Media Development Programme at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24
The Media Development Programme is a long-term initiative of World Athletics, designed to help grow media coverage of the sport, encourage athletics journalism and bring more young writers and editors into the sport. Seven participants from five countries – Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa and United Kingdom – took part in the latest Media Development Programme, held during the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24.
Sports journalists will drop almost anything to go to a World Championships and that is exactly what I did. Just three days before the World Athletics Media Development Programme started, I was in Loughborough getting ready for my university lectures.
As I was about to leave, I received an email from British Athletics thanking me for my hard work at the British Athletics Indoor Championships and offering me a spot on the Media Development Programme in Glasgow. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be at these championships.
Before I knew it, it was Monday morning and I was on my way to the train station. It was set to be a busy week, but I had no idea how much I would learn.
Tuesday morning came around and I ate breakfast with my peers before heading over to the Glasgow Arena. We spent the first couple of days learning not only from our mentor Riccardo Romani, but also from other experienced journalists and those within World Athletics.
Our classes included learning how to improve our writing, media operations, ethics of journalism, interviewing skills and a commentary masterclass with the one and only Rob Walker, who commentates for most major athletics events including the Olympics.
These classes provided us with essential skills to become top journalists, also allowing us to discuss and share experiences, and learn from one another. We also had the opportunity to go on an arena tour and step foot on the track before any of the athletes – an experience I will be forever grateful for.
Media Development Programme members on an arena tour in Glasgow
The action quickly began and it was time to put into practice what we had learnt. We were each assigned at least one event to write a recap on each day. The first day I wrote a piece on the men’s shot put final – and what a line up it was, with world record-holder, world champion and Olympic champion Ryan Crouser taking the win.
On the morning of day two, I wrote about the men’s long jump final where the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou came out on top despite battling Italian youngster Mattia Furlani the whole competition. During the evening session, I covered the women’s pole vault where British athlete Molly Caudery took the win, and French vaulter Margot Chevrier suffered a serious injury.
Experiencing an international level media mixed zone was something I was very nervous about, knowing it would be extremely busy at times, but the opportunity to interview athletes in that environment only boosted my confidence.
Grateful is an understatement of how appreciative I am for this opportunity. In just a week I have been able to develop a wide variety of skills, network with experienced journalists and receive invaluable feedback.
Jasmine Trapnell of the Media Development Programme for World Athletics
