Olympics 2016: What time is the men's 100m athletics final?
Key dates and times for the big stars of Rio, including Usain Bolt, Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill
We're approaching the halfway mark in the Rio Olympics and that means it will soon be time to forget about the fencing and archery and focus on a sport that doesn't involve a pointy weapon, javelin excepted.
The athletics programmes begins with the men's discus on Friday, while the women heptathletes are also in action tomorrow, with medal hopes Jessica Ennis-Hill, the reigning champion, and Katarina Johnson-Thompson in action. Four years ago, Ennis-Hill was one of six British medallists in athletics, including four golds, so can Team GB match or improve that tally in Rio?
While the UK focuses on Team GB, the eyes of the world will be on arguably the most famous sportsman on the planet, Usain Bolt, as he goes for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic title in the 100m.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But what time will the action take place in the UK?
Women's Hepthathlon
Ennis-Hill was the face of the London 2012 Games and the Sheffield athlete lived up to the hype by winning one of three British golds on what became known as Super Saturday.
However, while the other two heroes from that night, distance-runner Mo Farah and long jumper Greg Rutherford, have continued to dominate their events, she has endured a rollercoaster few years. Motherhood and injury have limited Ennis-Hill's appearances in the arena, although she still won the World Championship title last year in Beijing.
One of her biggest rivals in Rio is likely to be fellow Brit Johnson-Thompson, who is in good form this season, although question marks remain about her temperament on the big stage.
Time: The competition begins 12 August with the 100m hurdles heats from 1.35pm. The morning session includes high jump, while the evening session, starting at 12.35am on Saturday, features shot put and 200m. Day two on 13 August begins with the long jump at 3.45pm and the final event, the 800m, is at 2.50am on Sunday.
Men's 5,000m and 10,000m
If Bolt is the king of the sprint, then Britain's Farah reigns over long-distance events. Victorious in the 5,000m and 10,000m in 2012, he has since pulled off similar feats in the 2013 and 2015 World Championships.
No Briton has ever won three Olympic golds in track and field - but Farah will need to be at his best to see off the threat from Ethiopia's Muktar Edris, Dejen Gebremeskel and Hagos Gebrhiwet in the 10,000m, while the 5,000m field also contains some top quality athletes from Africa.
Time: The 10,000m is Sunday 14 August at 1.25am and the 5,000m is on Sunday 21 August at 1.30am.
Men's Long Jump
He doesn't have the media profile of the Bolts and Farahs of the sporting world but few athletes have ruled their sport in the last four years the way Greg Rutherford has. The Olympic, Commonwealth, European and world champion has endured a disrupted season because of a severe ear infection yet is confident he can produce another superb performance when it matters.
"I know every time I go into a major people look at me as the one to beat and that's a great place for me to be," he said. "And I feel that, if I'm in a final, I'm always going to produce."
Rutherford's injury problems are reflected in his current world ranking of eighth, with a season's best of just 8.31m. Nevertheless, he believes he has what it takes to outjump Jeff Henderson, the US's great hope who earlier this summer posted an SB of 8.59m.
Time: The long jump final starts on Sunday 14 August at 12.53am
Women's Long Jump
Over in the women's competition, Shara Proctor is carrying the weight of expectation after taking silver at last year's World Championships and setting a new British record of 7.07m.
Crucial to the Anguillan-born athlete's chances are how she copes with the pressure of the Games, something she failed to do four years ago, when she finished ninth.
Proctor's stiffest challenge for the gold is expected to come from the US pair of Tianna Bartoletta, world champion last year, and Brittney Reese, who won the Team USA trial earlier in the summer.
Time: The final starts at 1.05am on Wednesday
Women's 400m
Veteran 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu was controversially selected for the individual event ahead of Anyika Onuora, who only made it to Rio as a member of the 4x400m relay squad despite beating Ohuruogu to the bronze in last month's European Championships final in Amsterdam. However, the Team GB selectors opted for the 2008 Olympic champion in the hope she can once again perform at the Games.
