Marathon qualifying standards for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics

World Athletics announced the marathon qualifying standards for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games on Tuesday 10 November 2026: 2:05:00 for men and 2:22:20 for women. Each event will have 70 places, and meeting the required standard does not automatically guarantee one of them.

The marathon qualification period is already under way: it began on 1 November 2026 and will end on 30 April 2028. The athletics events will take place from 15 to 30 July that year.

Less demanding standards than in Paris

The qualifying times for Los Angeles are lower than those for Paris 2024, when the men’s standard was 2:08:10 and the women’s was 2:26:50. The difference is 3:10 for men and 4:30 for women.

Alongside the qualifying time, the system takes account of finishing positions in certain marathons. Finishing in the top five of a Platinum Label race during the qualification period counts as qualification regardless of time, although places are limited.

Two routes and a planned allocation of places

World Athletics is retaining qualification through entry standards and world rankings. It expects 40% to qualify by entry standard and 60% by ranking, compared with the planned 50% allocation for each route at Paris 2024.

The distribution may change if the number of athletes who meet the required standard exceeds the places available in an event. In that case, the best performances achieved during the qualification period will be prioritised and no places will be awarded by ranking in that event.

Track standards and other deadlines

In the 5,000 metres, the standards will be 12:50.00 for men and 14:34.00 for women, compared with 13:05 and 14:52 in Paris. In the 1,500 metres, the required times will be 3:30.00 and 3:57.50 respectively; for the previous Games they were 3:33.50 and 4:02.50.

The qualification period for the 10,000 metres, combined events, race walking and relays will begin on 19 December 2026. For the remaining events, the period will run from 19 June 2027 to 18 June 2028.

The athletics programme in Los Angeles

The Olympic programme includes 23 men’s events, 23 women’s events and two mixed relays. The mixed 4×100 metres will make its Olympic debut, while the mixed 4×400 will remain on the programme.

The documents place the athletics events at the Los Ángeles Memorial Coliseum. The men’s marathon is scheduled for 30 July 2028.