Noelie Yarigo is no stranger to leading races.
It&rsquo;s because she has primarily focused her efforts on being a pacemaker on the international racing circuit in recent years. The middle-distance runner from Benin has built up a reputation as one of the best in the business, and can often be seen at the front of the pack in 800m and 1500m races on the Wanda Diamond League and Continental Tour.
Yarigo has played a key part in many record attempts and world-leading performances by the biggest names in the sport over the past few seasons, and it has been a rewarding experience &ndash; both financially and in terms of satisfaction.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s simple: I needed to earn a living,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;By pacing, I earned some money to spend in my daily life. Running PBs is great, of course, but I&rsquo;m also very keen on helping other athletes achieve superb performances.&rdquo;
But when she joined Valentin Anghel&rsquo;s training group last year, the Romanian coach persuaded Yarigo that she still has plenty of unfulfilled potential as a contender in her own right.
&ldquo;He told me, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re not pacing any more&rsquo;,&rdquo; Yarigo recalls with a laugh. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve put that role aside at least for some time to do my very best as an athlete.
&ldquo;My new coach has a different approach and my training sessions are quite different to what I used to do before; I&rsquo;m sure that has helped me a lot,&rdquo; added Yarigo. &ldquo;I have some training partners like Romania&rsquo;s Claudia Bobocea and my compatriot Soulatou Saka. I also think it&rsquo;s a matter of believing in yourself.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/642575015518fbec2f825879.jpg" alt="Noelie Yarigo in the 800m at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Madrid" />
Noelie Yarigo in the 800m at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Madrid (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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That&rsquo;s exactly what she has done in her races this year.
She opened her season in Val-de-Reuil, where she won the 800m with an indoor PB of 1:59.29. Just four days later, she lined up in Torun and stayed near the front of the pack for most of the race &ndash; not an unusual sight for someone who has been a prolific pacemaker. But this time, instead of stepping off the track at 400m or 600m, Yarigo held on for the duration and was only overtaken in the closing stages by Keely Hodgkinson.
The world and Olympic silver medallist won in 1:57.87, and Yarigo was second in 1:58.48 &ndash; an outright lifetime best and national record, and enough for second place on the 2023 world indoor list.
&ldquo;I wasn&rsquo;t surprised by my time in Torun,&rdquo; says Yarigo. &ldquo;I just believed in myself and tried to follow the pacemaker.&rdquo;
After her performance in Torun, she went on to finish third in Lievin and first in Madrid before bringing her season to a close in Birmingham with a 2:01.18 clocking. She feels her experience as a pacemaker is beneficial when racing as a competitor.
&ldquo;Whether I&rsquo;m pacing or racing, I like to be in the front because it means I can control the pace,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I have learned to do my own racing, to be a front-runner and not to fear being in the lead.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/642575545518fbec2f82587f.jpg" alt="Middle-distance runner Noelie Yarigo" />
Middle-distance runner Noelie Yarigo (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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<h2>Back from a break</h2>
Yarigo, who turned 37 at the end of last year, has been involved in athletics since the age of 10.
She represented her primary school in local races in her hometown of Natitngou, dreaming of becoming the next Maria Mutola, her idol at the time.
Her progression was promising and she set her first national 800m record in 2003 at the age of 17, reducing it to 2:11.61 in 2005 while still a teenager. But she then took a long break from the sport, and only returned in 2012 at the age of 26.
&ldquo;I simply was not in shape and I couldn&rsquo;t train regularly,&rdquo; she says of her long hiatus.
Within a year of getting back into the sport, Yarigo moved to the French city of Blois, where she finally had access to a good track as well as forest trails to train on.
Just one year later, Yarigo started to reap the rewards. She reached the 800m final at the African Championships, and reduced her national record several times throughout the season, taking it down to 2:00.51.
She made her global championships debut in 2015, competing at the World Championships in Beijing, and she broke the two-minute barrier for the first time in the heats of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, clocking 1:59.12.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6425756d5518fbec2f825882.jpg" alt="Noelie Yarigo in action at the 2017 Francophone Games" />
Noelie Yarigo in action at the 2017 Francophone Games (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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It was enough to advance to the semifinals, where she placed fifth in 1:59.78. Although she didn&rsquo;t quite reach the final, she already made history simply by lining up for the semifinals. No other athlete from Benin had ever advanced beyond the first round at an Olympic Games.
&ldquo;Rio was wonderful as they were my first Olympic Games,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I really enjoyed the experience because of the nice atmosphere and great hospitality.&rdquo;
<h2>Testing times in Tokyo</h2>
Five years later at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Yarigo hoped to improve on her Rio performance. She ran well in her heat, clocking a season&rsquo;s best of 2:00.11 to finish second, but she twisted her ankle just before crossing the line, which meant she wasn&rsquo;t at her best for the next round. She placed seventh in her semifinal in 2:01.41.
&ldquo;It was so heart-breaking for me,&rdquo; she recalls. &ldquo;I felt really disappointed as I had much more in my body and I couldn&rsquo;t prove it.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/642571e04a088c846850e5b1.jpg" alt="Noelie Yarigo in action at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Noelie Yarigo in action at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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The silver lining is that it has provided Yarigo with a huge source of motivation for the Paris Olympics. Although she will be 38 at the time of the Games, the seven-year break in her career essentially means her &lsquo;training age&rsquo; is a lot younger.
Yarigo&rsquo;s vast racing experience &ndash; having racked up an average of 25 races per season &ndash; could also work in her favour.
&ldquo;I love my sport, and athletics is all about competing and racing,&rdquo; she says.
After running 1:58 indoors, Yarigo hopes to run even faster outdoors, but she is reluctant to state what her time targets are.
&ldquo;I have no predictions,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I prefer to take things race by race and just enjoy what I do.&rdquo;
Her big goal for the year is to simply reach the 800m final at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
For the past five global championships &ndash; three World Championships and two Olympic Games &ndash; Yarigo has made it to the semifinals, but she is yet to reach a final. Everything she does this year will be focused around that goal.
&ldquo;This season I just want to work on lowering my times and giving my best in Budapest,&rdquo; she says.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/642575945518fbec2f825885.jpg" alt="Noelie Yarigo in the 800m at Decanation" />
Noelie Yarigo in the 800m at Decanation (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Most athletes who become pacemakers will do so either at the start of their career or towards the end. And while it&rsquo;s highly unusual for an athlete at this stage of their career to make the reverse move, Yarigo simply wants to make the most of her peak form.
&ldquo;Every process is a matter of ups and downs; that&rsquo;s life and that is sport,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy with my athletics journey and where I&rsquo;m now.&rdquo;
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics

Noelie Yarigo is no stranger to leading races.

