“The marathon is a symbolic event of the Games and we wanted to plot a route that makes sense. » The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojop) presented the marathon course on Wednesday, October 5, which will take place on August 10, 2024 for men and the next day for women. “We were inspired by the Women’s March of October 5 and 6, 1789, explains Aurélie Merle, director of sports competitions within Paris 2024. This popular, revolutionary and feminine founding event is a link with the values of Paris 2024, where we put women in the spotlight in particular. »
At the time, the capital was hit by a bread shortage. Thousands of women, leaving from the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, then marched together to Versailles to express their distress to Louis XVI and demand reforms. This will lead to the ratification of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and the return of the King to Paris.
“A great challenge for the athletes”
The marathon runners will thus set off from the Hôtel de Ville, go as far as the Château de Versailles, before returning to Paris and crossing the finish line at the Invalides. “It’s atypical because usually the routes are urban, we stay in the city center and we make several loops, which also allows us to identify strategic points”, reacts Yohan Durand, French marathon runner. Throughout the 42.195 km of the event, the athletes will pass through iconic places in the capital such as Place Vendôme, rue de Rivoli, the Louvre and the Trocadéro.
A spectacular, demanding, and unprecedented race!
Discover the official route of the #Paris2024 Olympic marathon ????… https://t.co/uACnWdsee9
The course includes, according to Aurélie Merle, “two big difficulties” : the Fausses-Reposes forest, where the Pershing-Lafayette memorial is located – the highest point of the route at an altitude of 183 m –, and the famous Côte des Gardes, with a slope of up to 13.5%, through which the runners will pass on their way back to Paris. “This descent, long and with high percentages, is going to be very difficult, warns Yohan Durand, who hopes to qualify for the Olympics. Above all, it arrives after 30 km of racing: it will hurt your legs, you will have to anticipate muscle pain to hold on until the finish. I drove there and it seemed even more impressive than I had imagined”.
Atypical, the route is also atypical for its elevation: 438 m of positive elevation and 436 m of negative elevation, ” never seen “, according to him. For comparison, the Paris marathon has a height difference of less than 200 meters and that of Berlin only… 20 meters. ” You will have to adapt your preparation and not only train on the flat, explains Jean-François Pontier, specialist marathon coach. Anyway, at the Olympics, we don’t aim for performance but for place. »
For Alain Blondel, former decathlete today sport manager of Paris 2024, this demanding course will “bring suspense because it will be a great challenge for athletes who will find themselves in patterns that they do not know”. Especially since it will not be tested. “We want it to remain unique, there will be no race organized on it before the start of the marathon. »
For the occasion, the organizers of the Olympic Games also submitted their course to the stars of the discipline, who – unsurprisingly – appreciate it. “With its unprecedented profile, the Paris 2024 marathon represents a great sporting challenge for athletes, in a sumptuous setting. This race, more uncertain than ever, promises to be legendary! », explains the Briton Paula Radcliffe, holder, between 2003 and 2019, of the women’s world record. The Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, double Olympic marathon champion and world record holder for the distance (2 hours 1 minute and 9 seconds) believes that the event “will inevitably have a particular flavor”. “I couldn’t have hoped for a better race for the Games”, he said.
40,048 bibs for the general public
If the route is now known, the security device that will be deployed will, “to be decided as you go” with the competent authorities. “ We work with the prefectures concerned, which will give us the minimum constraints to respect, assures Alain Blondel. What is certain is that we will have a fairly significant barrier throughout the course. »
For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the marathon course will not only welcome the 80 marathon runners and 80 Olympians, but also twice 20,024 people from the general public, also on the weekend of August 10-11, 2024. , on a date yet to be determined. “In addition to the “marathon for all”, which will be 99% identical to the Olympic marathon, there will be a 10 kilometer race, which will pass through certain points of the route and will also end at the Invalides, for the less trained”announces the Cojop.
The most common way to obtain a bib for one of these two races is to take part in the challenges of the Club Paris 2024. To date, 3,000 bibs have already been allocated. “We are proud to offer a course that works for both the general public and Olympic marathoners. We are really in the DNA of Paris 2024, with Games open to everyone, in sharing. »