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Jiang Chuqin

For top athletes, the Olympics is not just about winning a gold medal, but also for testing the limits of human endeavours.
The Games’ motto – “Faster, Higher, Stronger” – has inspired generations to compete with their peers to achieve the best results in human history.
And at most events, athletes at the pinnacle are also aiming for the Olympic record and, above all, world record.
With that in mind, here are some Olympic records likely to be challenged in Paris.

Women’s 200m
21.34 seconds
One of the longest-standing marks on track was set in 1988 when American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner won gold at the Seoul Games.
Paris 2024 might see the end of Flo-Jo’s reign: Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson has come closer than anyone in history, only 0.07 seconds away in the World Athletics Championships 2023.
Jackson’s recent injury worried fans as she abruptly slowed down and grimaced at an event in Hungary, but has been backed by fellow athletes to deliver even if she was not at 100 per cent.
Her biggest challenger, Gabrielle Thomas, was another potential record-breaker. The 27-year-old American sprinter’s fastest time of 21.6 seconds came in July 2023. She also broke the London Diamond League meet record earlier this year, winning in 21.82.

Women’s 1500m
3 minutes, 53.11 seconds
World-record holder Faith Kipyegon will be looking to defend her gold medal and break the Olympic record she set in Tokyo.
The 30-year-old, who made her Olympic debut in 2016 in Rio, won her first gold medal there in a tactical battle with then world-record holder Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia, whom she overtook in the final 200m.
In 2023, she set a world record when she became the first woman to run the 1,500m in less three minutes and 50 seconds, clocking 3:49.11 to beat Dibaba’s time of 3:50.07 by almost an entire second at the Rome Diamond League in Florence.
But it was her second Olympic title time, which she set by breaking a 33-year-old record in Tokyo, that is on the line.
Earlier this year, she broke her own world record again when she clocked 3:49.04 – over four seconds quicker than her Olympic best – at the Meeting de Paris.
Furthermore, she could become the first person in Olympic history to win gold in the 1,500m at three consecutive Games.

Men’s pole vault
6.03 metres
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis has now broken the world record on eight occasions, with his best height of 6.24 metres (20 feet 5 1⁄2 inches) in China earlier this year.
However, despite his dominance, the Olympic record still belongs to Brazilian Thiago Braz, who set the mark at his home Games in 2016.
Swede Duplantis showed his potential from a young age when he became the first high school athlete to vault 5.49m at 16.
In February 2020, he became the world-record holder for the first time when his jump of 6.18m broke Renaud Lavillenie’s score of 6.17m, which had stood for almost six years.
“ I think there are still some higher heights in me,” he said after his latest world-record attempt.
And now he is looking to continue that form and become No 1 in the Olympics as well as the world.

Women’s 400m medley
4 minutes 26.36 seconds
Summer McIntosh is the definition of a “teen swimming sensation”, having broken more than 50 age-group national swimming records.
She became the youngest representative for Team Canada at the Olympics when she made her debut in Tokyo at the age of 14 and finished fourth in the 400m freestyle.
In April 2023 – aged just 16 – she broke the world record with a time of 4:25.87 and became the first swimmer to hold both the 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley world records.
At Canada’s Olympic swimming trials in May, she improved her 400m medley world record to 4:24.38 – more than a second faster than her previous mark.
And now she has her eye on Katinka Hosszu’s Olympic record, set at Rio 2016, as well as a new all-time best for a third time.

Men’s 100m freestyle
47.02 seconds
Olympic record holder Caeleb Dressel won five golds and set four records for the United States swim team in Tokyo three years ago.
He will defend two of his three individual titles, the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly, in Paris – but not the 100m freestyle.
One potential challenger is David Popovici. The Romanian placed seventh in Tokyo with a time of 48.04 at the age of 16. A year later, he improved his time to 46.86 in the 2022 European Championships and set his first world record.
The record then was broken by a Chinese swimmer Pan Zhanle, who swam 46.8 in the lead leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay event at the World Championships in Doha, and will make his Olympic debut in Paris in three individual events.


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Paris 2024 Olympic Games

5 Olympic Games and world records likely to be challenged in Paris

Shericka Jackson (left) won the 200 metres at the 2023 World Championships and is looking to break the world record in Paris. Photo: AP

US sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner’s 200-metre world record set in 1988 is one of the oldest on the track. Photo: AP

Faith Kipyegon winning her first gold medal in 2016. She could become the first woman to win three 1,500m golds in a row. Photo: Reuters

Sweden’s Armand Duplantis with his World Athletics Championships men’s pole vault gold medal. Photo: DPA

Canadian swim sensation Summer McIntosh is looking to make more records tumble at the Paris Games. Photo: AP

China’s Olympic debutant Pan Zhanle is in contention to break the world record held by Caeleb Dressel. Photo: Xinhua

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Performers of all kind paid tribute to various aspects of French culture at the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony. Photo: Reuters

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Vivian Kong starts Hong Kong’s hunt for medals in the épée fencing competition. Photo: FIE

Hong Kong’s Vivian Kong (left) goes into the Paris Games ranked world No 1. Photo: Handout

Antoine Dupont of France scores a try to round off the quarter-final victory over Argentina. Photo: EPA-EFE

Stephanie Au (right), Natalie Kan (second right) and Tam Hoi-lam (left) swim in Saturday’s relay. Photo: EPA-EFE

Sport

Paris Olympics 2024

Athletics

The Post takes a look at disciplines where athletes are targeting new heights and could make history


The Post takes a look at disciplines where athletes are targeting new heights and could make history.


Caeleb Dressel

Pan Zhanle (潘展樂)

Romania