WCH Tokyo 25 Medal Design Selection Committee
On 25 September 2024, WCH Tokyo 25’s Medal Design Selection Committee held a meeting to select the standout medal design for next year’s Championships.
The Medal Design Selection Committee is chaired by Gen Matsuzaki, a professor at the Department of Design at Chiba Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Engineering. He is joined by six additional members, including Shin Azuma, a professor at the Department of System Design at Hosei University, and Miyuki Tamai, CEO of Feel Good Creation Inc. The committee also features four young athletes, whose fresh perspectives enriched the selection process.
World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 competetors, Yukiko Umeno (Women 20km race walk, Juntendo University) and Maki Saito (Women discus throw, Tokai University), JAAF Diamond Athlete, Rui Kitada (Men pole vault, Nippon Sport Science University), and World Athletics Relay Bahamas 24 competitior, Souta Miwa (4x100 meters relay, Keio University), collaborated with experts to select a medal design that they themselves would be proud to compete for.
(From left to right: Lui Kitada, Maki Saito, Miyuki Tamai, Gen Matsuzaki, Shin Azumi, Yukiko Umeno, Souta Miwa)
The medal design process began in July 2024, following interviews with junior athletes. Ryo Nakagawa, Brand Director and creator of the WCH Tokyo 25 official logo, crafted three medal design proposals inspired by his own works. During the meeting, the Medal Design Selection Committee reviewed the options and selected a design that is sure to inspire athletes to claim it as their own.
Expressing his enthusuasm towards the project, Brand Director Ryo Nakagawa stated, “I presented 3 medal designs selected through discussion from the 10 medal designs I created. From the time I designed the logo, I had an image in my mind of what kind of event I wanted the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 to be, and what kind of beautiful design I wanted everything to be”.
Chairman of the Medal Design Selection Committee, Gen Matsuzaki commented on the decision process, “The three proposals presented were all of a high degree of perfection, each showing the skill and thought of the designers, and each giving a sense of Japan and Tokyo”.
He added, “We received encouraging feedback from the athletes, who expressed that seeing the medals in person and being part of the selection process has increased their motivation to win one at next year’s Championships”.
(From left to right: Lui Kitada, Maki Saito, Yukiko Umeno, Souta Miwa)
The official WCH Tokyo 25 medal will soon enter the production stage, and the LOC is eager to present athletes with a medal design that reflects their passion and enthusiasm towards the Tokyo Championships
The selected medal design is scheduled to be unveiled on Thursday, 5 June 2025, marking 100 days to go until the Championships
