How Team Canada can qualify for Paris 2024: Part 1
Before any athlete can compete at the Olympic Games, they need to qualify.
For Paris 2024, the qualification period begins more than two years before the Opening Ceremony is set to take place on the Seine.
In some sports, quota spots are allocated directly to the athletes who earn them. In other sports, the quota spots go to the National Olympic Committee (NOC), which means there is a separate selection process within the country — such as national trials — to fill those spots.
Some sports have direct qualification events while others have qualification based on a cumulative world ranking list or may use a combination of both pathways.
Read on for a sport-by-sport breakdown of Team Canada’s qualification pathway to Paris 2024. Only events in which Canadian athletes are eligible to compete are included.
It’s not always simple, so to see the international qualification systems in full for each sport, click on the provided links. As Team Canada selection policies become available, these will also be included.
As there are a lot of summer Olympic sports, we’ve broken this list into parts.
Part 1 (A-D) | Part 2 (E-R) | Part 3 (S-W)
Archery
Total Athletes: 128 (64 men, 64 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can enter three athletes per gender if it qualifies for the respective team event. Otherwise, the NOC maximum for individual events is one athlete per gender. NOCs that qualify at least one man and one woman are eligible to compete in the mixed team event.
World Archery Olympic Qualification System
| Men’s and Women’s Team Qualification | 2023 World Archery Championships | July 28-August 6, 2023 in Berlin, Germany | Top 3 NOCs in men’s and women’s team events |
| Americas Continental Qualification Tournament | Date and location TBD | Top NOC in the men’s and women’s team events | |
| Final World Team Qualification Tournament | Date and location TBD | Top 3 NOCs in the men’s and women’s team events | |
| World Archery Team World Ranking List | Close date TBD | Top 2 NOCs per gender not yet qualified | |
| Mixed Team Qualification | 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Top NOC in the mixed team event will qualify one man and one woman |
| Individual Qualification | 2023 World Archery Championships | July 28-August 6, 2023 in Berlin, Germany | Top 3 athletes from NOCs not qualified through team competition, maximum one quota spot per NOC per gender |
| 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Top 2 athletes per gender from different NOCs each earn one quota spot | |
| Americas Continental Qualification Tournament | Date and location TBD | Top 2 athletes per gender from different NOCs each earn one quota spot | |
| Final World Individual Qualification Tournament | Date and location TBD | Top 2 athletes per gender from different NOCs each earn one quota spot |
Artistic Swimming
Total Athletes: 96 women
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 8 women
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify one team and one duet. The members of the duet would also have to be part of the team of eight athletes.
World Aquatics Artistic Swimming Olympic Qualification System
| 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Top ranked NOC in Team event will earn quota spots in Team and Duet events Top ranked NOC in Duet event not qualified in Team event will earn quota spot in Duet |
| 2024 FINA World Championships | February 2-18, 2024 in Doha, Qatar | Top 5 NOCs in Team event not yet qualified will earn quota spots in Team and Duet events Results of Duet event will be used to fill out the field of 18 entries, exact number pending quotas remaining to be allocated |
Athletics
Total Athletes: 1810 (905 men, 905 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: An NOC can qualify up to three athletes in each individual event, one team in each relay event, and up to two teams (each consisting of one man and one woman) in the mixed team race walking event.
Quota spots are allocated to athletes by name in the individual events. If an NOC has more than three qualified athletes in an individual event, the NOC will decide which athletes will be entered.
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC in the relay events and the mixed team race walking event.
World Athletics Olympic Qualification System
Individual athletes can qualify in one of two ways. Half of the quota spots will be allocated to athletes achieving an entry standard (see table below) within the qualification period. The remaining half of the quota spots will be allocated based on the World Athletics World Rankings within the qualification period.
For most individual events, the qualification period is July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
The exceptions are the 10,000m, combined events (decathlon and heptathlon), and race walks for which the qualification period is December 31, 2022 to June 30, 2024.
For the marathons, the qualification period is November 1, 2022 to April 30, 2024. On January 30, 2024, any athlete ranked higher than 65th on the “Road to Paris” list will be considered qualified for the respective marathon. The remaining 20% of the quota spots will be allocated on April 30 without displacing those who have already earned spots.
