2028 LA Olympics makes major schedule change to prioritize women on opening night

While the 2028 LA Olympics are still more than two years away, the schedule is already ready.

And that includes at least one significant change, with USA Today’s Christine Brennan reporting that the women’s 100-meter track final will take place on opening night, a spot that has traditionally been reserved for the men’s 100-meter final. According to Olympic gold medalist and World Athletics president Sebastian Coe, the scheduling shift — which will see the men’s final move to the second night — was made in an effort to celebrate equality.

“It’s really important that we’re able not only to talk about equality, but to actually demonstrate it in a really powerful way, and there’s no bigger platform than the first day of an Olympic Games featuring the women’s 100-meter final,” Coe told USA Today.

The women’s 100-meter final will take place on July 15, 2028, one day after the Olympics’ opening ceremony. The event will be run inside the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which also hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.

In order to accommodate the schedule, all three rounds of the women’s 100 meters will need to be run on July 15, marking a first at the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, the men will run their first round on July 15 and the semifinals and final on July 16, with athletes and coaches having already been consulted regarding the changes.

“It was one of the things we talked about, running three 100 meters in one day,” Olympic gold medalist and LA28 chief athlete officer Janet Evans said. “How would that feel as an athlete, mentally and physically? What does that mean? And we took that question very seriously as we spoke to athletes commissions of LA28 as well as athletes commissions from World Athletics.

“And so I think when we presented it to the athletes that way, there was excitement. And for the few naysayers, the majority of the athletes said to me, just let me know, right? Like, let me know if this is what’s going to happen, let me know early, and I will start training to run three 100 meters in one day, because it can be done, but I just need to schedule my training.”

The women’s final headlining opening night isn’t the only notable scheduling change, as swimming will be bumped back to the second week for logistical reasons (swimming events will take place at SoFi Stadium, which will also host the opening ceremony). A full schedule for the 2028 LA Olympics can be found via USA Today.