La vasque: How to see the Paris balloon this summer
It will stay anchored in central Paris until September 14th, 2025 and will remain a summer tradition until the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
The giant balloon was first seen during the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, when it rose into the sky carrying the Olympic flame and officially launched the Games - although due to a clever design the 'flame' is actually water vapour.
Now it's back - as per last summer it will be anchored at ground level in the Tuileries gardens during the day, and will rise up into the sky at sunset.
Advertisement
The takeoff time will change throughout summer as the days get shorter.
It will rise at 10.30pm in June and July, then at 9.30pm in August, and at 8.30pm in September. The balloon will stay lifted until around 2am each night.
Paris' City Hall recommends watching the balloon go up from five locations: Place du Carrousel, the banks of the Seine (between Paris Mint and the National Assembly), the Champs-Élysées, Rue de Rivoli, and the square of the Sacré Cœur in Montmartre.
During the day it is moored on the ground at the Place du Carrousel - this is open to visitors from 10am to 9pm and unlike last summer no tickets are required.
The balloon's scheduled ascent and descent times are available at vasqueparis2024.fr along with any weather-related cancellations or changes to the schedule.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
14 hours ago
- France 24
Wanyonyi, the former cattle herder ready to eclipse Rudisha
Rudisha set the world record of 1min 40.91sec when he won gold at the 2012 London Games, one of the most iconic track and field moments in recent Olympic history. For the first time in more than a decade, there are a handful of middle distance stars seemingly capable of etching their own names as the event's leading light. At the heart of that pack is Wanyonyi, who at just 20 was crowned Olympic champion at last year's Paris Games, a year after sealing silver at the world championships in Budapest. Wanyonyi, who opened his season by bagging $100,000 for second (800m) and first (1,500m) places in the inaugural meet of Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track series in Jamaica, has notched up four victories on this season's Diamond League circuit. He now turns his focus on the 800m in Lausanne on Wednesday where four of the top six rated runners will be tracking him down: Canada's world champion and Paris silver medallist Marco Arop, the US pair of Bryce Hoppel and Josh Hoey, and Spain's Mohamed Attatoui. "Anyone right now can break the world record because the 800m right now is very competitive," Wanyonyi told journalists on Tuesday. "Anyone can run under 1:40: anyone, not just me. This (shoe) technology is very good for athletes. If you train well, you stay focused, you can manage to run very fast." Wanyonyi, a veritable poster boy for humility which he credits to his tough upbringing, added: "My body is different from Rudisha's. Rudisha is strong for the first lap and I am strong in the second lap. "I have better endurance than Rudisha, but I need to respect Rudisha because he ran under 1:42 seven times." Rudisha the friend Wanyonyi has himself run six sub-1:42.00 800m races, with a personal best of 1:41.11 set at last year's Lausanne Diamond League meet. It was a performance that consolidated his third-place position on the world all-time list, with only Rudisha and Wilson Kipketer above him. "Rudisha is my friend," said Wanyonyi, whose best this season is 1:41.44 in Monaco. "I remember the last time I saw him he told me, 'Now is your time to shine'. I told him I respected him. "I have time to improve, so I need to improve my personal best, then think about the world record." One of 12 children -- six boys and six girls -- Wanyonyi's route to international stardom was far from straightforward, starting with early mockery as running was not commonplace in his Luhya tribe. Family financial woes saw Wanyonyi taken out of primary school at the age of 10 to work as a cattle herder. That economic situation worsened when he lost his father in 2018, a tragedy that saw his mother and younger siblings move away. Wanyonyi, currently coached by Kenya-based Italian Claudio Berardelli, eventually returned to school and was spotted by youth coach Janeth Jepkosgei, the 2007 world 800m champion and 2008 Olympic silver medallist. He promptly won the 800m at the world under-20 championships in Nairobi in 2021 in 1:43.76. The Olympic title was won later that summer in Tokyo by his compatriot Emmanuel Korir in 1:45:06. A year later, Wanyonyi won his first Diamond League race aged 17 and finished fourth at the Eugene world championships, going on to win a first senior gold as part of Kenya's mixed relay at the world cross-country champs. Financial must "I started running because I come from a poor background," he said, having bought a plot of land on which he built a house for his mother and siblings after his world under-20s success. "I said (to myself that) I need to run. I need to be a champion one time because I need to help my family. I need money to help my siblings, my mother." The Olympic final, he said, had been a "lot of pressure" and after crossing the line and embracing his mother, he was left ruing the absence of his father. "I asked myself why is my father not alive? Because I need my father to see this race. I need my father to be there. All in all, I can say this was very bad for me," he said. As for next month's world championships, Wanyonyi was cagey, although he admitted he had been boosted by the experience of going through world and Olympic racing schedules. "I need to go there, try my best to reach the finals. Then anything can happen."
