World
What is the repechage round? New track rule gives sprinters and hurdlers a second chance to qualify
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Dozens of hurdlers and sprinters will get a second chance at their once-in-a-lifetime moment thanks to a new rule at the Olympic track competition.
That’s the beauty of the repechage rounds.
Starting on Saturday at Stade de France, all hurdlers and runners in the 200 through 1,500 meter races will get another start if they don’t qualify in their opening heat.
Many athletes don’t want any part of the repechage rounds
Some have never heard of repechage. Others can’t pronounce it (reh-puh-SHAAJ).
Most agree: They want no part of it — unless something disastrous happens, of course.
“It’s kind of like a make-up quiz,” said Masai Russell, the 100-meter hurdles champion at the U.S. Olympic trials. “If it didn’t go right the first time, you could get it right the second time. That’s really good because I feel like with the hurdles especially, anything can happen. I think it’s a really great thing that they’re doing that.”
Russell quickly added, “but I’m not planning on using it, though.”
The repechage concept was taken from rowing, wrestling and martial arts
Based on a French word that literally means “second chance,” the word has taken on its own meaning when applied to sports — mostly rowing, sometimes wrestling or martial arts and, now, track.
In the past, runners who didn’t receive automatic spots into semifinals by finishing near the top of their first-round heats could back in if they were among a predetermined number of fastest times among the non-automatic qualifiers. They were referred to as “lucky losers.”
That means racers would finish and then watch the times of every other heat, hoping their time held up so they could advance. It could be confusing for fans.
Now, instead, anyone who doesn’t earn one of those automatic spots will line up for another race — the repechage round — to determine the final spots in the semis.
Repechage rule should make events more straightforward
When the repechage rule was passed in 2022, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe called it a change that will make “these events more straightforward for athletes and will build anticipation for fans and broadcasters.”
It’s a concept that might come in most handy for hurdlers, who have a higher likelihood of tripping and falling over a barrier, even in the early rounds when they’re taking it easy.
“I actually haven’t thought much about it,” American 400-meter hurdler and medal favorite Rai Benjamin said. “But I don’t have any plans to be in that heat, to be honest.”
Medal favorites who could have benefited from repechage
It certainly could’ve helped Jamaican 200-meter world champion Shericka Jackson at the 2021 Tokyo Games. A medal favorite, Jackson decelerated midway through her preliminary heat and by the time she realized others were gaining ground, she couldn’t speed back up. She finished fourth and didn’t get to run in the final.
Events that include the repechage round will go like this: First round, repechage round, semifinals, final. This ensures that athletes involved will have at least two chances to run on the track, instead of just one.
Hurdler Nia Ali, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, could’ve used a repechage at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon. She bumped the second-to-last hurdle and didn’t advance. Like that, she was finished. Under this sort of format, she could have worked her way back into medal contention.
“It’s good for fan engagement, which is very important,” Benjamin said.
A handful of events won’t get a repechage round
The change, however, does not impact the 100 meters because the larger number of qualifiers for that event already adds an additional “preliminary” round for some runners.
For distance events such as the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000, there are no repechage round because those athletes need more time to recover. The men’s and women’s 10,000 meters and marathons each stage only a final.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
new video loaded: Humpback Whale Stranded Off German Coast Is Freed by Rescuers
By Axel Boada
March 27, 2026
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A Russian man convicted of assaulting a woman in London in an attack witnessed by Barron Trump, President Donald Trump’s youngest son, on a video call was sentenced to four years in prison by a London court on Friday.
Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, an MMA fighter, was convicted by a jury on Jan. 28 of assault with bodily harm but was acquitted of rape and choking charges. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice stemming from a letter he sent the woman from jail asking her to retract her allegations.
After the assault, Rumiantsev admitted he was jealous of his girlfriend’s friendship with the 19-year-old son of President Donald Trump.
BARRON TRUMP REPORTEDLY SAVED WOMAN’S LIFE AFTER WITNESSING VIOLENT ASSAULT ON FACETIME CALL
Barron Trump attends inauguration ceremonies in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool/Getty Images)
“Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial,” Justice Joel Bennathan said. “You continue to try to blame the complainant for everything that has happened.”
Trump told investigators he had placed a late-night FaceTime call to the woman, whom he had met on social media, and had been startled when the call had been briefly answered by a shirtless man on Jan. 18, 2025.
“That view lasted maybe one second and I was racing with adrenaline,” Barron Trump said. “The camera was then flipped to the victim getting hit while crying, stating something in Russian.”
BARRON TRUMP SPOTTED ON NYU CAMPUS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE INAUGURATION
Barron Trump looks on ahead of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 2025. (KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Barron Trump called the police in London.
“It’s really an emergency … I’m calling from the U.S., uh, I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up,” he told an operator.
Police responded to the address and arrested Rumiantsev, a London-based receptionist.
At his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Rumiantsev was acquitted of rape and choking related to the attack, as well as a separate rape and assault allegation from November 2024.
His attorney, Sasha Wass, said that Trump wasn’t aware the woman had a boyfriend and questioned how much he could have seen in just a few seconds of video.
Barron Trump watches as his father, President Donald Trump attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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Trump never testified in the case. However, the judge praised him for his quick-thinking actions.
“Mr, Trump properly and responsibly, despite being in the United States, made sure the emergency services here were called, and he told them what he had seen,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on
EU lawmakers have overcome a key political hurdle in the negotiations of digital euro, making the project closer to approval, according to a draft text seen by Euronews.
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The Parliamentary rapporteurs involved in the legislation have found an agreement on the design of the digital euro, which will be able to function both online and offline.
The digital euro would be an electronic form of cash issued by the European Central Bank, designed to sit alongside banknotes and the payments services offered by commercial banks.
It has taken on new political weight as economic tensions between the EU and the US sharpen the debate over Europe’s reliance on American payment giants, such as Visa and Mastercard.
Under the European Commission’s proposal, digital euro users would have a wallet for both online and offline payments, with transactions designed so they are not trackable.
The situation in Parliament changed on Wednesday evening, when the centre-right politician Fernando Navarrete, who is the leading rapporteur on the file, announced the withdrawal of his position to reduce the scope of the digital euro to offline use only.
His position blocked the advancement of negotiations for months, jeopardising the whole legislative process, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.
The political deadlock has pushed EU leaders to accelerate progress on the digital euro. At the European Council meeting on 19 March, they set a goal to have the digital euro legislation approved by the end of 2026.
With the Council, representing EU countries, having already adopted its position, the European Parliament is now the only institution left to advance the law.
“Thanks to our amendments and firm stance, we have finally broken the political deadlock on the digital euro. The distinction between online and offline has been removed, and it is now established as a single payment system,” Pasquale Tridico, the rapporteur for The Left, told Euronews.
However, lawmakers still need to agree on two key aspects: the “hold limits” and the “compensation.”
The hold limits determine the maximum amount a user can store in a digital euro wallet, while compensation sets out a model for reimbursing commercial banks that provide digital euro services.
Although negotiations are not yet complete, the text is expected to be voted on in the Parliament’s economy committee before the summer, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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