From pacer to racer, Yarigo now targets individual success

When the 2023 World Athletics Championships gets under way in Budapest on 19 August, the sport will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first edition in Helsinki in 1983.
But without the work of a visionary Dutchman, the savvy of an English marketing man, and the drive of a dynamic Italian, in a time when a series of Olympic boycotts posed an existential threat, the World Athletics Championships may never have evolved to become the monument it is today.&nbsp;
It is hard to imagine the sporting calendar without the World Athletics Championships and much of the credit for initiating it goes to Adriaan Paulen, the Dutchman who was President of what was then the International Amateur Athletic Federation between 1976 and 1981.
&ldquo;The vision of taking the sport out of a pure amateur status was his,&rdquo; says Patrick Nally, a visionary sports marketer himself who worked closely with Paulen during his presidency.
After taking over from Britain&rsquo;s 1928 Olympic 400m hurdles champion Lord Burghley, who had held the presidency for 30 years, Paulen set about widening the competitive horizons and commercial possibilities for his sport.
Paulen, who was born in 1902, was a 400m and 800m runner who competed in three Olympic Games between 1920 and 1928. He also competed eight times in the Monte Carlo Rally and played football at international level. After the Second World War he received the US Medal of Freedom and the Netherlands&rsquo; highest military honour for his deeds working for the resistance against the Nazi occupation.
As Nally recalls, Paulen &ndash; who died in 1985 &ndash; drew upon his wide sports experience to frame a new future for track and field.
&ldquo;Seeing the development work in football, he wanted the same for athletics,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;He pioneered the World Cup of 1977 and the World Championships of 1983.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64241c3fa5244c638d8722f2.jpg" alt="Adriaan Paulen awards Steve Ovett with his 1500m gold medal at the 1978 European Championships in Prague" />
Adriaan Paulen awards Steve Ovett with his 1500m gold medal at the 1978 European Championships in Prague (&copy; Getty Images)
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Since 1913, the IAAF had regarded the Olympics as the world championships for athletics. But by the late 1960s a number of IAAF members were speculating about having their own global event, and at the 1976 IAAF Council meeting in Puerto Rico the idea of holding an athletics world championship separately from the Olympic Games was approved.
Following bids from Stuttgart and Helsinki, the IAAF Council eventually awarded the inaugural competition to the latter city, which had hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics, with staging to take place in 1983.
Two IAAF world championship events preceded the 1983 edition of the World Championships.
The 1976 &lsquo;World Championships&rsquo; consisted of one event, the men&rsquo;s 50km walk, which had been dropped from the Olympic programme for the Montreal Games. Four years later, the 1980 World Championships performed a similar function for two newly approved women&rsquo;s events, the 400m hurdles and the 3000m, neither of which had yet made their way on to the Olympic programme in time for the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Nally and BBC commentator Peter West founded the marketing company West Nally in 1969, and it went on to reshape the sports business industry by pioneering the offering to &ldquo;blue chip&rdquo; companies of sponsorship rights to the world's largest sports tournaments on behalf of the organising federations - operating in partnership with FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and, from 1976, the IAAF.
A summary of early activity that stands on the West Nally website recalls that the team &ldquo;worked closely with Adriaan to develop a wide range of athletics events.&rdquo;
It adds: &ldquo;In 1976 a document was prepared on The Track and Field World Cup and International Technical Aid programme. In 1978 the IAAF approved the draft rules for a first ever Athletics World Championships and West Nally got to work on planning the marketing and fundraising aspects.
&ldquo;In 1981, Patrick Nally met with Dr Primo Nebiolo,&nbsp;who had taken over as IAAF President. Discussions on the first World Championships in Athletics were firmed-up and West Nally appointed to secure the funding, sponsors and television coverage.
&ldquo;In 1983 this First World Athletics Championship in Helsinki became a reality.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/642459232e45df50e7da97fa.jpg" alt="Primo Nebiolo in 1999" />
Primo Nebiolo (&copy; Allsport / Getty Images)
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As a forerunner of the sport&rsquo;s global championships, the 1977 World Cup in Dusseldorf, from 2-4 September, proved to be a key event for the sport.&nbsp;
This contest between eight teams &ndash; Europe, East Germany, the United States, America, Africa, Oceania and Asia, with West Germany included in the men&rsquo;s competition and the Soviet Union in the women&rsquo;s &ndash; produced some memorable individual performances.
Most notably in the men&rsquo;s 1500m, where Britain&rsquo;s 21-year-old Steve Ovett &ndash; who had reached the Olympic semifinals the previous year in Montreal &ndash; destroyed a field that included the reigning Olympic champion John Walker of New Zealand. With one of the most electrifying bursts of acceleration ever witnessed in a middle distance race, Ovett won in the space of a few strides of the back straight.&nbsp;
Also compulsive viewing was the narrow victory in the men&rsquo;s 800m of Cuba&rsquo;s Olympic 400m and 800m champion Alberto Juantorena over Mike Boit, the Kenyan who had missed the 1976 Montreal Olympics because of his country&rsquo;s boycott of the event.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64241c73a5244c638d8722f5.jpg" alt="Alberto Juantorena at the 1977 World Cup event in Dusseldorf" />
Alberto Juantorena at the 1977 World Cup event in Dusseldorf (&copy; Getty Images)
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Juantorena also raised the profile of the event by protesting against his third place in the 400m, where he successfully claimed he had not been able to hear the starting gun and had subsequently got away to a painfully slow start. The race was run again the following day, and this time the Cuban finished first.
Two years later the second IAAF World Cup took place in Montreal, again enabling athletes from the United States and the Soviet Union and eastern bloc to compete at time when international tensions over Afghanistan were about to prevent this happening at the Olympics.
The United States boycotted the Moscow 1980 Games and the eastern bloc nations did the same at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.&nbsp;
This World Cup edition also produced some superb highlights, including the 5000m and 10,000m double from Ethiopia&rsquo;s Miruts Yifter &ndash; &lsquo;Yifter the Shifter&rsquo;, a peerless 400m hurdles performance from Ed Moses of the United States and a 100m victory for his compatriot Evelyn Ashford over East Germany&rsquo;s Marlies Gohr.
&ldquo;The 1977 World Cup in Dusseldorf was important because it was the start,&rdquo; Nally says. &ldquo;Obviously the Olympics were starting to be challenging because of what happened in Munich and what happened in Montreal, which didn&rsquo;t go that well.
&ldquo;So certainly Adriaan Paulen and others, but Paulen specifically, were aware that athletics had to adapt, to become more challenging with its own competitions as opposed just to the Olympics. Which led on the World Championships, of course.
&ldquo;He realised that the sport couldn&rsquo;t just stay totally amateur, so they needed more profile and more opportunity. The 1977 World Cup was the first step in creating new international events and because it went well, that led on to discussions about a world championship.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64241d0da5244c638d8722f8.jpg" alt="Evelyn Ashford at the 1979 World Cup in Montreal" />
Evelyn Ashford at the 1979 World Cup in Montreal (&copy; Getty Images)
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In 1978 another Nally/Paulen innovation &ndash; the Golden Series &ndash; began, offering significant prize money at selected contests such as the Golden Mile, the Golden Pole Vault and the Golden Javelin, which were held around the world.
&ldquo;It was all part of a plan with Paulen to create greater international attention and an awareness that these athletes might need to be paid,&rdquo; Nally says. &ldquo;We used the Golden Series to start evidencing the new open wave.
&ldquo;I remember one particular occasion with Adriaan, sitting on a jumbo jet on the floor coming back from Tokyo having seen Steve Ovett win the Golden Mile, and we were writing out in 1978 all the regulations and structure of the World Championship, of the planned championships of 1983.&rdquo;
The primary concerns in the lead-up to the 1983 World Championships were money and participation.
&ldquo;Financially then things weren&rsquo;t as they are now,&rdquo; Nally recalls. &ldquo;They were just starting in terms of sponsorship because we had created an exclusive approach to a limited number of sponsors for events. So, there was a problem with money, because it needed money to fund the event.&nbsp;
&ldquo;The Finnish organisers obviously couldn&rsquo;t take on all the responsibility so we had to come up with a plan that would give at least a minimum amount of finance to the organisers. Which was then built on us doing a commercial sponsorship programme similar to the one West Nally was then doing with FIFA for the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina, and which we went on to do at the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain.
&ldquo;We put together a package of sponsors very much driven by Japan &ndash; TDK and Seiko (still partners of the World Athletics Championships today) became some of our early big supporters.
&ldquo;Obviously the finance was important. And so was the establishment of getting international participation, making sure of the United States, and therefore getting a good TV broadcaster, which we did with NBC.
&ldquo;It was important to get all the key nations to support it, to back it, because potentially it was being looked upon as a possible replacement for the Olympics if they continued to have the dramas and boycotts they were facing,&rdquo; he adds.
&ldquo;The fact that the organising committee in Finland was absolutely dedicated, with great athletics knowledge and having good facilities, made it easier. But it was the first time ever, so we were writing the rules from a clean sheet of paper because it had never been done before.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In the end, 1333 athletes from 153 countries participated in those inaugural Championships. And they produced some unforgettable athletics memories.
Carl Lewis won the men&rsquo;s 100m and long jump titles before anchoring the United States to 4x100m gold in a world record of 37.86.
For home fans, with their historic love of the javelin event, there was the thrill of seeing Tiina Lillak claim the women&rsquo;s title with her sixth and final effort.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64241d75431777a249b3bc01.jpg" alt="Javelin winner Tiina Lillak at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki" />
Javelin winner Tiina Lillak at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki (&copy; Getty Images)
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Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland won the 5000m title in exhilarating fashion, unable to hide his gathering glee as he took the lead on the back straight. While Britain&rsquo;s 22-year-old Steve Cram claimed the 1500m title ahead of such talents as Said Aouita, Steve Scott and Ovett.
&ldquo;It was extraordinarily exciting,&rdquo; Nally recalls. &ldquo;Because this championship had never happened before. I was sitting in the stands with very knowledgeable Americans and Swiss and eastern European observers, and the buzz of seeing a meeting of that calibre for the first time outside an Olympics was amazing.
&ldquo;I would probably put it as one of the most rewarding events I had the privilege of being involved with from the beginning.&rdquo;
Also there from the beginning was Olaf Brockmann, a journalist who attended the event in Helsinki for German news agency Sport-Informations-Dienst. He has reported from every World Athletics Championships since.
&ldquo;The atmosphere in the city and stadium made the World Championships in Helsinki an unforgettable experience for me,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;To this day, the 1983 World Championships &ndash; probably also because it was the premiere &ndash; remains one of my favourite World Championships in athletics.
&ldquo;The event was my farewell as editor of the Sport-Informations-Dienst. The crowning journalistic farewell gift for me was Willi Wulbeck's sensational victory in the 800m in the German record time of 1:43.65. I can still clearly see his storming run on the home straight to gold, and the subsequent shouts of "Williii, Williii" that echoed from a bend after his victory are still ringing in my ears today.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60e3905efa795b25f4344524.jpg" alt="Willi Wulbeck wins the 1983 world 800m title in Helsinki" />
Willi Wulbeck wins the 1983 world 800m title in Helsinki (&copy; Getty Images)
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Wulbeck has since donated one of the spikes he wore in that 1983 final to the <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Museum of World Athletics</a>.
&ldquo;One of the most beautiful highlights in the history of the World Championships also took place in Helsinki: Tiina Lillak won gold for Finland in the javelin throw with 70.82m in her last attempt,&rdquo; Brockmann adds. &ldquo;The cheers of the 55,000 spectators and the sea of blue and white flags in the stands will remain in my memory.&rdquo;
The IAAF promised to pay all travelling expenses for the first World Championships. Writing in the editorial of IAAF Bulletin No 1 for 1983, Nebiolo said: "1983 is a year of vital importance to the IAAF, a dream long held by track and field fans everywhere will become a reality - the world's best athletes brought together in one of the most historic stadiums.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In Bulletin No 2, Nebiolo commented: "The decision to choose Helsinki has proved to be a judicious one. The world championships 1983 is yet another significant step in our growth which I am confident will be remembered as a significant landmark of our heritage in future years."&nbsp;
In Bulletin No 3, Nebiolo added: "The world athletics championships was the biggest single step forward ever made by the IAAF.&rdquo;
David Miller, for many years chief sports writer for The Times, and for 20 years an official historian of the International Olympic Committee, credits Nebiolo for having the drive and dynamism to keep athletics on its own path of destiny once he took up the presidency in 1981.&nbsp;
&ldquo;For all his postures, Nebiolo did a huge amount to advance the status and reputation of track and field,&rdquo; Miller says.
&ldquo;Under his direction, athletics unquestionably advanced more than at any time you could say in its history in terms of its programme of events.&nbsp;
&ldquo;One of the landmarks in my recollection was the World Championships in Rome in 1987, which was spectacular. That was a golden age of athletics in terms of personalities when you had performers such as Sergey Bubka and Carl Lewis around.&rdquo;
With two successful editions of the fledgling event completed, the World Athletics Championships had the foundation to fly, and 40 years later it has become one of the biggest sports events in the world.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