Ohuruogu, 32, who also won a silver in London four years ago, said of her inclusion: "I've shown I can do it. I have a month to prepare for Rio and I'm over the slump I had earlier in the season."
Time: The semi-finals are on Monday 15 August from 12.35am and the final in on Tuesday at 2.45am.
Men's 100m
Usain Bolt is already an athletics legend, but the big Jamaican stands on the cusp of sporting immortality. The 29-year-old Jamaican has his eyes on what he's calling the "Triple-Triple" – a third trio of golds from the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay to go with those he won at the 2008 and 2012 Games.
No sprinter has ever got close to achieving the feat and although Bolt hasn't been in the best form this season, the result of a minor hamstring tear earlier in the summer, he remains as bullish as ever.
"History is going to be made," he declared a few weeks ago. "I'm looking forward to going down there and doing my best and putting on a show for the whole world to see."
His biggest threat comes from the US's Justin Gatlin, who has twice been caught using banned substances. The American posted the world's fastest time of 9.80 seconds in winning the US trials this season, but most people will be shouting for Bolt.
Time: Heats at 4pm on Saturday and the final is on Monday 15 August at 2.25am
Men's 200m
The semi-finals begin at 2am on Thursday 18 August and the final is at 2.30am on Friday.
Men's 4x100m
The final will be at 2.35am on Saturday 20 August.
Other events to watch:
Women's 10,000m: 3.10pm, Friday 12 August. Team GB's 42-year-old European champion Jo Pavey will be hoping to win her first Olympic medal.
Women's shot put: 2am, Saturday 13 August. Valerie Adams of New Zealand will go for a third successive gold.
Women's 100m final: 2.37am, Sunday 14 August. Dafne Schippers will take on Shelly-Ann Fraser Price in one of the highlights of the women's schedule.
Men's 800m final: 2.25am, Tuesday 16 August. David Rudisha will defend the crown he won so spectacularly in London.
Women's 800m final: 1.15am, Sunday 21 August. Caster Semenya, who was forced to undergo gender testing in 2009, will be hoping to go one better than the silver she won in 2012.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Parker Palm Springs review: decadence in the California desert
The Week Recommends This over-the-top hotel is a mid-century modern gem
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The real story behind the Stanford Prison Experiment
The Explainer 'Everything you think you know is wrong' about Philip Zimbardo's infamous prison simulation
By Tess Foley-Cox Published
-
Is it safe for refugees to return to Syria?
Talking Point European countries rapidly froze asylum claims after Assad's fall but Syrian refugees may have reason not to rush home
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Paris Olympics: will it be a success?
Today's Big Question Organisers hope the 'spectacle' of the 2024 Games will lift the cloud of negativity that has hung over the build-up
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Gallery: Team GB medal hopes at the 2022 World Athletics Championships
In the Spotlight The worlds get underway at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon
By Mike Starling, The Week UK Published
-
Mo Farah reveals ‘astonishing truth’ about his real name
Speed Read Olympic champion illegally trafficked to UK and forced into domestic servitude as a child
By The Week Staff Published
-
Winter Olympics: ‘disaster averted’ for Team GB as curling stars win medals
feature Team GB finished a disappointing games with just two medals
By Mike Starling Published
-
The scandal that could tarnish Team GB
feature CJ Ujah protested his innocence after testing positive for two banned substances
By The Week Staff Published
-
Tokyo’s ‘grand human opera’: a tonic for a weary world
In Depth Despite widespread ambivalence and fear, the Olympic Games managed to bring us together and lift our spirits
By The Week Staff Published
-
Tokyo’s ‘grand human opera’: a tonic for a weary world
In Depth Despite widespread ambivalence and fear, the Olympic Games managed to bring us together and lift our spirits
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sky Brown: ‘I’m so stoked - I really hope I inspire some girls’
In the Spotlight A year after a horror fall the skateboarder, 13, becomes Britain’s youngest Olympic medallist
By Mike Starling, The Week UK Published