The qualification period for the relays is also December 31, 2022 to June 30, 2024. There will be 16 teams qualified for each relay event. The first 14 of those spots will be allocated at the World Athletics Relays meet in Nassau, The Bahamas in April/May 2024. The remaining spots will be allocated according to the World Athletics performance list during the qualification period.
| Men Entry Standards | Event | Women Entry Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 10.00 | 100m | 11.07 |
| 20.16 | 200m | 22.57 |
| 45.00 | 400m | 50.95 |
| 1:44.70 | 800m | 1:59.30 |
| 3:33.50 (3:50.40) | 1500m (Mile) | 4:02.50 (4:20.90) |
| 13:05.00 | 5000m | 14:52.00 |
| 27:00.00 | 10,000m | 30:40.00 |
| 13.27 | 110m Hurdles / 100m Hurdles | 12.77 |
| 48.70 | 400m Hurdles | 54.85 |
| 8:15.00 | 3000m Steeplechase | 9:23.00 |
| 2.33m | High Jump | 1.97m |
| 5.82m | Pole Vault | 4.73m |
| 8.27m | Long Jump | 6.86m |
| 17.22m | Triple Jump | 14.55m |
| 21.50m | Shot Put | 18.80m |
| 67.20m | Discus Throw | 64.50m |
| 78.20m | Hammer Throw | 74.00m |
| 85.50m | Javelin Throw | 64.00m |
| 8460 points | Decathlon / Heptathlon | 6480 points |
| 1:20:10 | 20km Race Walk | 1:29:20 |
| 2:08:10 | Marathon | 2:26:50 |
Badminton
Total Athletes: 172 (86 men, 86 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 16 (8 men, 8 women)
Quota spots are allocated to athletes by name. All qualifications will be based on the BWF Race to Paris Ranking Lists which take into account results from May 1, 2023 to April 28, 2024.
BWF Badminton Olympic Qualification System
In the men’s and women’s singles events, if an NOC has multiple athletes ranked 1-16, that NOC can have two entries for the respective event. In the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles events, if an NOC has multiple teams ranked 1-8, that NOC can have two entries for the respective event. Otherwise, the maximum is one entry per event.
There will be 38 athletes qualified in each of the men’s and women’s singles events and 16 pairs qualified for each of the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles events.
Each singles event must include at least two athletes representing the Americas. Each doubles event must include at least one pair representing the Americas.
Basketball
Total Teams: 12 men (144 athletes), 12 women (144 athletes)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 24 (12 men, 12 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify one team per gender.
FIBA Basketball Olympic Qualification System
| Men’s Qualification | 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup | August 25-September 10, 2023 in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia | Top 2 NOCs from the Americas |
| 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (FOQT)* | Dates and locations TBD *Must qualify for via FIBA World Cup or FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in August 2023 | Top NOC from each of the four FOQTs | |
| Women’s Qualification | 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup | September 22-October 1, 2022 in Australia | Champion NOC |
| 2024 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (FWOQT)^ | February 2024, locations TBD ^Must qualify for via FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in November 2023 | 10 NOCs from across four FWOQTs |
3×3 Basketball
Total Teams: 8 men (32 athletes), 8 women (32 athletes)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 8 (4 men, 4 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify one team per gender.
FIBA 3×3 Basketball Olympic Qualification System
| 3×3 Federation Ranking Lists | Close November 1, 2023 (count results dating back 12 months) | 3 NOCs per gender |
| 2024 FIBA Universality-driven Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2 | Date and location TBD | 1 NOC per gender |
| 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament | Date and location TBD | 3 NOCs per gender |
Boxing
Total Athletes: 248 (124 men, 124 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 13 (7 men, 6 women)
Quota spots are allocated to athletes by name. An NOC can qualify a maximum of one athlete per event.
The IOC Executive Board announced on June 24, 2022 that qualification events as well as the Olympic boxing competition would be run by the IOC due to continued concerns about the International Boxing Association’s governance and refereeing and judging systems.
IOC Olympic Boxing Qualification System
| 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Top 2 athletes per event, with the exception of the women’s 57kg and women’s 60kg which will qualify the top 4 athletes per event |
| 1st World Qualification Tournament (WQT) | Q1 of 2024 (Date and location TBD) | Top 4 athletes per event, with the exception of the women’s 57kg (top 2 athletes) and women’s 60kg (top 3 athletes) |
| 2nd World Qualification Tournament (WQT) | Q2 of 2024 (Date and location TBD) | Top 2 to 5 athletes per event (depending on the event and the number of spots available following confirmation of the weight categories in which host country quota spots will be used) |
Breaking
Total Athletes: 32 (16 men, 16 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 4 (2 men, 2 women)
Quota spots are allocated to athletes by name.
