World Athletics announce major change to events calendar

ATHLETICS World Athletics announce major change to events calendar

Abigael Wafula 08:33 - 29.02.2024

World Athletics president Seb Coe has announced that starting 2025, the outdoor season will end at the World Championships.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has announced that from 2025, the outdoor track and field season will end after the World Championships.

Coe was speaking during the 234th World Athletics Council Meeting on Wednesday night where he insisted that the move will ensure that there will be a more consistent global calendar.

Follow the Pulse Sports Kenya WhatsApp Channel for more news.

"This will create a season-long narrative that builds to the natural crescendo of the World Athletics Championships each year, while at the same time allowing for a more consistent global calendar to be established.

“Each season from 2025 onwards will end with the World Athletics Championships, meaning there is a clear season climax during a defined window in mid-September,” he said.

This means that all the track and field events like the Diamond League Meetings and Continental Tour will have to be concluded before the athletes head to the World Championships.

This move was embraced by World Athletics back in 2019, where the Diamond League Meeting final was held in Brussels, Belgium on September 6 before the World Championships which were staged from September 27 to October 6 in Doha, Qatar.

However, during the 2022 edition of the World Championships, things went back to normalcy, where the World Championships was staged from July 15 to 24 and the Diamond League Meeting final was held on September 7 and 8.

The same case happened during last year’s edition of the event where the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary happened before the Diamond League Meeting final.

Meanwhile, the move has attracted different reactions from track and field fans from across the globe.

Two-time winner of the Diamond League series Fred Kerley was among those who reacted to the new World Athletics change.

"So after world championships a lot of 1v1 . Exhibit. Matchup," said Fred Kerley.

One fan, Emmanuel Acho, commented on his X (Twitter) handle saying: “Finally, this makes all the sense in the world.

“The championship event should be the final competition in any sport. Imagine playing in the Super Bowl, then playing another regular season contest.”

Maximilian Thorwith said: “Starting this 2025 is also a very short time for DL, Gold Meets and basically the whole calendar to just change. I mean these contracts aren’t just made a week in advance.”

On his part, Paul Ternes asked: “Thought this was an April Fools joke but it is still February. What happens when someone wants to host a meet after the World Champs?”