France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Social media hit Ilona Maher takes women's rugby onto new plane
Now the stage is set at the women's World Cup in England for the American to spark even more interest. The 29-year-old phenomenon has attracted over eight million followers on social media, not only through her sporting exploits but also for her promotion of body positivity. She played a pivotal role in the USA women's team winning a first ever Olympic medal, beating Australia in the third-place playoff in Paris last year. On the back of that achievement, Maher featured in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition and appeared in the US version of hit TV show "Dancing with the Stars", finishing runner-up. The Maher-fuelled improvement of the USA team attracted the attention of American investor Michele Kang who donated $4 million to help develop the USA Women's Rugby Sevens Team over four years. In another sport, Kang owns the Lyon women's football team, the eight-time European champions. Maher's days in Paris were not just spent playing rugby but also attracting even more followers with her pithy social media posts. She compared life in the Athletes' Village to a reality TV show, in one humorous posting saying she was there "looking for love", to which her friend replies: "No you are here to play rugby." In more reflective mode in Paris, she told the Bleacher Report one of her goals was trying to reassure "girls" that playing sport did not take away their "girliness". "What we're trying to show is the beauty that in sports you can be a badass on the field, you can be a beast on the field, but also be a beauty," she said. "It's really important for me because I want girls to see what their body is capable of. "It's not just to be looked at, objectified, but it's strong and it's fast, and it's brilliant." Maher, who through her body positivity push has become a brand ambassador for a deodorant and a skincare product she co-founded, revels in her global popularity and being "America's sweetheart." "I love when people call me that because I feel like I'm maybe not the image you would have of a sweetheart in some sense of the word,' Maher told CNN in January this year. "I'm honoured." 'Tone down' Maher, who hails from Vermont, may be extrovert and cheerful but she keeps her ego in check by showing appreciation to those women sports stars who paved the way for her. Hamm, her fellow American and a groundbreaking football superstar of the 1990s and early noughties, a two-time Olympic and World Cup winner, features high on the list. "I remember in our gym we always had a poster of Mia Hamm, and that was always cool to look up to her," Maher told the Bleacher Report. Closer to home, though, she is part of a tight-knit family unit, with her father Michael, a keen rugby player who introduced her to the sport, Netherlands-born mum Mieneke and sisters Olivia and Adrianna. Elder sister Olivia has a considerable social media presence herself. From her father Ilona not only learned about rugby but also a crucial life lesson when he defended her at a softball event. One of the other dads complained that Maher's pitches were unhittable but he was put in his place by Maher senior. "I think that was the first moment of being told to never tone it down," she told CNN. "Because that dad over there … wanted me to tone myself down so that it could be easier for (his daughter). "But that's not the world, is it? The world isn't going to tone down for you." Instead Maher has upped the ante and the fruits for women's rugby have been plentiful as New Zealand legend Portia Woodman-Wickliffe told AFP. "Having someone from America with that American market who is very confident, loves rugby, loves supporting women's bodies, someone as vocal as that is amazing for us," Woodman-Wickliffe said.
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Thompson eclipses Lyles and Hodgkinson makes stellar comeback
A host of world and Olympic champions headlined by the likes of Karsten Warholm -- with an incredible performance in the 400m hurdles -- Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis, Faith Kipyegon and Femke Bol shone in hot and humid conditions in front of more than 40,000 fans in the Polish city of Chorzow. In their first meeting since Lyles won Olympic gold by just five-thousandths of a second in Paris last year, Thompson made an electric start and led from gun to tape for victory in 9.87sec. "My job is to get the job done," said Thompson. "I enjoyed competition against Noah today... nobody is perfect, but I am working on improving my strengths and improving on my weaknesses. "Paris last year was a big learning factor. I learned it is me against myself." Lyles had to be content with second in 9.90sec as the athletes fine-tune preparations for the September 13-21 world championships in Tokyo. "It makes me really excited for not only today, but also for next week and Tokyo," the American said. "The more I run, the better I am getting. I get more excited each day and it is working. I need to keep competing." There was a timely return for Hodgkinson as the 23-year-old Briton showed no sign of the lingering hamstring problems that had sidelined her for months as she clocked 1min 54.74sec, the fastest in the world this year. "I was just happy to step on the track after more than a year," Hodgkinson said. "I planned to run a fast time because I don't have five races anymore before Tokyo, I only have today and the meeting in Lausanne next week. So it had to be fast and I'm happy that it worked." Kenya's serial world record breaker Kipyegon missed out on the long-standing world record in the women's 3,000m. Six weeks after improving her own world 1,500m record in Eugene, Kipyegon clocked 8:07.04 over the non-Olympic distance, falling just short of the 8:06.11 world record set by China's Wang Junxia in 1993. "I am so happy. I wanted to run a longer distance," Kipyegon said. "It is all about Tokyo now, but Tokyo is a championship race, so anything can happen!" Blistering Warholm Warholm looked in astonishing form in the 400m hurdles after a two-month training block at home in Norway, timing a world-leading time of 46.28sec. It was the third fastest time ever run over the distance, topped only by the Norwegian's own world record of 46.28sec and American Rai Benjamin's 46.19sec. "That race was great! I had great rhythm and speed throughout," said Warholm. Dutch star Femke Bol comfortably extended her six-race win streak in the women's 400m hurdles this year with victory in 51.91sec -- another world-leading time. Duplantis, fresh from setting his 13th pole vault world record with 6.29m in Budapest on Tuesday, failed to hit those heights but secured victory in 6.10m, having failed three attempts at 6.20. World leader Melissa Jefferson-Wooden equalled Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's meet record when she clocked 10.66sec for an impressive victory in the women's 100m. World champion Sha'Carri Richardson could only finish sixth after a troubled few weeks following her arrest for a violent altercation with her partner. Jamaica's two-time world champion Shericka Jackson claimed the honours in the 200m in 22.17sec as she powers back to form. Cordell Tinch left it late, but the in-form American powered past three-time world champion Grant Holloway for a third victory this season in the 110m hurdles in 13.03sec. Olympic champion Masai Russell came out on top of a stacked field in the 100m hurdles in a Diamond League record of 12.19sec ahead of American teammate Tonea Marshall. "This win is very important to me becaue these are the women I'm going to be racing against at the world champs," said Russell. Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic edged Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser for victory in 49.18sec in the women's 400m and Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay outpaced Kenya's Beatrice Chebet for the win in the women's 1500m in 3:50.62. © 2025 AFP
