It has been said so many times and in so many ways, but the greatest athletes in the world have converged on Tokyo for the 2021 Olympic Games in search of those illustrious bronze, silver and gold medals.
And no other sport offers more opportunities for individual medalists than track and field. It features 48 medal events — 11 more than second-place swimming — and 189 medals over the final 10 days of competition in Tokyo.
Several athletes are worth watching over the course of the track and field schedule — especially Allyson Felix. She will compete in the women's 400-meter dash and perhaps the 4x400 women's and mixed relays; one medal would tie her with Carl Lewis as the most decorated United States track and field athlete in Olympic history, while another would give her that distinction by herself. A third medal would tie her as the most decorated track and field athlete of all time.
Other notable U.S. athletes in these games: Noah Lyles, who finished third in the men's 200 meters in his Olympic debut; Sydney McLaughlin, who set a world record in winning the women's 400 hurdles over 2016 Rio gold medalist and U.S. teammate Dalilah Muhammad; and Gwen Berry, who failed to medal in the hammer throw.
Follow along as Sporting News provides live updates to the medal count and individual medalists from the track and field events at Tokyo:
MORE: Watch the 2021 Olympics live with fuboTV (7-day free trial)
Olympic track and field results 2021
Events listed in order medal events will take place
Men's events
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 10,000m | Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) | Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) | Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) |
| Discus | Daniel Stahl (Sweden) | Simon Pettersson (Sweden) | Lukas Weisshaidinger (Austria) |
| High jump | Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar)* | Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy)* | Maksim Nedasekau (Belarus) |
| 100m | Lamont Jacobs (Italy) | Fred Kerley (United States) | Andre De Grasse (Canada) |
| Long jump | Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) | Juan Miguel Echevarría (Cuba) | Maykel Massó (Cuba) |
| 3,000m steeplechase | Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco) | Lamecha Girma (Ethiopia) | Benjamin Kigen (Kenya) |
| 400m hurdles | Karsten Warholm (Norway)** | Rai Benjamin (United States) | Alison dos Santos (Brazil) |
| Pole vault | Armand Duplantis (Sweden) | Christopher Nilsen (United States) | Thiago Braz (Brazil) |
| Hammer throw | Wojciech Nowicki (Poland) | Eivind Henriksen (Norway) | Pawel Fajdek (Poland) |
| 800m | Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir (Kenya) | Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich (Kenya) | Patryk Dobek (Poland) |
| 200m | Andre de Grasse (Canada) | Kenneth Bednarek (United States) | Noah Lyles (United States) |
| Triple jump | Pedro Pichardo (Portugal) | Zhu Yaming (China) | Hugues Fabrice Zango (Burkina Faso) |
| Shot put | Ryan Crouser (United States)*** | Joe Kovacs (United States) | Tom Walsh (New Zealand) |
| 110m hurdles | Hansle Parchment (Jamaica) | Grant Holloway (United States) | Ronald Levy (Jamaica) |
| 20km race walk | Massimo Stano (Italy) | Koki Ikeda (Japan) | Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan) |
| 400m | Steven Gardiner (Bahamas) | Anthony Jose Zambrano (Colombia) | Kirani James (Grenada) |
| 50km race walk | Dawid Tomala (Poland) | Jonathan Hilbert (Germany) | Evan Dunfee (Canada) |
| 5,000m | Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) | Mohammed Ahmed (Canada) | Paul Chelimo (United States) |
| 4x100 relay | Italy | Great Britain | Canada |
| Javelin | Neeraj Chopra (India) | Jakub Vadlejch (Czech Republic) | Vítězslav Veselý (Czech Republic) |
| 1,500m | Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway)*** | Timothy Cheruiyot (Kenya) | Josh Kerr (Great Britain) |
| 4x400 relay | United States | Netherlands | Botswana |
| Marathon | — | — | — |
| Decathlon | Damian Warner (Canada) | Kevin Mayer (France) | Ashley Moloney (Australia) |
*Barshim and Tamberi shared gold in the men's high jump, both with jumps of 2.37 meters.
