton changes hands in a relay
Blind – Seen in the 4x100m relay, outgoing athletes reach back underhand for the baton while sprinting forward
Open – Seen in the 4x400m relay, outgoing athletes look back to actually see the handoff before sprinting off
Hammer – 16lb ball at the end of a wire used for throwing
Heptathlon – a women’s event combining 7 events in 2 days
NR – National record (for that country)
PR / PB – Personal record or Personal Best – best mark of the athlete’s career
Q – Qualified by winning an auto qualifying spot (usually top 2 in each heat, etc)
q – Qualified by time
SB – Season’s Best – the best mark that athlete has had all season. Expect a lot of these at trials since most people haven’t had long seasons since COVID
Standards – the metal contraptions that hold up the bars in the HJ and PV events
Starting blocks – the rigid contraption used at the beginning of the sprint events (400m and lower)
Triple Jump – Unlike the long jump, the triple is a hop, skip and jump
Relays qualified by being one of the top 8 teams at the 2019 World Championships then adding any finalists from the 2021 World Athletics Relays (if there was a different team than worlds) and selecting the remaining teams to hit the 16 quota by time.
Trials:
The USA will get the top 3 athletes in each event to qualify for the Olympics. Athletes do have to hit an Olympic standard but they have til July 1st to reach that mark.
Events we will not have 3 athletes in: M 20k walk, W 20km walk, M Javelin,
Relays: The top 4 in both the 400m and 100m will also go along with potentially 2 alternates.
Dumb Questions about Track & Field
How far around is a track?
400m (.25 miles)
Why do they not race the mile and race the 1500m?
The first (modern) Olympics in 1896 ran the 1500m and it is sometimes called the ‘metric mile.’ Once the Olympics adopted the metric system, the 1500m stuck. The difference between running the 1500m and the 1600m is still debated and athletes do run 1600m in the Distance Medley Relay.
Why is the marathon 26.2 miles?
The marathon was 25 miles originally as it was based on Greek legend of a messenger from Marathon who was running news of Greek victory over the Persians in 490 BC. The runner collapsed and died so to commemorate his efforts, the marathon was born. However during the 1908 London games, Queen Alexandra wanted it to end in front of her in the royal box at Olympic stadium but start at Windsor Castle so they extended it to 26.2 miles and it stuck.
What is in the Decathlon and Heptathlon?
Decathlon is men’s event combining 10 events over 2 days and will always be in this order:
Day 1: 100m, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump, 400m
Day 2: 110m Hurdles, Discus throw, Pole Vault, Javelin throw, 1500m
Heptathlon is a women’s event combining 7 events in 2 days and will always be in this order:
Day 1: 100m Hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, 200m
Day 2: Long Jump, Javelin, 800m
The winner is whoever scores the most points. Here is the Scoring calculator
Why do runners start staggered?
Lanes are staggered for the difference in distance the runners run. If they all started at the same line for the 400m (one lap), lane 1 would end up running 53.7m shorter than lane 8. As you go outward, each lane adds ~7.7m.
So for events like the 200m, the staggered is less than the 400m as you’re only making up for one turn during the race. The 100m is a straight line so no stagger is needed.
The 800m and above starts on a very slight stagger as the runners break into lane 1 after the first curve.
What is the hardest event?
Actual running wise, prob the 800m (or maybe that’s just my bias). The 400m hurdles is super hard as well
However the hardest team to make is the US Women’s 100m hurdles.
What is the oldest WR for the men and women’s side?
The oldest men’s WR is the Discus of 74.08m by East German Jurgen Schult from 1986
Oldest running event for men is the 400m hurdles in 1992 by Kevin Young in a time of 46.78
The oldest women’s WR is the 800m in 1:53.28 by Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvilova in 1983.
The 400m is also old with a time of 47.60 by Marita Koch of East Germany in 1985.
