World Athletics released the qualification standards for the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this week. These standards are essentially the benchmarks or the minimum an athlete has to do, in quantifiable terms, to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
Different events have different qualification periods: it began on November 1 for marathons, while the qualification and ranking period for 10,000m, race walks, relays and combined events will begin on December 31. Athletes in other individual events, such as javelin throw, long jump, etc, can attempt qualification from July 1, 2023.
There are two ways an athlete can qualify for the Paris Olympics: (i) achieve the qualification standard and (ii) via world rankings.
While achieving the qualification standard is a straightforward approach, qualifying via rankings would require the athlete to compete in events recognized by World Athletics and accumulate ranking points within the qualification period that ends on June 30, 2024.
Half the quotas in each discipline are allotted to athletes who achieve the entry standard, while the remaining 50% will be allotted based on an athlete's World Ranking within the ranking period.
With a little over six months to go, here's how India's best athletes (we've chosen only those who are still active in the disciplines mentioned below) compare vis-a-vis the qualification standards:
100m
Men's qualification standard: 10.00s | Amlan Borgohain: 10.25s
Women's qualification standard: 11.07s | Dutee Chand: 11.17s (2021)
200m
Men's qualification standard: 20.16s | Amlan Borgohain: 20.52s
400m
Men's qualification standard: 45:00s | Muhammed Anas Yahiya: 45.21 (2019), Arokia Rajiv: 45.37 (2019), Amoj Jacob: 45.68s (2021)
5000m
Men's qualification standard:13:05.00s | Avinash Sable: 13:25.65s
100m hurdles (Women)
Qualification standard: 12.77s | Jyothi Yarraji: 12.82s
400m hurdles (Men)
Qualification standard: 48.70s | Dharun Ayyasamy: 48.80s (2019)
3000m Steeplechase (Men)
Qualification standard: 8:15.00s | Avinash Sable: 8:11.20s
Long Jump
Men's qualification standard: 8.27m | Murali Sreeshankar: 8.36m, Jeswin Aldrin: 8.26m
Triple Jump
Men's qualification standard: 17.22m | Abdulla Aboobacker (17.19m), Praveen Chithravel: 17.18m, Karthik Unnikrishnan: 17.10m
Shot Put
Men's qualification standard: 21.50m | Tajinder Pal Singh Toor: 21.49m (2021)
Women's qualification standard: 18.80m | Manpreet Kaur: 18.86m (2017)
Javelin Throw
Men's qualification standard: 85.50m | Neeraj Chopra: 89.94m, DP Manu: 84.35m
Women's qualification standard: 64.00m | Annu Rani: 63.82m, Shilpa Rani: 59.01m
20km Race Walk
Men's qualification standard: 1:20:10s | Sandeep Kumar: 1:20:16s (2021)
Women's qualification standard: 1:29:20s | Priyanka Goswami: 1:28:45s (2021)
(*Timings are from the 2022 season, if not mentioned otherwise)