**World record
***Olympic record
Women's events
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 100m | Elain Thompson-Herah (Jamaica)*** | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) | Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) |
| Shot put | Lijiao Gong (China) | Raven Saunders (United States) | Valerie Adams (New Zealand) |
| Triple jump | Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)** | Patricia Mamona (Portugal) | Ana Peleteiro (Spain) |
| 100m hurdles | Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico) | Keni Harrison (United States) | Megan Tapper (Jamaica) |
| Discus | Valarie Allman (USA) | Kristin Pudenz (Germany) | Yaime Perez (Cuba) |
| 5,000m | Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) | Hellen Obiri (Kenya) | Gudaf Tsegay (Ethiopia) |
| Long jump | Malaika Mihambo (Germany) | Brittney Reese (United States) | Ese Brume (Nigeria) |
| Hammer throw | Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland) | Zheng Wang (China) | Malwina Kopron (Poland) |
| 800m | Athing Mu (United States) | Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain) | Raevyn Rogers (United States) |
| 200m | Elaine Thompson-Herah (Jamaica) | Christine Mboma (Namibia) | Gabrielle Thomas (United States) |
| 400m hurdles | Sydney McLaughlin (United States)** | Dalilah Muhammad (United States) | Femke Bol (Netherlands) |
| 3,000m steeplechase | Peruth Chemutai (Uganda) | Courtney Frerichs (United States) | Hyvin Kiyeng (Kenya) |
| Pole vault | Katie Nageotte (United States) | Anzhelika Sidorova (ROC) | Holly Bradshaw (Great Britain) |
| 20km race walk | Antonella Palmisano (Italy) | Sandra Lorena Arenas (Colombia) | Hong Liu (China) |
| Javelin | Liu Shiying (China) | Maria Andrejczyk (Poland) | Kelsey-Lee Barber (Australia) |
| 400m | Shaunae Miller-Uiba (Bahamas) | Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) | Allyson Felix (United States) |
| 1,500m | Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (Kenya)*** | Laura Muir (Great Britain) | Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) |
| 4x100 relay | Jamaica | United States | Great Britain |
| Marathon | Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) | Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) | Molly Seidel (United States) |
| High jump | Mariya Lasitskene (Russian Olympic Committee) | Nicola McDermott (Australia) | Yaroslava Mahuchikh (Ukraine) |
| 10,000m | Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) | Kalkidan Gezahegne (Bahrain) | Letesenbet Gidey (Ethiopia) |
| 4x400 relay | United States | Poland | Jamaica |
| Heptathlon | Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium) | Anouk Vetter (Netherlands) | Emma Oosterwegel (Netherlands) |
**World record
***Olympic record
Mixed events
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 4x400 relay | Poland*** | Dominican Republic | United States |
***Olympic record
Overall track and field medal leaders
Results based on total medals, then number of gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively.
| Pos. | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 7 | 12 | 7 | 26 |
| 2 | Poland | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 3 | Jamaica | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 | Kenya | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 6 | Canada | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Italy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 | China | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 10 | Uganda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 11 | Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| T-12 | Norway | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Sweden | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 14 | Germany | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| T-15 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Cuba | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 17 | Bahamas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| T-18 | Portugal | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Russia Olympic Committee | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| T-20 | Colombia | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| T-22 | Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| T-24 | Brazil | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| T-26 | Belgium | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| India | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Morocco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Puerto Rico | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Qatar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Venezuela | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| T-33 | Bahrain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| France | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Namibia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| T-36 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Belarus | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Burkina Faso | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Grenada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Nigeria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT: Overall | Team USA
How to watch Olympic track and field
- TV channels: NBC (U.S.) | USA Network (U.S.) | NBC Sports Network | CNBC | CBC (Canada)
- Live streams: NBCSports.com | NBCOlympics.com | Peaco*ck | fuboTV (7-day free trial)
Generally speaking, each day of TV coverage will feature early-morning and evening sessions. Coverage of each session will range from events and stages. NBC and USA will be the primary networks providing coverage in the United States, though CNBC and NBC Sports will also carry coverage. CBC provides coverage in Canada.
