Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metres
The men's 100 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics is scheduled to take place between 31 July and 1 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium.[1] Approximately eighty athletes are expected to compete; the exact number will depend on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 56 qualifying through time or ranking (23 universality places were used in 2016).[2]
| Men's 100 metres at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad | |
|---|---|
 Olympic Athletics | |
| Venue | Japan National Stadium |
| Dates | 31 July 2021 (Preliminary round & heats) 1 August 2021 (semi-final & final)[1] |
| Competitors | ~80 from ~55 nations |
Background
This will be the twenty-ninth time the event is held, having appeared at every Olympics since the first in 1896.
Qualification
A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's 100 metres event if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 10.05 seconds. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 56 is reached.[2][3]
The qualifying period was originally from 1 May 2019 to 29 June 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 29 June 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 May 2019 to 30 June, 2020; athletes who had met the qualifying standard during that time were still qualified, but those using world rankings would not be able to count performances during that time. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. Only outdoor meets were eligible for the sprints and short hurdles, including the 100 metres. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[2][4]
NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the 100 metres.[2]
Competition format
The event will continue to use the preliminaries plus three main rounds format introduced in 2012. Athletes not meeting the qualification standard (that is, were entered through universality places) will compete in the preliminaries; those who met the standard started in the first round.[5]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records are as follows.
| World record |  Usain Bolt (JAM) | 9.58 | Berlin, Germany | 16 August 2009 |
| Olympic record | Usain Bolt (JAM) | 9.63 | London, United Kingdom | 5 August 2012 |
Schedule
All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday, 31 July 2021 | 9:00 19:00 | Preliminaries Round 1 |
| Sunday, 1 August 2021 | 19:00 19:00 | Semifinals Final |
References
- "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- "Qualification System – Games of the XXXI Olympiad – Athletics" (PDF). IAAF. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
- "IAAF to follow other sports with world ranking system for athletes". BBC Sport. 7 March 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- "Athletics Explanatory Guide". Tokyo 2020. August 2019.