It is hard to imagine the sporting calendar without the World Athletics Championships

The formation of the World Athletics Championships

Qatar&rsquo;s Mutaz Barshim and Abderrahman Samba will get their 2023 Wanda Diamond League campaigns under way on home soil when they compete in the season opener in Doha on 5 May.
Barshim won a third world high jump title in Oregon last year, adding another honour to a CV that includes the joint Olympic crown he claimed alongside Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo.
The Olympic Games final in Tokyo was Samba&rsquo;s most recent 400m hurdles race, the 2019 world bronze medallist having injured his hamstring while warming up for the Doha event last May. That injury ruled him out for the whole of 2022.
&ldquo;Whenever I step on the track, I always want to give my best, that has been the case since my first Diamond League appearance back in Doha, 2011,&rdquo; said Barshim, who set the Asian high jump record of 2.43m &ndash; placing him No.2 on the world all-time list &ndash; in 2014.
&ldquo;High jump is my passion and I want to make sure that my name is mentioned whenever high jump is mentioned. I&rsquo;ve made history being on top of my game for the past decade, but I still thrive for more. The 2023 season is about to begin, and I have set my own goals and targets to chase. The World Championships in Budapest and the Asian Games in China are my top targets for the season.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important that I prioritise my health and stay consistent with a routine that works for me,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;My training in Qatar went smoothly over the winter and I look forward to my Wanda Diamond League season opener in Doha."
Samba set his Asian 400m hurdles record of 46.98 in 2018 &ndash; a time that places him fifth on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;The Doha Meeting will be my first major competition since Tokyo 2021 and will provide a good starting point as I build towards the World Championships this summer,&rdquo; said Samba. &ldquo;I was in good shape this time last year and I was disappointed to miss out on the World Championships, but I&rsquo;ve had a consistent block of training and I&rsquo;m healthy and ready to race.
&ldquo;The 400m hurdles is one of the most exciting events on the programme right now and I want to be back in the mix.&rdquo;
The 2023 Wanda Diamond League calendar includes a total of 14 meetings, starting with the event in Doha and concluding with the two-day final in Eugene on 16-17 September.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/calendar-results?season=2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full 2023 Diamond League calendar</a>

Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Abderrahman Samba will get their 2023 Wanda Diamond League campaigns under way on home soil

Home stars Barshim and Samba seek success in Doha

Declan&nbsp;Tingay&nbsp;didn&rsquo;t just better his 20km race walk personal best when winning the Asian Games/All Japan Championship in Nomi on 19 March - he did it by the equivalent of half a kilometre.
The Australian served up an elite 1:18:46: an almost two-minute improvement. His coach wasn&rsquo;t in the least surprised.
In fact, Brent Vallance reckoned when they arrived in Nomi and assessed the start list, that the focus wasn&rsquo;t just a fast time - but winning the event outright.
The result was the second-fastest time of the year, a mark only 10 seconds behind world and Olympic silver medallist Koki Ikeda's world lead set at Kobe in February.
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Vallance had reason to purr as 13 out of 14 Australians notched up personal bests at Nomi. Rhydian Cowley improved one second shy of four minutes, with two- and three-minute improvements for others.
In fact, the coach was a little concerned when Tingay "got jumpy" from the gun and pushed the pace, but relaxed when his charge settled in the pack.
The 24-year-old then launched a bid for home that became an outright sprint over the final two 1km laps: both timed at 3:43. It left the last of his challengers trailing in his wake long before he broke the tape.
Tingay&nbsp;says it looked easier than it was, but admits he&rsquo;s a different athlete to the one that slipped back through the field in the World Championships in Oregon last year.
There he finished 17th and nearly a minute outside his then 1:20:44 PB.
&ldquo;I have a distinct memory of being up in the lead pack at 15km having just realised we&rsquo;d covered our last five (kilometres) in about 19:20,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I looked around me, and I could see the Japanese walkers; I could see Perseus Karlstrom (bronze medallist) off my shoulder.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I had this sudden thought: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m so out of place here. I should be 30 seconds back&rsquo;. That might have done me in a tiny bit: out of my depth, that sort of thing, and I suffered a bit.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Now, having done the time that earns you the right to be up in that pack - I now feel I belong in that pack.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6422e79ca45b1f03e63dc8e6.jpg" alt="Declan Tingay competes in the 20km race walk at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Declan Tingay competes in the 20km race walk at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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Vallance points out that the last four years have stymied Australian race walkers, mostly as a result of Covid and restrictions that went with it.
&ldquo;But we&rsquo;ve known since 2017, Declan was pretty special,&rdquo; Vallance says. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been there or thereabouts. He was just missing a little on the international circuit, but I was quite certain he would win in Nomi.
&ldquo;I know what he&rsquo;s been doing in training.&rdquo;
Other factors in&nbsp;Tingay&rsquo;s stellar rise include a funded Australian programme called New Generation &rsquo;32, which is a nod to the future Brisbane Olympics, and the arrival of Jared Tallent as a full-time coach.
Between them, Vallance and the 2012 Olympic champion look after all but one of the Nomi cohort, and the effect was as clear as that superlative Sunday morning in Japan.
&ldquo;Jared has been a breath of fresh air,&rdquo; explains Vallance.
&ldquo;Actually, he was a reluctant coach; but to have him around with all he brings is tremendous for all these athletes.&rdquo;
It also helps&nbsp;that Tingay&nbsp;trains with a fair few of the elite group that spearheaded the charge in Nomi, augmented by top talents like Karlstrom and double European champion Antigoni Drisbioti, who understandably would rather train in an Australian summer than European winter.&nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6422e5263e2426a421881f16.jpg" alt="Declan Tingay in action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham" />
Declan Tingay in action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
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Tingay started the year with a national record 38:03.78 at 10,000m. "I thought I would break it, but I was surprised by how much.&rdquo;
He followed that with a PB of 1:20:00 in the Australia Championships - both clearly a sign of things to come.&nbsp;
Vallance adds that&nbsp;Tingay&rsquo;s age has also been something of a talisman to Aussie race walkers.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s 24, the same age that Jared was when he announced himself to the world at the Beijing Olympics, and Dane (Bird-Smith) was 24 when he won his Olympic medal (in Rio in 2016),&rdquo; he says.
However, the coach adds a cautionary note summed up in one word: &lsquo;repeatability&rsquo;.
In fact, Vallance emphasised it without a hint of irony.
That&rsquo;s why a smaller group of Australians are headed to Taicang on 8 April for the Chinese Race Walking Grand Prix - a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold event.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Tiacang will be a re-affirmation of what he&rsquo;s just achieved, we hope,&rdquo; Vallance says. &ldquo;What we want is repeatability; not just a time, but the repeatability of performance.
&ldquo;Every athlete has to face pressure when they achieve certain times, and you can tell a mile away a medal is coming; they&rsquo;re not really a surprise.&rdquo;
Tingay&nbsp;admits he now has a target on his back when it comes to the World Championships in Budapest in August.
&ldquo;The prospect of having that as my benchmark is a bit daunting. I&rsquo;ve got no doubt I can walk fast,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s now harder to imagine an improvement on 1:18. It&rsquo;s not the same as improving 1:24:00 or 1:22:00, but I know I can do it.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6422e5693e2426a421881f19.jpg" alt="Declan Tingay at the 2018 Australian Junior Athletics Championships" />
Declan Tingay at the 2018 Australian Junior Athletics Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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The athlete also has another advantage that most of his teammates don&rsquo;t: he&rsquo;s used to travelling long distances, and has been doing so since he was six months old.
It&rsquo;s 24 hours on a plane &ndash; or planes &ndash; if you leave Melbourne and alight in Europe. It takes its toll.
Tingay speaks of a &ldquo;forced tapering down&rdquo; for Nomi brought about by multiple flights that took the group two days from A to B. In this case, the enforced rest proved a bonus.
Tingay&rsquo;s dad is the renowned astrophysicist Steven&nbsp;Tingay,&nbsp;whose work takes him to all four corners of the planet.
&ldquo;I started walking when I was nine months old,&rdquo; says Declan. &ldquo;Mum and dad, dad especially, are big athletics fans, I almost had no choice.&nbsp;I was involved in sports and athletics almost about the same time as I learned to talk.
&ldquo;I definitely couldn&rsquo;t jump; I got to the age where the hurdles got that little bit higher. Eventually, one by one, I got kicked out of the events on the Little Athletics roster on Saturday mornings, went with the walks, 1500m and the occasional 800m. I had two friends who also walked, and a good coach at the start.
&ldquo;My dad is an astrophysicist and kept me well travelled. My first flight was Los Angeles to Sydney when I was six months old.
&ldquo;It helps. You can see how it affects lesser travelled athletes.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Come the World Championships, one&nbsp;Tingay&nbsp;will be studying the stars, the other will be shooting for them.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics

A 1:18:46 20km race walk win in Nomi means Declan Tingay is now sure of his place in the pack

After PB performance, Australia's Tingay is shooting for the stars

&ldquo;We made a bet,&rdquo; recalls 2022 Commonwealth Games high jump bronze medallist Tejaswin &lsquo;TJ&rsquo; Shankar about attempting his first decathlon. &ldquo;It only took me five years to fulfil that bet.&rdquo;
When Shankar entered into the 10-event wager with his Kansas State college teammate Aaron Booth, he did so as a high jumper. &nbsp;
Shankar had competed for India in the high jump at the World U18 Championships in Cali in 2015, and at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. He became national record-holder in 2016, aged 17, when he jumped 2.26m. His record now stands at 2.29m.
He secured a place at Kansas State University in 2017, and initial tests suggested that the former cricketer could be competitive at events beyond his speciality.
&ldquo;The coach thought I could run a really good 400m,&rdquo; Shankar explains, &ldquo;and he wanted me to be the backup guy for the 4x400m team. That&rsquo;s how I started running a little bit more. Usually high jumpers don&rsquo;t like running, but I enjoyed it. And I wanted to do more. I wanted to go to bed tired.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64217bce43482101687b638f.jpg" alt="Tejaswin Shankar in action at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia, Samoa" />
Tejaswin Shankar in action at the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in Apia, Samoa (&copy; Getty Images)
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The &lsquo;K-State&rsquo; coach &ndash; Cliff Rovelto &ndash; suggested that Shankar try some other events. &nbsp;&ldquo;I think you can long jump well,&rdquo; Shankar recalls Rovelto advising him. &ldquo;So maybe let&rsquo;s sprinkle in some long jump, and some hurdles here and there to make training a little more interesting.&rdquo;
One of Shankar&rsquo;s teammates at the time was the New Zealand decathlon champion Booth. &ldquo;I watched Aaron train for the multi-events,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We used to train together, and I would beat him at practice in the individual events. So, I thought - well, all I have to do is put all this together, and that&rsquo;s how easy it would be!&rdquo;
The opportunity soon presented itself for Shankar to investigate whether the combined events were as effortless as his training partner&rsquo;s achievements seemed to suggest.
Kansas State has a history in combined events beyond the traditional combination for men (decathlon outdoors and heptathlon indoors) and women (heptathlon outdoors and pentathlon indoors).
Almost 20 years ago, Rovelto spotted the potential in two-time Olympic heptathlon medallist Austra Skujyte to excel over 10 events and coached the Lithuanian to the current women&rsquo;s decathlon world record in 2005.
At the other end of the scale, the college hosts an annual pentathlon for men, including the 60m hurdles, high jump, shot, long jump and 1000m.
According to the US Track &amp; Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the all-time college best for men&rsquo;s pentathlon belongs to US international Sheldon Blockburger, who scored 4451 in 1987. No-one had scored over 4300 in a college pentathlon in almost 20 years, with 2003 world decathlon champion Tom Pappas the closest (4285 in 1999). Even Derek Drouin, the 2016 Olympic high jump champion who went on to score 7150 in decathlon, only scraped over 4000 points (4009) in 2012.
The five-discipline event suited Shankar beautifully. In his first pentathlon in December 2018 he scored 3826. A year later he improved that to 4137. And in 2020, he became the fourth-highest scoring male college pentathlete of all time, scoring 4343.
Shankar&rsquo;s series in 2020 was 8.34 in the 60m hurdles, 2.24m in the high jump, 11.94m in the shot, 7.48m in the long jump and 2:39.35 in the 1000m. While his stand-out high jump naturally dominated his performance, the standard of his other events showed considerable promise.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64217b2d43482101687b638c.jpg" alt="Tejaswin Shankar competes at the NCAA Championships" />
Tejaswin Shankar competes at the NCAA Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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The experience of the one-day competitions caused Shankar to rethink his view that the multis were simply about putting individual performances together.
&ldquo;It was the exact opposite! It is not as easy as it looks,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;In my initial pentathlon, I won three out of five events, and Aaron two. But in total points, he won. And that really captivated me about the multis. It&rsquo;s not about winning an event, but the whole combined picture.
&ldquo;I jumped 2.24m, but I threw the shot 8m. I lost a lot of points, but gained in the average, and still compared well to everyone else. And that really sparked the interest in me.
&ldquo;That was when we made a bet. Aaron challenged me do a multi and tell him how I felt about it. This last year I did my first decathlon. I texted him and said: &ldquo;Hey man &ndash; it only took me five years to fulfil that bet!&rdquo;
En route to those 10 events, the next milestone after the pentathlon was indoor heptathlon. With a little work on the pole vault to get to 3.75m &ndash; &ldquo;we have a running joke that I can probably high jump higher than I can vault&rdquo; &ndash; Shankar logged a respectable 5650 for his first heptathlon in early 2021. That was also an Indian record, to add to his high jump records.
To complete the set, and fulfil his deal with Booth, Shankar scored 7592 over 10 events at the Big 12 Conference Championships in May 2022, only 66 points short of the Indian decathlon record.
His decathlon series was 10.85 100m, 7.63m long jump, 13.77m shot put, 2.17m high jump, 50.15 400m, 14.66 110m hurdles, 35.35m discus throw, 3.81m pole vault, 44.95m javelin throw and 4:36.12 1500m.
Meanwhile, Shankar continued to excel at his specialist event. He jumped 2.27m in June 2022, achieving India&rsquo;s qualification mark for the Commonwealth Games. The trials for the Games clashed with the NCAA Championships and Shankar was not initially selected. Uncertain about whether he would be travelling to Birmingham, his preparation was less than ideal. But eventually his place was confirmed.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64217d9c43482101687b6395.jpg" alt="Tejaswin Shankar competes at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham" />
Tejaswin Shankar competes at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
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&ldquo;Once I got there, the emotion was good, and the crowd was very educated &ndash; they knew what they were supporting,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Winning the bronze medal, looking back it feels like a fairy tale.
&ldquo;Back home, cricket was always number one, but our javelin thrower &ndash; Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra &ndash; has really revolutionised the sport for us. More people started watching track and field, and so many more people stepped up from fourth and fifth spot into medals. In the Gold Coast in 2018 he was one of only a few who won a medal but this time we had triple jumpers, long jumpers, high jumpers, steeplechasers and so on. The difference is the confidence.&rdquo;
With a major medal in his portfolio and his college career at a close, Shankar considered what lay ahead.
&ldquo;I always thought that my end goal was to win a medal or win a competition. I&rsquo;m extremely competitive,&rdquo; he says.
&ldquo;But when I did the decathlon, the feeling was not &ldquo;I want to beat that guy&rdquo; but how we can bring out the best in each other. It was very refreshing for me, and my whole mindset changed.
&ldquo;Last year I followed the long jump at the World Championships because we had an Indian guy. But I knew that Simon Ehammer was jumping, and for him to do what he did at the World Championships (bronze medal) and then score how high he does in the multis, I use that as motivation. Why should I narrow my scope and choose between the decathlon and high jump? Why can&rsquo;t I do both?&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64217cdd43482101687b6392.jpg" alt="Tejaswin Shankar celebrates his bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham" />
Tejaswin Shankar celebrates his bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (&copy; Getty Images)
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Shankar is already emulating his Swiss counterpart, winning the individual high jump with 2.26m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting, in Boston in February, and with plans to maintain all 10 events.
&ldquo;All those things I learned over the last year were just so fascinating &ndash; it&rsquo;s like an endless ocean,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;For me to put up a 7600 score with no background in three events, that made me happy. Once you&rsquo;re exposed to multis, you realise there&rsquo;s so much more in the sport than we always thought there was.&rdquo;
Gabriella Pieraccini for World Athletics

When Tejaswin Shankar entered into a 10-event wager with his Kansas State college teammate Aaron Booth, he did so as a high jumper.