Below is the full schedule of events, based on NBC's general and track-specific broadcast schedules:
Thursday, July 29
| Evening |
| Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Round 1 |
| Men’s high jump qualifying |
| Men’s discus throw qualifying |
| Women’s 800m, Round 1 |
| Men’s 400m hurdles, Round 1 |
| Women’s 100m, Round 1 |
Friday, July 30
| Morning | Evening |
| Women’s 5000, Round 1 | Women’s 400m hurdles, Round 1 |
| Women’s triple jump qualifying | Women’s discus throw qualifying |
| Mixed 4×400 relay Round 1 | Men’s pole vault qualifying |
| Men’s 10,000m final | Men’s 800m, Round 1 |
| — | Women’s 100m hurdles, Round 1 |
| — | Men’s 100m, prelims |
Saturday, July 31
| Morning | Evening |
| Men’s long jump qualifying | Women’s hammer throw qualifying |
| Women’s 100m, semifinals | Women’s 3000m steeplechase, Round 1 |
| Men’s 100m, Round 1 | Women’s long jump qualifying |
| Men’s discus throw, final | Women’s shot put, final |
| Women’s 800m, semifinals | Men’s 400m, round 1 |
| Mixed 4×400 relay, final | — |
| Women’s 100m, final | — |
Sunday, Aug. 1
| Morning | Evening |
| Men’s high jump, final | Men’s hammer throw, qualification |
| Men’s 100m, semifinal | Women’s 1500m, Round 1 |
| Women’s 100m hurdles, semifinal | Men’s long jump, final |
| Women’s triple jump, final | Women’s 200m, Round 1 |
| Men’s 800m, semifinal | Women’s 100m hurdles, final |
| Men’s 400m hurdles, semifinal | — |
| Men’s 100m, final* | — |
Monday, Aug. 2
| Morning | Evening |
| Women’s pole vault qualifying | Men’s triple jump qualifying |
| Women’s 200m, semifinal | Men’s 1500m, Round 1 |
| Women’s discus throw, final | Women’s javelin throw qualifying |
| Men’s 400m, semifinal | Women’s 400m, Round 1 |
| Women’s 400m hurdles, semifinal | Women’s long jump, final |
| Men’s 3000m steeplechase, final | Men’s 200m, Round 1 |
| Women’s 5000m, final | Men’s 400m hurdles, final |
Tuesday, Aug. 3
| Morning | Evening |
| Men’s 100m hurdles, Round 1 | Men’s decathlon, 100m |
| Men’s shot put qualifying | Men’s javelin throw qualifying |
| Men’s pole vault, final | Women’s heptathlon, 100m hurdles |
| Men’s 5000m, Round 1 | Men’s decathlon, long jump |
| Women’s hammer throw, final | Women’s heptathlon, high jump |
| Men’s 200m, semifinal | Men’s 110m hurdles, semifinals |
| Women’s 800m, final | Women’s 400m hurdles, final |
| Women’s 200m, final | Men’s decathlon, shot put |
Wednesday, Aug. 4
| Morning | Evening |
| Men’s decathlon, high jump | Women’s high jump qualifying |
| Women’s 1500m, semifinal | Women’s heptathlon, long jump |
| Women’s heptathlon, shot put | Men’s decathlon, discus throw |
| Women’s 400m, semifinal | Women’s 4×100 relay, Round 1 |
| Women’s 3000m steeplechase, final | Men’s triple jump, final |
| Men’s hammer throw, final | Men’s shot put, final |
| Women’s heptathlon, 200m | Men’s 4×100 relay, Round 1 |
| Men’s 800m, final | Men’s 110m hurdles, final |
| Men’s decathlon, 400m | Women’s heptathlon, javelin throw |
| Men’s 200m, final | Men’s decathlon, pole vault |
Thursday, Aug. 5
| Morning | Evening |
| Men’s 20km race walk | Men’s 50k race walk |
| Men’s decathlon, javelin throw | — |
| Women’s pole vault, final | — |
| Women’s 4×400 relay, round 1 | — |
| Men’s 1500m, semifinal | — |
| Men’s 400m, final | — |
| Women’s heptathlon, 800 | — |
| Men’s decathlon, 1500m | — |
Friday, Aug. 6
| Morning | Evening |
| Women’s 20km race walk | Women’s marathon |
| Men’s 4x400m relay, Round 1 | — |
| Women’s javelin throw, final | — |
| Men’s 5000m, final | — |
| Women’s 400m, final | — |
| Women’s 1500m, final | — |
| Women’s 4x100m relay, final | — |
| Men’s 4x100m relay, final | — |
Saturday, Aug. 7
| Morning | Evening |
| Women’s high jump, final | Men’s marathon |
| Women’s 10,000m, final | — |
| Men’s javelin throw, final | — |
| Women’s 4x400m relay, final | — |
| Men’s 4x400m relay, final | — |
