Olympic Q-Series 2028 gets its sports programme: four cities and six sports on the road to the Los Angeles Games
The International Olympic Committee has confirmed the sports programme for the Olympic Q-Series 2028, an expanded qualification format that, during the final months before the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, will connect four cities, six sports and a large number of direct opportunities to secure Olympic quota places. The series will be held in Tokyo, Shanghai, Montreal and Orlando during May and June 2028, with each stop lasting four days and hosting four sports. According to the IOC announcement of 8 July 2026, the overall programme includes 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, sport climbing, flag football and skateboarding. The organisers do not merely want to create a succession of qualification tournaments, but an international sporting and cultural event in which elite competition will be combined with music, art and activities intended for a broader, particularly younger audience.
The Olympic Q-Series is a continuation and significant expansion of the Olympic Qualifier Series held in 2024 ahead of the Paris Games. At that time, athletes competed in Shanghai and Budapest in BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding and sport climbing, while the Los Angeles edition will include twice as many cities and a more varied combination of individual and team sports. When presenting the host cities in May 2026, the IOC stated that the series should become one of the central pillars of the qualification process for LA28. This does not mean that the rules will be identical in all six sports: the final number of quota places, scoring methods and the relationship between the Q-Series and other qualification competitions will be determined by the international federations within their own systems.
Tokyo opens the series, while Orlando hosts the finale
The first stop will take place in Tokyo from 4 to 7 May 2028. The Japanese capital will host 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle, sport climbing and skateboarding in the park and street disciplines. The choice of Tokyo carries strong sporting symbolism because it was at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 that 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle, sport climbing and skateboarding entered the Olympic programme for the first time. The Q-Series will therefore bring back to the city the sports that received a global Olympic stage there several years ago, but this time in a format focused on qualification and more direct contact between spectators and athletes.
Only one week later, from 11 to 14 May, the series moves to Shanghai. Competitions in 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle and sport climbing will be held there. Shanghai is not a new host for this concept: in May 2024, the city organised the first stop of the inaugural Olympic Qualifier Series. The return to the Chinese metropolis shows that the IOC wants to develop a model that has already been tested in a major urban centre, with competition venues arranged so that sport, entertainment programming and visitor activities form a unified whole.
After the Asian section, there will be a two-week break, followed by a move to North America. From 1 to 4 June 2028, Montreal will host flag football, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle and skateboarding in the park discipline. When presenting the calendar, the IOC highlighted the return of an international Olympic event to the Montreal Olympic Park area, which is connected to the legacy of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. In this way, one of Canada's most recognisable Olympic locations gains a new role in the qualification process for Games that will be held on the other side of the continent more than half a century later.
The final stop is scheduled for Orlando from 8 to 11 June 2028. The city in the US state of Florida will host flag football, beach volleyball, sport climbing and skateboarding in the park discipline. Orlando will therefore conclude the series just over a month before the beginning of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which according to the official plan are scheduled from 14 to 30 July 2028. This proximity in time will further increase the competitive pressure, as the Q-Series will represent one of the final opportunities for some athletes to secure a place on the world's greatest sporting stage.
- Tokyo, 4–7 May 2028: 3x3 basketball, BMX freestyle, sport climbing, skateboarding park and street
- Shanghai, 11–14 May 2028: 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, sport climbing
- Montreal, 1–4 June 2028: flag football, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, skateboarding park
- Orlando, 8–11 June 2028: flag football, beach volleyball, sport climbing, skateboarding park
One series, but different qualification systems
The IOC describes the Olympic Q-Series as a key qualification pathway towards LA28, with the possibility of securing direct quota places immediately before the start of the Games. However, the phrase "one series" should not be interpreted as a single set of competition rules for all sports. 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, BMX freestyle, climbing, flag football and skateboarding have different season structures, rankings, continental competitions and criteria for allocating places. The Q-Series will bring them together under a shared organisational and media framework, while the sporting rules and distribution of quota places will remain under the authority of the relevant international federations.