The bet that brought India's high jump star Shankar to combined events

For Emma George, it was just another high-flying routine. First, at the Australian national indoor competition in Adelaide on 26 March 1998, the former childhood trapeze artist soared over 4.50m. In doing so, she became the first female pole vaulter to achieve the feat indoors, 11 months after she had been the first to clear the mark outdoors.
Then, when the bar was raised to 4.55m, George cleared that too.
At the start of the day, the world indoor record for the rapidly-developing women&rsquo;s pole vault had stood at 4.48m, established 16 days previously at Sindelfingen in Germany by Stacy Dragila, a one-time rodeo rider from Auburn, California, and equalled in the same meeting by Daniela Bartova, a former Olympic gymnast from the Czech Republic.
In one afternoon, George had improved it twice, making a 7cm advancement in total. &ldquo;I definitely feel more confident that it will survive for longer than the one I set last month,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp;
That was a 4.47m vault, also in Adelaide, achieved the day before Dragila and Bartova had bettered it by a solitary centimetre in Sindelfingen.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/09a8edfe-6cd1-483b-bbf3-8449cd25917e.jpg" alt="Stacy Dragila bows out of the Pole Vault competition and brings an end to a glittering international career" />
USA's Stacy Dragila (&copy; Getty Images)
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It had been a dizzying two and a half months for the women&rsquo;s pole vault.
Between 6 February, when the Swedish-based Icelander Vala Flosadottir jumped 4.42m in Bielefeld, and 26 March, when George cleared 4.55m in Adelaide, there had been 10 world indoor records.
George had set three of them. She had also notched three outdoors: 4.47m at North Shore, New Zealand, on 21 February; 4.58m in Melbourne on 14 March; and 4.59m in Brisbane on 21 March.&nbsp;
It could be said that 1998 was the year in which the women&rsquo;s pole vault took flight. If so, George was very much the chief-pilot.
She was 23 at the time. Like Bartova before her and Dragila after her, she was one of the great pioneers of the women&rsquo;s pole vault in the formative years when the event became part of the international competitive programme.
In 1995, Bartova took the outdoor world record through the 4.10m and 4.20m barriers: from 4.08m to 4.22m. Between 1995 and 1999, George raised it to 4.60m. Then, from 1999 to 2001, Dragila hoisted the global bar up to 4.81m. 
<div style="padding: 0px 20px 5px 20px; border: 2px solid #b68cff;">
<h2>Vaulting ambition: The 13 world records of February and March 1998</h2>
 6 Feb 1998 Vala Flosadottir (ISL) 4.42i Bielefeld, GER 14 Feb 1998 Daniela Bartova (CZE) 4.43i Prague, CZE 14 Feb 1998 Vala Flosadottir (ISL) 4.44i Eskilstuna, SWE 21 Feb 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.57 North Shore, NZL 1 Mar 1998 Anzhela Balakhonova (UKR) 4.45i Valencia, ESP 6 Mar 1998 Daniela Bartova (CZE) 4.46i Berlin, GER 7 Mar 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.47i Adelaide, AUS 8 Mar 1998 Stacy Dragila (USA) 4.48i Sindelfingen, GER 8 Mar 1998 Daniela Bartova (CZE) 4.48i Sindelfingen, GER 14 Mar 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.58 Melbourne, AUS 21 Mar 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.59 Brisbane, AUS 26 Mar 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.50i Adelaide, AUS 26 Mar 1998 Emma George (AUS) 4.55i Adelaide, AUS
Note: Bartova was denied a world indoor record two days before the start of this run, at Erfurt in Germany on 4 February, because the bar was raised to 4.41m when the declared height prior to the commencement of the competition should have been 4.40m at that stage. The world indoor record at the time stood jointly to Emma George and Stacy Dragila at 4.40m. Bartova&rsquo;s 4.41m clearance was not ratified.
</div>
<h2>Barcelona disappointment&nbsp;</h2>
George and Dragila both conformed to the great pole vault tradition of track and field eccentrics. Bartova less so.
She was &lsquo;merely&rsquo; a sporting rarity: one of the select souls who made the Olympic grade in two different sports. As an 18-year-old, the Ostrava native was a member of the Czech gymnastics squad at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. She finished 64th in the all-round competition, 56th in the vault.
Disappointed with her performances in the Catalan capital, Bartova turned her back on gymnastics and took up track and field. She started training as a long jumper but was persuaded to channel her gymnastic ability towards the pole vault instead.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64203cfce36d5ec514e0471c.jpg" alt="Czech Republic's Daniela Bartova" />
Czech Republic's Daniela Bartova (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Dragila also started in gymnastics but was told to give it up because of asthma. She switched to rodeo riding, spending her weekends competing at fairs throughout California. She twice made the state finals.
When she turned 18 and went off to study at Idaho State University, she moved on to track and field and was introduced to the pole vault.&nbsp;
<h2>Running away from the circus</h2>
George spent four years of her youth performing as a trapeze artist with a circus troupe called The Flying Fruit Flies.
Fittingly, for one of the frontierswomen of the pole vault, she was born and raised in one of the boom towns that struck it rich during the great Australian gold rush of the 1850s: Beechworth in north-east Victoria.
The notorious outlaw Ned Kelly spent much of his time in and around the town, serving a sentence in Beechworth Prison and famously fighting &ndash; and winning &ndash; an epic 20-round bare-knuckle boxing match in a local hotel against Isaiah &lsquo;Wild&rsquo; Wright.
George fondly recalls spending much of her early life &ldquo;camping, fishing and exploring the bush country&rdquo; in rural Victoria. She was eight when she joined the Flying Fruit Fly Circus, Australia&rsquo;s national youth circus.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I performed acts such as trapeze and &lsquo;tower of chairs&rsquo; during school holidays,&rdquo; she recalled. &ldquo;When I became a teenager, I left the circus to pursue my new love, athletics. Ever since I was five years old, I dreamed of representing Australia at an Olympic Games.&rdquo;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64203fd9e36d5ec514e04725.jpg" alt="Emma George celebrates her 1998 Commonwealth Games victory" />
Emma George celebrates her 1998 Commonwealth Games victory (&copy; Allsport / Getty Images)
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That dream was to come true on home ground six years after George propelled herself over a pole vault bar for the first time. In her debut competition, towards the end of 1994, she managed to negotiate 2.55m.&nbsp;
That, coincidentally, was 4cm shy of the one-time unofficial women&rsquo;s world best mark set in New Haven, back in 1952, by Diane Bragg &ndash; the sister of Don Bragg, who famously celebrated his winning 4.70m vault at the 1960 Olympics in Rome with a Tarzan yell. He went on to play his hero in Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, though the film never made it to the big screen because of copyright infringement.
Don &lsquo;Tarzan&rsquo; Bragg, incidentally, had been preceded as Olympic champion by fellow US vaulter Bob Richards - the Reverend Bob Richards, or &ldquo;the vaulting vicar,&rdquo; as the theology professor was known when he struck gold in Helsinki in 1952 and in Melbourne in 1956.
The Vaulting Vicar was the first man to win an Olympic pole vault title with a clearance of 4.50m-plus. By the time the former Flying Fruit Fly became the first woman to clear 4.50m &ndash; outdoors in Melbourne on 8 February 1997 &ndash; her dream of competing for her country in an Olympic Games was coming sharply into focus.
<h2>Launch pad for Dragila&nbsp;</h2>
The women&rsquo;s pole vault was to be added to the track and field schedule for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, in George&rsquo;s home country. In the meantime, the event was being incorporated into other international competitions.
At the European Indoor Championships in Stockholm the previous year, in March 1996, the 18-year-old Icelandic vaulter Flosadottir took a historic gold with a clearance of 4.15m.
Born in Reykjavik and raised in the Icelandic fishing village of Bildudalur, she moved to Lund in Sweden at the age of 14 and trained there under the direction of Stanislaw Szcyrba, the Polish coach who was to become guiding light to one Mutaz Barshim. Now a book publisher with five university degrees and a PhD, Flosadottir still lives in Lund, with her husband, the former Icelandic Olympic discus thrower Magnus Hallgrimsson, and their two daughters.
The first global contest for women pole vaulters came just a month after George&rsquo;s landmark &ndash; or should that be airborne &ndash; 4.50m clearance. The Australian travelled to the 1997 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Paris as the big favourite for gold, and proceeded to justify the tag, clearing 4.00m in qualifying with some 60cm to spare.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64203e21e36d5ec514e0471f.jpg" alt="Emma George at the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris" />
Emma George at the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris (&copy; Allsport / Getty Images)
</div>
In the final she had an excellent first-time success at 4.35m, while the little-known Dragila needed three attempts. When the bar was raised to 4.40m, however, Dragila was the only one to nail George&rsquo;s indoor world record height.
&ldquo;Coming into those World Indoor Championships, I was considered a dark horse,&rdquo; Dragila reflected. &ldquo;For some time, I had been watching Emma George in awe, wishing I could compete with her at her level.
&ldquo;Winning that meet was the launching pad for me.&rdquo;
Dragila went on to become the first outdoor women&rsquo;s pole vault world champion in Seville in 1999, clearing 4.60m to tie the last of the 15 world records set by George in the outdoor or indoor arena.&nbsp;
The Australian had injured her back in a fall in training and finished down in 14th place with 4.15m. Her vaulting ambition was being damaged by a mounting physical toll.&nbsp;
<h2>Dreaming of international recognition</h2>
The Olympic dream of Sydney 2000 turned into something of a nightmare for George. With titanium screws in both feet after suffering stress fractures, she failed to make it beyond the qualifying round in Stadium Australia.
Dragila claimed the gold with 4.60m, George&rsquo;s Aussie team-mate Tatiana Grigorieva the silver and Flosadottir the bronze, on countback from Bartova.&nbsp;
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64203edfe36d5ec514e04722.jpg" alt="Stacy Dragila celebrates her win at the 2000 Olympics" />
Stacy Dragila celebrates her win at the 2000 Olympics (&copy; Getty Images)
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&ldquo;Sydney was the most devastating thing,&rdquo; George confessed. &ldquo;I felt like an absolute failure. If I could have dug a hole and buried myself in it, I would have done it there in the middle of the track.&rdquo;
Three years and two back operations later, George hung up her poles at the age of 29.&nbsp;
Despite the disappointment of thwarted ambition, the 1998 Commonwealth champion could still appreciate her pioneering pole vault career.
&ldquo;My dream was for the event to get international recognition and it did,&rdquo; she reflected. &ldquo;I loved being involved and watching the event emerge.&rdquo;
Happily, George&rsquo;s spirit of adventure continues to prosper.
Settled in Western Australia with her husband, Ashley Cooper, and sons Austin, Cooper, and Bailey, she has become a passionate advocate for life in the great outdoors, extolling the virtues of fishing, boating, and diving on her website <a href="http://lovetheoutdoors.com.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lovetheoutdoors.com.au</a>.
&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing better than getting the kids outdoors to spend quality family time together,&rdquo; said the Beechworth woman who pushed women&rsquo;s pole vaulting boundaries.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Reflecting on the 13 world records of February and March 1998

