Power ranking every single sport at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics

16. Track (Relay Events)

There are three very definitive racing events on track, and we decided it was best to give them each their own ranking. There’s hurdles and individual races, which will come later in this list. This isn’t to disparage the relay race at all. All being in the top 20 is amazing. A straight up race is what the Olympics is made for. It’s the ultimate test of speed, one of the core talents tested at the Olympic Games.

The relay is obviously a team event. It usually takes a set of four of the greatest sprinters a country can deliver running the same race. The most popular race is the 4x100. It goes so flipping fast. And it’s always clear which team is going to get hurt by a weak link. 

That’s the one drawback of the relay, but it’s the reality of the situation. Teams are only as strong as their weakest link. If a team has three Usain Bolts on the team, but then Conan O’Brien as the fourth, they are going to lose the race (no offense, Conan). It’s not always a good measure of the best. Four great runners can sometimes beat out two fantastic runners.