This is particularly important for understanding the role of the individual stops. Participation at one location will not necessarily have the same significance in every sport, nor will all places for Los Angeles be allocated exclusively through this series. World Climbing has announced that the Q-Series climbing competitions will be held in Tokyo, Shanghai and Orlando, while Montreal is not part of the climbing programme. According to information from that federation, some Olympic places will be allocated through competitions in 2027, including world and continental championships, while the Q-Series will then award the remaining quota places in the boulder and lead disciplines and in speed climbing.
A similar difference exists in skateboarding. World Skate has confirmed that Tokyo will host park and street, while Montreal and Orlando will stage park competitions. The federation states that the Q-Series will be part of the second phase of qualification and that other competitions of equal points value will be added alongside the three stops in the process towards LA28. Such a structure reduces the possibility of an entire season being decided during a single weekend, but at the same time increases the importance of consistent results and precise timing of peak form.
3x3 basketball will be featured in Tokyo and Shanghai. The International Basketball Federation has confirmed that the Q-Series is the final qualification pathway for the discipline, giving the Asian stops particularly high competitive stakes. The allocation of places will follow separate FIBA rules, but both stops will have a direct impact on the final composition of the Olympic tournament.
Flag football enters an Olympic qualification event for the first time
The greatest novelty in the programme is flag football, a non-contact variant of American football that will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028. Instead of tackling an opponent, a defensive player stops the play by removing a flag attached to the belt of the player carrying the ball. LA28 describes the sport as a fast and dynamic format played over two 20-minute halves on a field 70 yards long. Its inclusion in the Q-Series in Montreal and Orlando gives the new Olympic sport an important international stage before its first appearance at the Games.
The IOC approved flag football, together with baseball and softball, T20 cricket, sixes lacrosse and squash, as additional sports for LA28 at its 2023 Session. Its inclusion in the Q-Series shows that the organisers do not want to wait until the Games themselves to give the new sport wider visibility. The competitions in Canada and the United States should help audiences become familiar with the rules, national teams and players, while also testing how flag football fits into a festival-style multi-sport event.
At the same time, the schedule emphasises a balanced relationship between new and already established disciplines. Beach volleyball brings a recognisable Olympic team sport with a long international tradition, 3x3 basketball has rapidly built its own global identity, while BMX freestyle, climbing and skateboarding remain among the disciplines that the IOC particularly associates with urban environments and younger fans. Combining these sports should enable each stop to attract different groups of spectators instead of relying only on the audience of a single discipline.
The 2024 model grows into a global qualification festival
The first edition of the Olympic Qualifier Series was held in 2024 in Shanghai and Budapest as the final qualification stage for Paris 2024 in four sports. According to Olympics.com data, 464 athletes took part in the series and 158 Olympic quota places were awarded: 20 in breaking, 12 in BMX freestyle, 88 in skateboarding and 38 in sport climbing. Following the finale in Budapest, the IOC reported that approximately 60,000 spectators attended over the four days at that location alone, while coverage of the series was available through television or digital platforms in 128 territories. These results served as an argument for expanding the concept to four cities and six sports.
The 2028 edition, however, will not be a simple copy of the previous format. Breaking, which was part of the 2024 series and the Olympic programme in Paris, is not among the six confirmed sports for the Q-Series ahead of Los Angeles. It is being replaced by three team disciplines: 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball and flag football. This changes the rhythm of the event, the logistics of the competitions and the audience profile, while giving the series a broader range extending from individual performances and national-team contests to sports in which the qualification standings are built through multiple appearances.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry said when presenting the host cities that the aim is to increase athlete visibility and global fan engagement. She summarised the series with the formula "one format, four stops, six sports", emphasising that spectators should be close to the action, accompanied by a festival atmosphere, music and culture. Such an approach is consistent with the broader strategy of the Olympic Movement to ensure that qualification does not remain merely a technical stage known to specialist followers of an individual sport, but becomes a standalone international product with a clear calendar and recognisable identity.