The year the women's pole vault took flight

Double world champion Kimberly Garcia got her 2023 campaign off to a superb start on Saturday (25), breaking the 35km race walk world record with 2:37:44* at the Dudinska 50, the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of the year.
The Peruvian race walker produced a solo effort from the early stages, passing through the first kilometre as part of a small lead group and then breaking away just a couple of minutes later. By the time she reached 5km in 22:41, she had a 16-second lead over Chinese duo Liu Hong and Ma Li.
Garcia&rsquo;s lead grew to more than a minute by 15km, which she passed in 1:07:29 with four-time world champion Liu still level with compatriot Ma. World silver medallist Katarzyna Zdzieblo was a further minute behind in fourth.
Ma started to lose contact with Liu at about 18km, but Garcia continued churning out her metronomic splits, reaching 20km in 1:29:58. With 10km to go, Garcia&rsquo;s lead over Liu had grown to 84 seconds. Wu Quanming, meanwhile, was starting to close on Chinese teammate Ma.
Garcia reached 30km in 2:15:10, almost two minutes clear of Liu, who was safe in second place. Wu had moved into third by this stage, but Ecuador&rsquo;s Magaly Bonilla was closing fast.
There was no catching Garcia, though, who maintained her relentless pace to charge through the finish line in 2:37:44, taking two seconds off the previous fastest mark for the distance.
Liu, who was making her debut at the distance, followed more than two minutes later in 2:40:06 but was rewarded with an Asian record. Bonilla was third in an Ecuadorian record of 2:46:32 and a fading Wu held on for fourth (2:47:34).
"I knew I was in good shape and that I could challenge the world record," said Garcia. "The first 20km was ok and at a good pace, then I started to tire and the wind got stronger. Thankfully I found some extra energy for the final five kilometres.
"It's a big thing for me to achieve this record," added Garcia, who also confirmed she will defend both of her titles at this year's World Championships. "I still think I can go faster, maybe at the World Championships. I'm not planning any more 35km races before Budapest."
<h2>Doctor remedies last year&rsquo;s runner-up finish</h2>
One year after finishing second over 35km in Dudince, Mexico&rsquo;s Jose Doctor triumphed in a national and meeting record of 2:26:37.
He trailed Olympic bronze medallist Evan Dunfee and Ecuador&rsquo;s Brian Pintado during the early stages, as Dunfee led through 10km (41:25). They moved together as a trio up until 17km, reached in 1:10:14, but Dunfee then started to slip behind. By 20km, which Pintado and Doctor reached in 1:22:31, an 11-second gap had emerged to Dunfee.
Pintado tried to make a break after 22km, but Doctor reeled him back in just over a kilometre later. Brazil&rsquo;s Caio Bonfim, meanwhile, was also moving through the pack. Doctor reached 25km in 1:43:21 with an 18-second lead over Bonfim, who was now in second, 24 seconds clear of Pintado.
Pintado continued to slip behind and eventually withdrew after 27km. Doctor, however, remained a safe distance ahead of Bonfim, while China&rsquo;s Cui Lihong was making up ground on Dunfee.
Doctor extended his lead in the final kilometres and crossed the line a confortable winner in 2:26:37. Bonfim was second in 2:27:30. Lihong moved into third place with just over a kilometre left, finishing 15 seconds ahead of the Canadian in 2:29:00.
In the closest finish of the day, 2017 world champion Eider Arevalo of Colombia won the men&rsquo;s 20km in 1:19:23 with double world bronze medallist Perseus Karlstrom finishing 21 seconds behind.
India&rsquo;s Sandeep Kumar led during the early stages, going through 5km in 19:38 with a five-second lead over Karlstrom. The Swede drew level with Kumar a few kilometres later and the duo went through 10km in 39:33, 17 seconds ahead of Arevalo and Mexico&rsquo;s Noel Chama.
Kumar was given a third red card and had to sit out a one-minute penalty, essentially taking him out of contention. It left Karlstrom alone in the lead between 12km and 17km when Arevalo finally caught up with him.
They rallied for the best part of a lap before Arevalo finally broke free thanks to a 3:50 final kilometre, winning in 1:19:23. Karlstrom was second in 1:19:44 and Chama was third in 1:20:46.
Elsewhere, Mexico&rsquo;s Alegna Gonzalez won the women&rsquo;s 20km race in 1:28:09, winning by more than two minutes from Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Rachelle de Orbeta.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure

Double world champion clocks 2:37:44 at the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of the year

Garcia breaks 35km race walk world record in Dudince

The top five finishers in the women&rsquo;s pole vault at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 will clash once again when the Doha Meeting stages the first Wanda Diamond League fixture of 2023 on Friday 5 May.
In an incredibly deep field containing seven global medallists, world and Olympic champion Katie Moon will take on world silver medallist and two-time world indoor champion Sandi Morris of the USA, world bronze medallist and Diamond League champion Nina Kennedy of Australia, European indoor and outdoor champion Wilma Murto of Finland, world indoor and European bronze medallist Tina Sutej of Slovenia, 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi of Greece, Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw of Great Britain, 2018 Commonwealth champion Alysha Newman of Canada, and &nbsp;2019 World University Games bronze medallist Bridget Williams of the USA.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m so excited to get my outdoor season underway after a really fun indoor season,&rdquo; said Moon, who won in Doha in 2021 in what proved to be a precursor to her best ever season. She cleared 4.84m on that occasion, despite jumping on borrowed poles after hers had broken in transit.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working really hard this pre-season, especially on my strength, and I&rsquo;m hoping to get my Wanda Diamond League campaign off to a good start. Winning Doha in 2021 was a really incredible way to start what was an unforgettable year, and I just hope to replicate that as I work towards defending my (world) title this summer.&rdquo;
The 2023 Wanda Diamond League comprises 14 meetings in total, starting with Doha at the Qatar Sports Club on 5 May and concluding with a single final across two days in Eugene (16-17 September).
Organisers for World Athletics

