A special 2,024 metres mass participation race is to be held in Paris on June 23 - Olympic Day ©Getty Images

A special 2,024 metres mass participation race is set to be the highlight of Olympic Day celebrations in Paris later this month. 

The event over the symbolical distance on June 23 is designed to "remotivate Parisians and the entire French audience for the Olympics that are coming," Paris City Hall Deputy Mayor for Sports Pierre Rabadan Le Parisien.

“[The] Paris Olympics will start in the autumn, after the Tokyo Paralympics.

"We wished to aim at a public as wide as possible, adults, children."

The race is scheduled to start from Pont d'Iéna, the bridge which links the Eiffel Tower on the Left Bank to the district of Trocadéro on the Right Bank, to the Temporary Grand Palais that has been constructed on the Champ-de-Mars until the end of Paris 2024.

Runners in the special 2,024 metres race will have to follow strict COVID-19 protocols ©Getty Images
Runners in the special 2,024 metres race will have to follow strict COVID-19 protocols ©Getty Images

The event will be open to anyone that registers on the official Paris 2024 website.

Due to COVID-19, special measures will be in place, including runners being set off in waves of 500 from 2pm to 7pm.

Participants are required to stay two metres apart and face masks must be worn.

The event will be the centrepiece of the annual Olympic Day celebrations held to mark the birth of Baron Pierre Coubertin, founder of the Modern Olympics.

But there will be the opportunity for people to come and try other Olympic and Paralympic sports.