World governing physique president says innovation stays huge a part of his technique as newest council assembly additionally approves 4x100m blended relay and new race strolling distances
World Athletics president Seb Coe says the governing physique will proceed to discover alternatives to innovate in 2025 following a profitable Olympic 12 months, though he warns: “Change is tough however we all know tips on how to do it.”
Latest months have seen a number of main occasions, world data and the Paris Olympics, however work is already underway to stage a World Athletics Final Championships in 2026 in Budapest and different concepts embody a doable world championships for treadmill working.
“It has been a incredible 12 months for our sport with some jaw-dropping performances, robust fan progress and engagement, distinctive broadcast and media protection, and, after all, the Netflix collection which thrust athletics into the centre of mainstream leisure,” stated Coe, talking on the shut of the 236th World Athletics Council Assembly in Monaco.
“We hit the No.1 Olympic sport spot once more, with the most important broadcast attain of any Olympic sport.”
He added: “I consider our sport is stronger than it has ever been, and we have to capitalise on this. At the beginning of this 12 months, the primary 12 months of our new four-year strategic plan Pioneering Change, we added a fifth pillar: innovation. We made it a key precedence in 2024 and now we have had some vital success, however extra must be finished with a way of urgency. We have to sustain the momentum.
“Change is tough, however we all know tips on how to do it. By working in shut collaboration with our athletes and stakeholders, and solely implementing the most well-liked and totally examined new ideas, now we have a rare alternative, proper now, to make a robust and rising sport stronger and much more common.”
Blended relay motion (Getty)
Selections made on the newest council assembly embody the blended 4x100m being added to the programme for the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou on Might 10-11 subsequent 12 months.
There are new official distances for race walks, too, with half-marathon and the marathon changing 20km and 35km. “It makes it extra relatable for most individuals to grasp,” says Coe, who added the modifications come into impact from January 1 in 2026.
(Getty)
Linked to this, race walks on the World Below-20 Championships will shift from 10,000m to 5000m.
The World Cross Nation Championships may also transfer from ‘even years’ to ‘odd years’ after the 2026 occasion in Tallahassee.
World Cross U20 begin (Getty)
Coe was additionally happy to announce that the council had taken eight international locations from the competitors manipulation watch record. They embody: Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
Lastly, World Athletics says it desires to increase safeguarding measures within the sport with campaigning in opposition to gender-based violence as a precedence.
Coe stated: “I’m notably inspired by our athletes’ dedication to deal with the topic of gender-based violence as a precedence and the discussions on the function that World Athletics can play to deal with it.”
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