2024 Year in Sports, Athletics: Duplantis dominates, Neeraj-Arshad showdown in Paris Olympics, a slew of world records

There were records galore from athletics in 2024, both at the national and global level.

Mondo Duplantis was regularly in the headlines, after improving his pole vault world record thrice this year. For Indian athletics, Gulveer Singh brought in a flurry of records, in long-distance running.

The biggest event of the year from the Indian perspective was the men’s javelin final in the Paris Olympics, which saw Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem trump Neeraj Chopra in an incredible climax.

Here is a wrap of everything major which went down in athletics this year:

JANUARY

Kenyan runner Agnes Ngetich broke the 10km world record in Valencia, shaving 28 seconds off the previous mark, becoming the first woman to run the distance in under 29 minutes.

FEBRUARY

India’s Jyothi Yarraji broke the National Record to win gold in the women’s 60m hurdles at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. She clocked 8.12s in the finals to break her own record.

Femke Bol broke her own 400-metre indoor world record at the Netherlands’ national championships, finishing in 49.24 seconds, two-hundredths of a second off the record she set a year ago.

MARCH

Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou retained his world indoor long jump title in Glasgow. Tentoglou leapt a best of 8.22 metres on his first effort.

National Games gold medallist Parvej Khan became the first Indian to qualify for the final of a track event in the NCAA Championships of the United States.

Gulveer Singh shattered a 16-year-old Indian national record in the men’s 10,000m to finish second in his heat at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano in California.

APRIL

Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania broke a world record in the discus throw that had stood since 1986 at the Oklahoma Throws Series competition.

Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record with a 6.24-metre effort at the Xiamen Diamond League meet.

Peres Jepchirchir crushed the women’s-only world record in winning the 44th London Marathon. The Kenyan came home in a time of two hours 16 minutes 16 seconds to break the world record mark without male pacemakers.

MAY

Neeraj Chopra finished second in the Doha Diamond League 2024 with an 88.36m throw. Czech Jakub Vadlejch won with a best throw of 88.38m.

Abha Khatua broke the Indian women’s shot put national record of 18.06m, previously held by Manpreet Kaur, at the Federation Cup 2024.

Neeraj Chopra registered an 82.27m throw to win the men’s javelin gold medal in the National Federation athletics meet.

The Indian 4x400m mixed relay team comprising Muhammad Ajmal, Jyothika Sri, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan broke the national record at the Asian Relay Championships 2024.

Tejas Shirse set a new National Record in men’s 110m hurdles during a World Athletics Continental Tour (Challenger level) meeting in Jyvaskyla, Finland.

Kenyan Beatrice Chebet shattered the women’s 10,000-metre world record at the Prefontaine Classic.

JUNE

The Indian quartet of Muhammad Anas, Jyothika Sri Dandi, Muhammad Ajmal, and Kiran Pahal set a new National Record of 3:12.87s in 4x400m mixed relay at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships.

JULY

India’s Avinash Sable bettered his own 3000m steeplechase national record at the Paris Diamond League meet.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon bettered her own world record in the women’s 1500m at the Paris Diamond League meet.

AUGUST

Julien Alfred delivered a brilliant gun-to-tape performance to win the women’s 100-metre final and claim Saint Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal.

Noah Lyles roared to victory in 9.79sec to claim gold in the men’s Olympic 100m final. Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson claimed silver, just five-thousandths of a second off Lyles’ pace.

Sweden’s Armand Duplantis improved his own world record en route to retaining his Olympic pole vault title in Paris.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone obliterated her own 400-metre hurdles world record with a time of 50.37 seconds to retain her Olympic title.

Neeraj Chopra wins silver in men’s javelin in the Paris games as Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem shatters Olympic Record to claim stunning gold.

Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam became the first woman in history to win three consecutive Olympic heptathlon crowns.

Faith Kipyegon of Kenya became the first woman to secure three successive gold medals in the 1,500m event at the Olympics.

Sifan Hassan became the first athlete since Emil Zatopek to win medals in 5000m, 10,000m and marathon in a single Olympics after she achieved the feat in the Paris Games.

Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen shattered the long-standing 3,000 metres world record at the Silesia Diamond League meet by more than three seconds.

Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record when he cleared 6.26 metres on the second attempt at the Silesia Diamond League meeting.

SEPTEMBER

Pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis outsprinted 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm in the hotly-anticipated 100 metres exhibition race in Zurich.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon padded her remarkable winning streak over 1,500 metres with her fifth Diamond League season title at the series finale.

Neeraj Chopra missed the Diamond League javelin crown by just one centimetre as he finished second for the second consecutive year with a throw of 87.86m. He fell short of eventual winner Anderson Peters’ 87.87m effort.

Gulveer Singh broke his national record in the men’s 5000m event by clocking 13:11.82 to win gold at the World Athletics Continental Tour in Niigata, Japan.

OCTOBER

Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha broke the men’s half marathon world record finishing in 57 minutes and 30 seconds at the Medio Maraton de Valencia in Spain.

NOVEMBER

Neeraj Chopra is all set to join a training group led by triple Olympic champion Jan Zelezny, the Czech Athletics Federation announced.

Gulveer Singh bettered his own Indian national record in the 10,000m race while winning gold in the 2024 Hachioji Long Distance meet in Japan.

DECEMBER

Dutch marathon runner Sifan Hassan and Botswanan sprinter Letsile Tebogo, both of whom took gold at the Paris Olympics, were named ‘Athletes of the Year’ by World Athletics in Monaco.

SPORTSTAR SHOWCASE: BEST FROM 2024

Jonathan Selvaraj

– Breaching the 10s barrier in 100m — which Indian sprinter will get there first

– Diljit Dosanjh’s Dil-luminati concert at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium draws ire of Delhi athletes

– Indian Athletics in 2024: A flat end after much promise

– One small centimetre for man, a giant leap for Armand Duplantis

– Paris 2024 Olympics: The night Mondo Duplantis fulfilled his childhood fantasy

– An old injury, overthinking and will to satisfy India’s hopes: Neeraj Chopra at peace with Paris Olympics silver

– Noah Lyles sprints the talk to 100m glory in Paris Olympics 2024

– Rajindra Campbell, who gave up cricket for track, wins Jamaica’s first shot put medal at Paris Olympics

– Afghanistan sprinter Kimia Yousofi: I have to run for all the girls who can’t

– How does he cope with the intensity of his lonely skill – Neeraj Chopra reveals

Johannes Vetter: An Olympic medal in javelin throw would be much nicer than a world record this year

Gulveer Singh: Once running for Army promotion, India’s latest National Record setter now targets Olympics

Meet Max Dehning, javelin’s youngest member of the 90m club