Katie Moon, Sandi Morris and Nina Kennedy feature in an all-star field

World Championships pole vault podium reunited in Doha

Kimberly Garcia and Liu Hong &ndash; two of the world&rsquo;s most versatile race walkers &ndash; will clash over 35km at the Dudinska 50 on Saturday (25). They are just two of the many global medallists who will be in action when the Slovakian city of Dudince hosts the first Gold level competition in the 2023 World Race Walking Tour.
Garcia will be contesting her first race since winning double gold at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22. The 29-year-old from Peru made all sorts of history on that occasion, becoming the first woman to win two race walking titles at a global championships, and the first athlete from Peru to earn a global title.
When winning on the streets of Eugene, Garcia set a national 20km record of 1:26:58 and a South American 35km record of 2:39:16. She made her 35km debut in Dudince last year, finishing a close second in 2:43:19, so this time she will be keen to go one better.
Liu, meanwhile, is also no stranger to major titles or record-breaking performances.
The 35-year-old from China is a four-time world champion over 20km and the 2016 Olympic champion over the same distance. In her one foray over 50km four years ago, she set a world record of 3:59:15, but Saturday&rsquo;s race will be her first attempt at a standalone 35km race.
Garcia and Liu won&rsquo;t be the only contenders, though.
Poland&rsquo;s Katazyna Zdzieblo, who finished runner-up to Garcia at both distances in Oregon, as well as the 20km at the European Championships one month later, is also entered. The 26-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022 and set a national record of 2:40:03 at the 35km distance.
Glenda Morejon won the 35km at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships Muscat 22, finishing almost two minutes ahead of her nearest rival. That remains her only 35km outing to date, but the conditions in Dudince will be far kinder than those in the Omani capital, so the Ecuadorian will likely improve upon her 2:48:33 PB.
Other contenders include China&rsquo;s Ma Li and Wu Quanming, Ecuador&rsquo;s Magaly Bonilla and Johana Ordonez, and Brazilian duo Viviane Lyra and Erica de Sena.
The men&rsquo;s 35km field is also loaded.
It was in Dudince where Dawid Tomala completed his first ever 50km before going on to win the Olympic title over that distance five months later in 2021. The Pole returns to the Slovakian city to race over 35km, hoping to improve upon the 2:30:47 PB he set at last year&rsquo;s World Championships and achieve the 2:29:40 qualifying standard for this year&rsquo;s World Championships.
Ecuador&rsquo;s Brian Pintado, who narrowly missed out on a medal in Oregon last year, heads to Dudince with the fastest PB of the field, the 2:24:37 he clocked on the streets of Eugene. He opened his 2023 campaign last month with a comfortable 2:40:39 victory at the Ecuadorian Championships in Machala.
Brazil&rsquo;s 2017 world bronze medallist Caio Bonfim, a consistent top-eight finisher at global championships, will be making his third appearance in Dudince, having placed third over 20km in 2014 and fourth in 2015.
Portugal&rsquo;s 2019 world 50km silver medallist Joao Vieira is also entered, along with Mexican record-holder Ricardo Ortiz and compatriot Jose Doctor &ndash; the runner-up in Dudince last year.
Other contenders include Finnish record-holder Aleksi Ojala and Chinese duo Xu Hao and Cui Lihong.
Double world bronze medallist Perseus Karlstrom leads the men&rsquo;s 20km field. The Swede won over that distance in Melbourne last month in a swift 1:19:27, and he will be keen to achieve his first victory on the streets of Dudince.
Colombia&rsquo;s 2017 world champion Eider Arevalo heads to Slovakia off the back of a 1:21:54 victory in Coimbra. The 30-year-old is a former winner in Dudince (2018) and finished third on his last appearance there in 2021.
Guatemala&rsquo;s Jose Barrondo, who won over 20km in Dudince last year, is back to defend his title. Mexico&rsquo;s Ever Palma and Ireland&rsquo;s David Kenny are also worth keeping an eye on, as is India&rsquo;s Sandeep Kumar.
Mexico&rsquo;s Alegna Gonzalez, who finished fifth over 20km at the Olympic Games in 2021, leads the women&rsquo;s field.
Her toughest opposition will likely come from her compatriots, Valeria Ortuno &ndash; the 2021 winner in Dudince &ndash; and Ilse Guerrero.

Two of the world’s most versatile race walkers will clash over 35km at the first World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting of 2023

Garcia takes on Liu over 35km in Dudince

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The first ever Wanda Diamond League meeting in Shenzhen will take place on 2 September and will be the only Wanda Diamond League event in China in 2023.
In an update to the 2023 calendar, the Shenzhen meeting will be moved from 3 August to 2 September, while the Shanghai meeting scheduled for 29 July will no longer take place as planned.
Shenzhen is set to make its Wanda Diamond League debut this season, as the world&rsquo;s premier one-day athletics series returns to China for the first time in four years. The meeting will take place at the Bao&rsquo;an Stadium, a state-of-the-art, 40,000-capacity arena which has previously hosted football at the 2011 Summer Universiade. It will be the 11th Wanda Diamond League meeting to take place in China, with Shanghai having been a fixture in the series' calendar from 2010 to 2019.
The return of the traditional Shanghai meeting has been postponed. The planned modernisation of the city&rsquo;s two major stadiums has been delayed during the pandemic, meaning that neither will be ready in time to host the Wanda Diamond League. Shenzhen will be the 12th meeting in this year&rsquo;s Wanda Diamond League, which encompasses 14 of the world&rsquo;s most prestigious one-day events.
Athletes compete for points at the 13 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene on 16-17 September.
<a href="https://www.diamondleague.com/calendar/">2023 Wanda Diamond League calendar in full</a>
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Shenzhen's debut on the Wanda Diamond League circuit has been moved to September, while Shanghai will no longer go ahead as planned.

Updated 2023 Diamond League calendar features 14-meeting season and new date for Shenzhen

