Paris 2024 Olympics: Men’s 100m dates and schedule, Usain Bolt's current world record, gold medal contenders
Updated 04/08/2024 at 10:26 GMT+1
The countdown is on to the showpiece of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – the men’s 100m final. Can Italy’s Marcell Jacobs defend his crown? Will Kishane Thompson reignite an era of dominance for Jamaica or will the USA’s Noah Lyles back up his pre-Games bravado? From key dates and schedules, to world records and medal contenders, here’s all you need to know.
Marcell Jacobs defends his 100m crown at Paris 2024
Image credit: Getty Images
The defining event of the Olympic Games is almost upon us.
The competition for medals across every discipline at Paris 2024 will undoubtedly keep viewers gripped, but as is the case with any Olympics, the 100m somehow manages to capture the imagination like no other.
After his shock victory in Tokyo, can Marcell Jacobs join legends Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt as the only men to win multiple gold medals in the 100m at the Olympics?
The Italian will have to hold off several challengers, with Team USA's Noah Lyles hungry for his first Olympic gold medal and Jamaica's Kishane Thompson, who ran a world-leading time of 9.77 seconds earlier this year.
And with emerging challenger Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya throwing another fascinating element into the equation, the show-piece Olympic event could deliver another historic chapter in Paris. Here's all you need to know.
WHEN DOES THE MEN’S 100M EVENT START AT PARIS 2024?
The first round of the men’s 100m is scheduled to begin on August 3 at 10:45 UK time, with the semi-finals scheduled for August 4 at 19:00.
WHEN IS THE MEN’S 100M FINAL?
The show-piece athletics event at Paris 2024 is scheduled to take place on August 4 at 20:55 UK time.
WHERE WILL THE MEN’S 100M COMPETITION BE HELD?
The Stade de France will host the athletics and rugby events at Paris 2024.
Built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, it hosted elements of the World Athletics Championships in 2003, the Rugby World Cup in 2007 and 2023, and the European Championship final in 2016.
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The Stade de France will host the Athletics at the Paris 2024 Olympics Games
Image credit: Getty Images
WHAT IS THE MEN’S 100M WORLD RECORD?
Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt’s time of 9.58 seconds – which he ran at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin - remains the fastest-ever 100m on record.
Bolt also holds the record for the fastest 100m at an Olympic Games, with the 9.63 seconds he clocked at London 2012.
WHO IS THE CURRENT FASTEST MAN IN THE WORLD?
Kishane Thompson is the man to beat heading into the Olympics after he stormed to victory at the Jamaican Olympic trials in June with a world-leading time of 9.77 seconds – the ninth-fastest time in history.
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Jamaica's Kishane Thompson heads to Paris with a world-leading time of 9.77 seconds
Image credit: Getty Images
Men's 100m - world-leading times 2024
| Kishane Thompson (JAM) | 9.77 |
| Ferdinand Omanyala (KEN) | 9.79 |
| Oblique Seville (JAM) | 9.82 |
| Noah Lyles (USA) | 9.83 |
| Christian Coleman (USA) | 9.86 |
| Benjamin Richardson (RSA) | 9.86 |
Ferdinand Omanyala – who ran a personal best of 9.77 seconds in 2021 - will be hot on Thompson’s heels. The Kenyan, dubbed ‘Africa’s fastest man’, is looking to secure his nation’s first-ever Olympic sprint medal and travels to Paris having run a time of 9.79 seconds - the second-fastest 100m of 2024.
WHO IS IN MEDAL CONTENTION FOR THE MEN’S 100M?
After Bolt’s three consecutive victories in 2008, 2012 and 2016, Jamaica’s stranglehold on the men’s 100m ended in Tokyo when Marcell Jacobs stunned the sporting world with victory.
Four years on, Jamaica pose the greatest threat to the defending champion’s crown, with Thompson and Oblique Seville running faster times than Jacobs this year.
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Can Marcell Jacobs retain his Olympic crown after his shock triumph at Tokyo 2020?
Image credit: Getty Images
World champion Noah Lyles leads the United States’ bid for a first men’s 100m gold since Athens 2004, with Tokyo 2020 silver medallists in the 100m and 200m - Fred Kerley and Kenny Bednarek - completing their strong line-up.
Zharnel Hughes and Louie Hinchliffe lead Great Britain’s quest for a first Olympic 100m medal since 1992 and both qualified from their heats, Hinchliffe recording a surprise victory over Lyles in his.
But fellow Brit Jeremiah Azu was disqualified for a false start in his heat.
WHEN ARE THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES?
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
However, the Games technically started on July 24 with preliminaries in football and rugby 7s, with the official curtain-raiser, the Opening Ceremony, two days later.
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES?
The Olympic Games will return with Paris 2024, live on Eurosport and discovery+.
discovery+ is the streaming home of the Olympic Games, and the only place you can watch every moment of Paris 2024 this summer.
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