The Paris Olympics 2024 follows the just concluded T20 World Cup 2024 and Wimbledon. It sure will captivate the sport buffs for another cherishable journey as the Summer Games are set to start from July 26. India are coming into the competition with more than 100 athletes, the highest ever by a South Asian country. The primary expectation from Indian sports fans is that the contingent should at least double the last edition numbers. The fans will see a lot of sporting action and might witness a plethora of world records, waiting to be broken during the Games.
In the Tokyo edition, athletes scripted 20 world records. It was the Chinese athletes who broke most of the world records. They accounted for five. Swimming was the major discipline in which six world records were set. Other records were scripted in cycling-track, shooting, sport climbing, track and field, weightlifting.
The Paris Games are going to be no exception to the process of athletes shattering world records. Let us walk you down through some of the world records. Some of them may either get equaled or be shattered in the upcoming edition, with athletes vying to outdo each other from different countries and sometimes their own compatriots.
Kaylee McKeown (Australia) - Ruling the backstroke
Earlier this year, Australia’s backstroke queen Kaylee Mckeown was within touching distance of bettering her own world record of 57.33 seconds in a national event. She finished with a time of 57.57 sec in the 100m backstroke event, at the 2024 New South Wales State Championship. The athlete also holds world records in 50m and 200m. With the Olympics usually producing the best results from the athletes, the reigning Olympic champion in 100m and 200m will strive to beat her own world records.
Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis (Sweden) - Excelling In Pole Vault
The Swedish pole vault sensation, Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis has been breaking world records just for fun. The 24-year-old has broken his own records eight times so far with the recent one being his jump of 6.24 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting. Notably, he jumped 15 centimetres above the rest of the field at the 2024 World Athletics Championship.
In 2020, Duplantis set a world record for the first time and there was no turning back since then. He has been flying higher and higher than his competitors, raising his bar every time at every international outing. All of Duplantis’ records are below.
- 8 February, 2020 - 6.17 metres
- 15 February 2020 - 6.18 metres
- 7 March, 2022 - 6.19 metres
- 20 March, 2022 - 6.20 metres
- 24 July, 2022 - 6.21 metres
- 25 February, 2022 - 6.22 metres
- 17 September, 2023 - 6.23 metres
- 21 April, 2024 - 6.24 metres
Threat Looming Over Florence Joyner's world record in 200m
The world record timing of 21.34 seconds in 200m was set by Joyner of USA in 1988. Three decades have passed and it remains safe. Last year, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson came agonisingly close, at the World Athletics Championships 2023. She clocked a time of 21.41 seconds in the 200m finals. The rest of the pack which will have a go at this record include Elaine Thompson-Herah (21.53s) and Gabrielle Thomas (21.60s), are also close enough and the figures within brackets denote their personal best. With multiple athletes clocking around 21 seconds, the world record might get shattered in Paris.
Sam Watson (USA) - Speed Climbing
Watson has been shattering records in the sport of speed climbing consistently. The 18-year-old broke the world record twice within one hour at a recent World Cup in China. In April, the athlete hiked up a 15-metre high wall in 4.85 seconds and followed it up with 4.79 seconds in the next attempt. His first attempt broke the previous world record of 4.90 and bettered it in the next.
Some more records which are likely to be broken
- If the USA Women's Basketball team wins gold, they would have eight gold medals - a record in any team sport in the Olympics.
- Katie Ledecky can equal the record of Jenny Thompson for winning the most Olympic titles by an American woman.
- A medal would make Simon Biles the most decorated American gymnast in the Olympics.
- Greeco-Roman wrestler Mijain Lopez can become the athlete with the most gold medals in an individual event. He has four of them in his kitty already.
- Noah Lyes can break Usain Bolt’s world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200m as he has shown that capability with his personal best of 19.31 seconds in the past.
- Ryan Cruise can better his world record (23.51m) in the men's shot put in the Paris Games.
- Sydney McLaughlin-Levronne is likely to break her own record in the women's 400m hurdles, considering she has broken the world record thrice in the past.