WDSF Breaking Olympic Qualification System
| 2023 WDSF World Championships | September 22-24, 2023 in Leuven, Belgium | Top ranked athlete of each gender |
| 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Top ranked athlete of each gender |
| Olympic Qualifier Series | March-June 2024 | 7 men and 7 women will qualify |
Canoe/Kayak Slalom
Total Athletes: 82 (41 men, 41 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify a maximum of one athlete in each of the men’s and women’s canoe and kayak slalom events (C-1 and K-1). An NOC can enter up to two athletes in each of the men’s and women’s kayak cross (X-1) events.
ICF Canoe/Kayak Slalom Olympic Qualification System
| 2023 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships | September 19-24, 2023 in Lee Valley, England | Top 15 NOCs in each of men’s and women’s K-1 Top 12 NOCs in each of men’s and women’s C-1 |
| Pan American Continental Qualification Competition | Date TBD in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Top NOC in each of men’s and women’s K-1 and C-1 |
| ICF Kayak Cross Global Qualification Competition | June 7-9, 2024 in Prague, Czechia | Top 3 NOCs in each of men’s and women’s X-1 |
Canoe/Kayak Sprint
Total Athletes: 236 (117 men, 117 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 18 (9 men, 9 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify a maximum of one boat per event but can then enter up to two boats per event at Paris 2024.
ICF Canoe/Kayak Sprint Olympic Qualification System
| 2023 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships | August 23-27, 2023 in Duisburg, Germany | Men’s K-1 1000m, Women’s K-1 500m | 7 boats per gender |
| Men’s and Women’s K-2 500m | 6 boats per gender | ||
| Men’s and Women’s K-4 500m | 10 boats per gender | ||
| Men’s C-1 1000m, Women’s C-1 200m | 6 boats per gender | ||
| Men’s and Women’s C-2 500m | 8 boats per gender | ||
| Americas Continental Qualification Competition | Date and location TBD | Men’s K-1 1000m, Women’s K-1 500m | 2 boats per gender |
| Men’s and Women’s K-2 500m | 1 boat per gender | ||
| Men’s C-1 1000m, Women’s C-1 200m | 2 boats per gender | ||
| Men’s and Women’s C-2 500m | 1 boat per gender |
Cycling – BMX Freestyle
Total Athletes: 24 (12 men, 12 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 4 (2 men, 2 women)
Whether quota spots are allocated to the NOC or to athletes by name depends on the pathway through which the spots are qualified.
UCI BMX Freestyle Olympic Qualification System
| Olympic Qualifier Series Final Ranking | Counts results from March to June 2024 | 6 spots per gender, allocated to athletes by name |
| 2022 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships | November 9-13, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | 2 spots per gender, allocated to the NOC; priority given to continents not yet qualified |
| 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships | August 3-13, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland | 3 spots per gender, allocated to the NOC; priority given to continents not yet qualified |
Cycling – BMX Racing
Total Athletes: 48 (24 men, 24 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC.
UCI BMX Racing Olympic Qualification System
| UCI BMX Racing Olympic Qualification Ranking | Counts results from August 1, 2022 to June 2, 2024 | For each gender: NOCs ranked 1-2 will each qualify 3 athletes, NOCs ranked 3-5 will each qualify 2 athletes, NOCs ranked 6-10 will each qualify 1 athlete. |
| 2023 Americas Continental Championships | May 27, 2023 in Riobamba, Ecuador | 1 spot available per gender for NOCs not qualified via Olympic Qualification Ranking |
| 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships | August 3-13, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland | 1 spot available per gender for NOCs not yet qualified |
| 2024 UCI BMX Racing World Championships | May 2024 in Rock Hill, South Carolina | 1 spot available per gender for NOCs not yet qualified |
Cycling – Mountain Bike
Total Athletes: 72 (36 men, 36 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 4 (2 men, 2 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC.
UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification System
| UCI Mountain Bike Olympic Qualification Ranking | Counts results from May 7, 2022 to May 26, 2024 | For each gender: NOCs ranked 1-8 will each qualify 2 athletes, NOCs ranked 9-19 will each qualify 1 athlete. |
| 2023 Americas Continental Championships | April 26-30, 2023 in Congonhas, Brazil | Top ranked NOC per gender not qualified via Olympic Qualification Ranking |
| 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships | August 3-13, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland | Top 2 NOCs per gender in Elite and top 2 NOCs per gender in U23 not already qualified each earn one quota spot |
Cycling – Road
Total Athletes: 180 (90 men, 90 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 8 (4 men, 4 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can enter a maximum of four athletes in each road race and a maximum of two athletes in each individual time trial. Only NOCs that earn quota spots for the road race can be allocated spots for the respective individual time trial.
UCI Road Cycling Olympic Qualification System
| Men’s and Women’s Road Race | UCI Road World Ranking by Nations | Counts results from October 19, 2022 to October 17, 2023 | For each gender: NOCs ranked 1-5 will each qualify 4 athletes NOCs ranked 6-10 will qualify 3 athletes, NOCs ranked 11-20 will qualify 2 athletes, NOCs ranked 21-45 will qualify 1 athlete. A total of 80 spots per gender will be allocated. |
| 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – Elite Road Race | August 3-13, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland | Top 2 NOCs per gender not qualified via world ranking will each qualify 1 spot | |
| 2023 Pan American Road Cycling Championships – Elite Road Race | April 6-9, 2023 in Panama | Top 2 NOCs per gender not qualified via world ranking or the world championships will each qualify 1 spot. | |
| Men’s and Women’s Individual Time Trial | UCI Road World Ranking by Nations | Counts results from October 19, 2022 to October 17, 2023 | Top 25 NOCs per gender will each qualify 1 spot |
| 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships – Elite Individual Time Trial | August 3-13, 2023 in Glasgow, Scotland | Top 10 NOCs per gender will each qualify 1 spot |
Cycling – Track
Total Athletes: 190 (95 men, 95 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 16 (8 men, 8 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can enter a maximum of two athletes in each sprint and keirin event, one athlete in each omnium event, and one team in each team pursuit, team sprint, and Madison event.
UCI Track Cycling Olympic Qualification System
The UCI Olympic Track Ranking 2022-2024 will be used to allocate all quota spots. It takes into account results from July 9, 2022 to April 14, 2024.
| Team Sprint | Top 8 NOCs of each gender qualify a team of 3 athletes |
| Sprint + Keirin | Top 7 NOCs in each event that did not qualify for team sprint will earn 1 spot in that event. NOCs that earn a sprint spot can enter an athlete in the keirin and vice versa. NOCs qualified for the team sprint can enter up to two athletes in the sprint and keirin. |
| Team Pursuit | Top 10 NOCs of each gender qualify a team of 4 athletes |
| Madison | Top 5 NOCs of each gender that did not qualify for team pursuit will each qualify a team of 2 athletes. NOCs qualified for the team pursuit can enter a team in the Madison. |
| Omnium | Top 7 NOCs of each gender that did not qualify for the Madison will earn 1 spot. NOCs qualified for the Madison can enter 1 athlete in the omnium. |
Diving
Total Athletes: 136 (68 men, 68 women)
Maximum Athletes per NOC: 16 (8 men, 8 women)
Quota spots are allocated to the NOC. An NOC can qualify a maximum of one team in each of the four synchronized events and a maximum of two athletes in each of the individual events. An individual athlete can only earn one quota spot per event for their NOC.
FINA Diving Olympic Qualification System
| Individual Events Qualification | 2023 FINA World Championships | July 14-30, 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan | Top 12 athletes in each event earn one spot for their NOC |
| 2023 Pan American Games | October 20-November 5, 2023 in Santiago, Chile | Champion athlete in each event will earn one spot for their NOC | |
| 2024 FINA World Championships | February 2-18, 2024 in Doha, Qatar | Top 12 athletes in each event earn one spot for their NOC Additional spots may be awarded to NOCs with athletes ranked 13th and below if the overall quota for an event and the sport is not filled | |
| Synchronized Events Qualification | 2023 FINA World Championships | July 14-30, 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan | Top 3 teams in each event earn one spot for their NOC |
| 2024 FINA World Championships | February 2-18, 2024 in Doha, Qatar | Top 4 teams in each event not yet qualified earn one spot for their NOC |