The World Athletics Council has today made a number of important decisions regarding the future participation of the Russian and Belarusian Member Federations in athletics, and the eligibility regulations for athletes who are transgender or who have Differences of Sexual Development (DSD).
The Council agreed to the reinstatement of the Russian Federation (RusAF) following seven years of suspension due to egregious institutional doping violations. However, athletes, officials and supporting personnel from Russia and Belarus are still excluded from competition for the foreseeable future due to Russia&rsquo;s invasion of Ukraine.
<h2>Russia Taskforce recommendation</h2>
The Council approved <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=5bbdf265-9932-405a-ab0f-e5d96b096fdb.pdf&amp;urlslug=Russia%20Taskforce%20Report%20%5B23%20Mar%202023%5D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Russia Taskforce&rsquo;s recommendation</a> that RusAF, which has been suspended for seven years due to doping, be reinstated after meeting all the requirements of the Reinstatement plan, which has been <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=1f3c259c-10a5-44fe-b8fb-dffc24326d44.pdf&amp;urlslug=Independent%20Audit%20Report%20on%20RusAF%20Reinstatement%20Plan%20%5B23%20Mar%202023%5D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed by an independent audit</a>.
However RusAF will be required to comply with a set of <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=b664e2fc-1b22-4106-8d8d-af62cd43d25c.pdf&amp;urlslug=Special%20Conditions%20of%20RusAF%20Reinstatement%20%5B23%20Mar%202023%5D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">35 'Special Conditions'</a> that are intended to ensure that RusAf&rsquo;s anti-doping reforms remain in place and continue to operate effectively.
These Special Conditions are designed to enable the Athletics Integrity Unit to monitor, evaluate, communicate, mentor, oversee, and assist RusAF and its external stakeholders to ensure they maintain good governance practices and to protect RusAF from external pressures and attempts to influence or control its functioning.
They focus on four areas: organisational good governance, protection from inappropriate external influence and control, operational capability and capacity (with a particular emphasis on ethical and anti-doping requirements, and change in the regions), and budget allocation and fiscal management.
These Special Conditions are intended be applied for a period of three years, with a review at the end of that period to determine whether or not it is necessary to maintain those conditions (as they are or with variations) for a further period.
Totalling 35 separate monitoring and evaluation measures, the special conditions cover: organisational governance, presidium leadership oversight, anti-doping, cultural change in the regions, engagement with external stakeholders, ethics, anti-corruption and anti-conflicts of interest, fiscal management.
Further, the Athletics Integrity Unit, has determined that RusAF should be categorised as a Category &lsquo;A&rsquo; member federation after its reinstatement.
That means that RusAF will have to comply not only with the general obligations applicable to all member federations that are set out in WA ADR 15.4 but also with the special obligations applicable to Category &lsquo;A&rsquo; member federations that are set out in WA ADR 15.5. These federations are subject to greater scrutiny and more testing requirements.
The Taskforce confirmed that RusAF has paid all of the costs of the reinstatement process until the end of 2022. World Athletics will invoice RusAF in early April for the costs incurred by World Athletics in January-March, and the prompt payment of that invoice will be one of the Special Conditions.
RusAF must also pay all of the costs incurred by the AIU in overseeing RusAF&rsquo;s compliance with the Category A requirements and the Special Conditions over the next three years, as well as any World Athletics costs in connection with this oversight.
As a consequence of these decisions, the Authorised Neutral Athlete (ANA) programme will be discontinued, and the Doping Review Board, which rules on ANA applications, will be stood down.
The Russia Taskforce, having completed its work, will be disbanded and the two international experts who have advised it will be stood down.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;I would like to express my deep gratitude to Rune Andersen and the Taskforce members for staying the course and helping us to resolve a major integrity issue in our sport. It has been a mammoth undertaking over seven years but their commitment and diligence has given the Council confidence that the Russian Federation has reformed its structure and culture and is now on the right path in terms of addressing doping issues. It is important that RusAF continues on this path, but we are confident the Athletics Integrity Unit has the expertise to monitor and assess the situation going forwards.&rdquo;
<h2>War in Ukraine</h2>
The World Athletics Council has also reaffirmed the decision it originally made in March 2022, to exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes, support personnel, Member Federation officials and officials who are citizens of those two countries from all World Athetics Series events for the foreseeable future.
These sanctions take effect immediately and include:
a. no hosting of any International or European athletics events, which includes World Athletics Series, Continental Tour meetings and other International Competitions;
b. no right to attend, speak and/or vote at meetings of Congress;
c. no accreditation to attend any World Athletics Series events;
d. no involvement of Member Federation personnel in any official World Athletics development or professional programmes; and
e. Athletes, Athlete Support Personnel, Member Federation Officials and Officials who are Citizens of Russia and Belarus are excluded from World Athletics Series Events for the foreseeable future.
The Council recommends to the meeting organisers of the Diamond League, Continental Tour, Label Races and the various other Tours that they take the same approach and exclude Athletes and Officials from RusAF and the Belarus Athletic Federation.
The Council also agreed to establish a working group to advise and recommend to Council the conditions that would need to be met for the restrictions on Athletes and Officials from RusAF and the Belarus Athletic Federation participating at World Athletics Series Events to be lifted.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;As I noted at the time these measures were introduced last year, the unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus by countries and industries all over the world appear to be the only peaceful way to disrupt and disable Russia&rsquo;s current intentions and restore peace. The death and destruction we have seen in Ukraine over the past year, including the deaths of some 185 athletes, have only hardened my resolve on this matter. The integrity of our major international competitions has already been substantially damaged by the actions of the Russian and Belarusian governments, through the hardship inflicted on Ukrainian athletes and the destruction of Ukraine&rsquo;s sports systems. Russian and Belarusian athletes, many of whom have military affiliations, should not be beneficiaries of these actions.&rdquo;
In accordance with the World Athletics constitution, the Member Federations from Russia and Belarus have been informed of the Council&rsquo;s decisions and have the right to respond. If necessary, the Council will reconvene to consider that response.
<h2>Transgender and DSD Regulations</h2>
The Council agreed to update the eligibility regulations for <a href="https://worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=c50f2178-3759-4d1c-8fbc-370f6aef4370.pdf&amp;urlslug=C3.5A%20%E2%80%93%20Eligibility%20Regulations%20Transgender%20Athletes%20%E2%80%93%20effective%2031%20March%202023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender</a> and <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=2ffb8b1a-59e3-4cea-bb0c-5af8b690d089.pdf&amp;urlslug=C3.6A%20%E2%80%93%20Eligibility%20Regulations%20for%20the%20Female%20Classification%20%E2%80%93%20effective%2031%20March%202023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DSD</a> athletes to compete in the female category.
For DSD athletes, the new regulations will require any relevant athletes to reduce their testosterone levels below a limit of 2.5 nmol/L for a minimum of 24 months to compete internationally in the female category in any event, not just the events that were restricted (400m to one mile) under the previous regulations.
The principle of restricted events has been removed from the regulations.
Interim provisions will be introduced for those relevant athletes who are already competing in what were the unrestricted events (distances below 400m and above one mile, plus field events). These provisions include a requirement to suppress their testosterone levels below 2.5nmol/L for a minimum of six months, before they are eligible to compete again.
The six months period is consistent with the previous regulations, which required six months of testosterone suppression (below 5nmol/L) for DSD athletes to compete in the restricted events. The interim provisions do not apply to the previously restricted events (400m to one mile) where two years of testosterone suppression will be required before the relevant athlete is eligible to compete.
These regulations will come into effect on 31 March 2023.
In regard to transgender athletes, the Council has agreed to exclude male-to-female transgender athletes who have been through male puberty from female World Rankings competition from 31 March 2023.
World Athletics conducted a consultation period with various stakeholders in the first two months of this year, including Member Federations, the Global Athletics Coaches Academy and Athletes&rsquo; Commission, the IOC as well as representative transgender and human rights groups.
It became apparent that there was little support within the sport for the option that was first presented to stakeholders, which required transgender athletes to maintain their testosterone levels below 2.5nmol/L for 24 months to be eligible to compete internationally in the female category.
In terms of DSD regulations, World Athletics has more than ten years of research and evidence of the physical advantages that these athletes bring to the female category.
However, there are currently no transgender athletes competing internationally in athletics and consequently no athletics-specific evidence of the impact these athletes would have on the fairness of female competition in athletics.
In these circumstances, the Council decided to prioritise fairness and the integrity of the female competition before inclusion.
However the Council agreed to set up a Working Group for 12 months to further consider the issue of transgender inclusion.
This Working Group will include an independent chair, up to three Council Members, two athletes from the Athletes&rsquo; Commission, a transgender athlete, three representatives of the Member Federations and representatives of the World Athletics Health and Science Department.
Its remit will be to consult specifically with transgender athletes to seek their views on competing in athletics; to review and/or commission additional research where there is currently limited research and to put forward recommendations to Council.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: &ldquo;Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations. We will be guided in this by the science around physical performance and male advantage which will inevitably develop over the coming years. As more evidence becomes available, we will review our position, but we believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount."
World Athletics

The World Athletics Council has today made a number of important decisions regarding the future participation of the Russian and Belarusian Member Federations in athletics, and the eligibility regulations for athletes who are transgender or who have Differences of Sexual Development

World Athletics Council decides on Russia, Belarus and female eligibility

Ryuji Miura, Nozomi Tanaka and Mako Fukube are among the first athletes announced for the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, this year&rsquo;s fourth World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Yokohama, Japan, on 21 May.
Japanese 3000m steeplechase record-holder Miura claimed victory at last year&rsquo;s Seiko Golden Grand Prix and went on to compete at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon and then finish fourth in the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich.
Multiple national record-holder Tanaka, who raced in the 800m, 1500m and 5000m in Oregon, has been busy already this year and competed indoors in the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Boston before racing at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23. She started her Continental Tour season at the Gold event opener in Melbourne, finishing third in the 3000m, and is likely to race the 1500m in Yokohama.
Joining them is Fukube, who was also a winner in the 2022 Seiko Golden Grand Prix. The Japanese champion set the national record of 12.73 in the 100m hurdles last year. Her fellow sprint hurdles national record-holder Shunsuke Izumiya, who clocked 13.06 in the 110m hurdles in 2021, is also in action, as are Shunya Takayama and Rachid Muratake, who won at the Continental Tour Challenger meeting in Sydney earlier this month.
The men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles will feature World Championships semifinalist Kazuki Kurokawa, while his Oregon teammate Hyuga Endo competes in the 5000m.
Asian indoor 3000m bronze medallist Yuma Yamamoto will make her Seiko Golden Grand Prix debut in the 3000m in Yokohama.
This year's World Athletics Continental Tour offers the biggest calendar yet and includes 14 Gold level events spread across five of the six continental areas. The action kicked off in Melbourne, Australia, on 23 February and runs through to September, when the Memorial Borisa Hanzekovica in Zagreb, Croatia, welcomes athletes on 8-10 September.
Other athletes already announced for Tour events include&nbsp;Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce for the Botswana Golden Grand Prix on 29 April, Mondo Duplantis for the Ostrava Golden Spike on 27 June, and Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver for the FBK Games on 4 June.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-continental-tour/calendar-results?season=2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full 2023 World Athletics Continental Tour calendar</a>

Ryuji Miura, Nozomi Tanaka and Mako Fukube are among the first athletes announced for the Seiko Golden Grand Prix