Kiran Pahal to run in repechage round at Paris Olympics: What is repechage round in athletics?

India’s Kiran Pahal on Monday missed out on securing direct qualification for the women’s 400m semi-finals after she finished seventh in her heat at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The top three racers in each heat qualify directly for the semi-finals, and while those who finish below third miss out on direct qualification for the semi-finals, they are still not yet out of contention as there is a repechage round that has been introduced in athletics at the Paris Olympics.

As a result, Kiran will participate in the repechage round on Tuesday which will be another chance for her to reach the semi-finals. So, what is a repechage round and which athletes take part in it?

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Repechage round in athletics explained

Till date, all athletics events at the Olympics have consisted of only three rounds. Those are the heats, semi-finals and the final. At the Paris Olympics, a new fourth round called the repechage has been introduced and this round will be utilised in all individual track events between 200m and 1500m races, also including the hurdle races.

Overall, the repechage format will cover six different distances in both men’s and women’s races. Athletes qualifying for the semi-finals in sprint track events up until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were based on the times they set during the heats. The racers that finished in the top three in each heat qualified for the semi-finals directly, and were joined by athletes who finished with the best recorded time among those who failed to qualify.

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The repechage round is a replacement to this and provides another opportunity for all those who failed to secure qualification for the semi-finals in the heats. This also assures the fact that every athlete who participates in individual track events between 200m and 1500m participates in a minimum of two rounds.

However, the repechage round is not part of the 100m event since that event already consists of the preliminary heats ahead of the first round. The 100m event in total consists of four rounds.

The repechage round is also not part of long distance events given the recovery time that every athlete requires between rounds.

Here’s a look at the list of track events which have a repechage round at the Paris Olympics:

200m (Men’s, Women’s)

400m (Men’s, Women’s)

800m (Men’s, Women’s)

1500m (Men’s, Women’s)

100m Hurdles (Women’s)

110m Hurdles (Men’s)

400m Hurdles (Men’s, Women’s)

When will Kiran Pahal’s repechage round in women’s 400m take place?

Kiran Pahal’s repechage round in the women’s 400m will take place on 6 August (Tuesday) at 2.50 pm IST.