Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will headline India’s 29-member athletics contingent at the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics.
While athletics at Paris 2024 kicks off on August 1 with race walking, the track and field events will begin on August 2.
Neeraj Chopra made history at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Indian to win a medal in athletics at the Olympics. He went on to claim the gold in the men’s javelin throw.
Neeraj Chopra will be accompanied by Olympic debutant Kishore Jena in the javelin throw event in Paris. Neeraj and Kishore won the gold and silver medals, respectively, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
In the current team, besides Neeraj Chopra, seven other athletes appeared in Tokyo three years ago – Annu Rani, Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Priyanka Goswami, Muhammed Anas, Amoj Jacob and Subha Venkatesan.
Among noteworthy changes to the curriculum, the marathon race walk relay mixed event has replaced the men’s 50km race walk event from Tokyo 2020. For India, Suraj Panwar will feature in the mixed marathon event with Priyanka Goswami.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, athletics will include 48 medal events across three verticals – track and field, road running and race walking.
All the athletics events will be held across four venues: Pont d’Iéna for race walking, Hôtel de Ville and Les Invalides for the start and end points of the marathon races, and Stade de France for the track and field events.
Paris 2024 Olympics athletics: India squad
Men: Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase), Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw), Kishore Jena (javelin throw), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Praveen Chithravel (triple jump), Abdulla Aboobacker (triple jump), Sarvesh Kushare (high jump), Akshdeep Singh (20km race walk), Vikash Singh (20km race walk), Paramjeet Singh Bisht (20km race walk), Muhammed Anas (4x400m relay), Muhammed Ajmal (4x400m relay), Amoj Jacob (4x400m relay), Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan (4x400m relay), Rajesh Ramesh (4x400m relay), Mijo Chacko Kurian (4x400m relay), Suraj Panwar (race walk mixed marathon), Jeswin Aldrin (long jump)
Women: Kiran Pahal (400m), Parul Chaudhary (3000m steeplechase and 5,000m), Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), Annu Rani (javelin throw), Jyothika Sri Dandi (4x400m relay), Subha Venkatesan (4x400m relay), Vithya Ramraj (4x400m relay), MR Poovamma (4x400m relay), Prachi (4x400m relay), Priyanka Goswami (20km race walk and race walk mixed marathon), Ankita Dhyani (5000m)