For athletes, greater visibility could have a tangible effect. Qualification competitions often carry the same or even greater psychological weight than the final Olympic appearance, but receive less media coverage. A shared event enables combined broadcasts, easier tracking of results and a greater sponsor presence, while spectators can discover several disciplines on the same day. At the same time, concentrating key decisions in several major cities increases organisational demands, travel costs and the need for careful coordination of international federation calendars.
Host cities connect Olympic history and new markets
The selection of hosts combines different Olympic experiences. Tokyo will once again present four sports that made their Olympic debuts at the 2020 Games, Shanghai returns as the starting point of the 2024 concept, Montreal contributes the legacy of the 1976 Games, while Orlando takes the series towards its conclusion in the host country of LA28.
The geographical schedule is divided into two compact blocks. Tokyo and Shanghai will hold competitions in consecutive weeks in May, while Montreal and Orlando will do so in consecutive weeks in June. This schedule makes it easier to connect stops within the same continental section of the tour, but it presents international federations and teams with difficult decisions concerning travel, recovery and adaptation to time zones. Since not all sports are present in all four cities, individual athletes will have different paths through the series, ranging from a single key appearance to several competitions that jointly affect the standings.
For the host cities, the Q-Series is an opportunity for international promotion without organising a complete Olympic Games. The four-day format nevertheless requires coordination of venues, security, transport, accommodation, broadcasting and cultural activities. The extent to which the events will be accessible to a broad range of visitors will depend on ticket prices, venue capacities and the scope of programming available free of charge.
Details about tickets, broadcasts and schedules are still to come
Although the allocation of sports has now been confirmed, numerous practical questions have not yet been resolved publicly. The IOC has announced that information about ticket sales, television and digital broadcasts, and detailed schedules will be published at a later date. The final venues have not been announced for all stops, while the international federations continue to develop qualification systems, scoring methods and the number of places to be awarded through the Q-Series. Athletes, national federations and fans can therefore currently plan around the general dates and cities, but not complete day-by-day programmes.
The confirmed calendar nevertheless clearly demonstrates the IOC's ambition: qualification for Los Angeles 2028 should become a visible event in its own right, rather than merely a succession of separate tournaments scattered across different sporting seasons. The four stops are close enough to the Games for the results to carry immediate significance, but also early enough for national teams and individuals to complete their preparations for Los Angeles afterwards. For spectators, the Q-Series will offer a view of part of the new Olympic generation, from sports that have only been on the programme since Tokyo to flag football, which will award its first Olympic medal in 2028.
The success of the series will be measured on several levels. The most visible criteria will be the quality of competition and the clarity of the qualification process, but the IOC will also monitor attendance, digital reach, interest among younger audiences and the ability of hosts to connect sport with local culture without turning the event into a promotional spectacle that overshadows the athletes. The experience from 2024 showed that an audience exists, while the expanded edition will reveal whether the same concept can function across six very different sports and four major international markets. The first answer will come in Tokyo on 4 May 2028, while the final qualification picture will continue to take shape until the last stop in Orlando.
Sources:
- International Olympic Committee – confirmed sports and city-by-city schedule for the Olympic Q-Series 2028 (link)
- International Olympic Committee – announcement of the host cities, the role of the series in qualification and the statement by President Kirsty Coventry (link)
- Olympics.com – data on the inaugural Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 and Olympic quota places (link)
- International Olympic Committee – final data on the 2024 series, viewership and qualification for Paris 2024 (link)
- FIBA – the role of Tokyo and Shanghai in the final 3x3 basketball qualification pathway towards LA28 (link)
- World Climbing – confirmed stops and the framework for allocating Olympic places in sport climbing (link)
- World Skate – confirmed skateboarding stops and the role of the Q-Series in the second phase of qualification (link)
- LA28 – official description of flag football and confirmation of its Olympic debut in 2028 (link)
- International Olympic Committee – official dates of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 (link)