For one weekend in late April, all eyes are on Franklin Field.
Franklin Field’s historic significance cannot be understated. But for three days in April, it is the home to an estimated upwards of 100,000 spectators and 15,000 participants for the illustrious Penn Relays.
That’s just in a normal year. But 2024 is no normal year for Penn Relays.
On Dec. 5, 2023, Steve Dolan, the Frank Dolson Director of Penn Relays, announced that Penn Relays 2024 will feature the Global Relays.
The Global Relays will feature teams composed of multiple of the nation’s best athletes competing in the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relays for both men and women. As of publication, over 12 teams have verbally expressed intent to the Penn Relays team to send their national relay teams for these events. The events are slated to feature several of the best relay teams in the world, including teams that competed in the 2021 Olympic finals and the most recent World Championships.
“We are honored to build on the rich history by providing an opportunity for international relay teams and individuals to compete as they prepare for the World Relays and Olympic Games this year,” Dolan said in a press release.
However, the Global Relays are not a new concept to Penn Relays. In fact, it is essentially the newest installment of a long-beloved event: United States vs. the World.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the final day of Penn relays consistently pitted the Red, White, and Blue’s greatest against their international peers in several relay events for both men’s and women’s for 20 years. Though going up against several countries, it often felt like U.S. vs. Jamaica. Every year, Jamaican fans make the pilgrimage to Philadelphia where they proudly wave their flag and try to outshout the host nation’s cries of "U-S-A! U-S-A!"
The most iconic rendition of U.S. vs. the world took place in 2010. The 4x100m relay saw a Jamaica team touting Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, defeat the rest of the world in one of Penn Relays’ greatest moments in its 128-year history.
But the world’s greatest are not coming to Penn Relays to solely entertain the crowd. Rather, Penn Relays now provides higher stakes in terms of international ranking and competition.
On March 11, World Athletics officially elevated Penn Relays to Silver status for the Olympic Development events and Global Relays. Now, athletes will get more World Athletics points for their performance throughout the weekend. These points are crucial for not only world ranking but also for Olympic Games qualification.
To qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, track & field athletes can qualify in one of two ways: achieving the entry standard for an event within the qualification period or through their World Athletics Ranking within the ranking period. For almost all the individual events, the qualification and ranking period started on July 1, 2023, and will end on June 30. For relays, the qualification and ranking period started on Dec. 31, 2022, and will also end on June 30. With Penn Relays situated so close to the end of these periods, athletes will be making their push for qualification.
Additionally, a week after Penn Relays is the World Athletics Relays. The championship will take place in Nassau in the Bahamas, the main Olympic qualifying event for relays. The timing means that Penn Relays will serve as the last opportunity to finetune their relays teams before countries make their last pushes for the Olympics. With a trip to Paris on the line, so much is at stake this year at Penn Relays.
The road to Paris runs through Philadelphia this year. It is only a question of who will be at the starting line when the starting gun fires.
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