What you need to know 100 days until the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics
USA TODAY Sports’ Nancy Armor breaks down everything you need to know as the Milan-Cortina game approaches.
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The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles is still more than two-and-a-half years away, but organizers have announced that the first night of Olympic medal competition will open with the women’s 100m track final, rather than the men’s, making an important statement in the world of sport’s continued progress towards women’s equality. The men’s 100 final is traditionally run first and is held the following night.
“It’s so important to not only talk about equality, but to be able to actually demonstrate it in a really powerful way, and there’s no bigger stage than the first day of the Olympics with the women’s 100-meter final,” Olympic gold medalist and World Athletics Federation president Sebastian Coe said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports, which will be the first to report news of the 2028 Olympic competition schedule. Ticket registration will open in January 2026 at LA28.org.
LA28 Chief Athlete Officer and Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans said it is incredible that the women’s 100 meters will be the standout event at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics on the first night of competition at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
And U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalist Shakari Richardson said the road to LA28 “is going to be something special.”
“This is especially true for women’s sprinting,” Richardson said in a text message sent by a World Athletics spokesperson. “Talent, energy and competition…all will shine brightly. Watch the first day of the Los Angeles Games. I want to achieve some personal goals and do my part to help the sport continue to grow and inspire the next generation in the United States and around the world.”
The LA Olympics will begin on July 14, 2028 with the Opening Ceremony, with the first medal event, the women’s triathlon, to be held the following day at the Venice Beach Zone. Later that night, the women’s 100 final will take place inside the historic Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
To keep to this schedule, three rounds of the women’s 100m must be held on the same day, July 15th, a first for an Olympic Games. The first round for men will be held on July 15th, followed by the semi-finals and finals on July 16th.
Coe and Evans said players and coaches were consulted before the decision was made.
“Running three 100 meters a day was one of the things we talked about,” Evans said. “As an athlete, how does that make you feel mentally and physically? What does that mean? And we took that question very seriously when we talked to the LA28 athlete committee and the World Athletics athlete committee. I think there was excitement when it was presented to me. And to a small number of naysayers, the majority of athletes told me, just let me know, right? Let me know early on what this is going to be and I’ll start training.’ It is possible to run three 100 meters in a day, you just need to create a training schedule. ”
Typically, swimming is held in the first week of the Summer Olympics and track and field in the second week, but there is no reason other than logistics why these two Olympic giants will be swapped in 2028. The opening ceremony will be held at SoFi Stadium, where the swimming competition will also be held. Renovations to the venue will take several days, forcing swimming to be postponed to the second week of the Games for the first time since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
According to LA28, the LA Olympics will feature a record number of female athletes, with 50.5% of total athlete spots going to women in 51 sports at the Games. This continues the Olympic push for equal participation and pay for female athletes, culminating in the appointment of Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry, the first female president, to head the International Olympic Committee.
Full schedule for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
The Los Angeles Olympics will be the largest in history, with 51 events taking place at 49 venues in the Los Angeles area and Oklahoma City. The Olympic Opening Ceremony will be held on July 14, 2028 at 8:00 PM ET, and the Closing Ceremony will be held on the 16th day, July 30, 2028 at 9:00 PM ET. Here is the complete list of events by date and time:
