World Athletics President Sebastian Coe at the 234th World Athletics Council Meeting (© Jeff Holmes / WIC Glasgow 24)
- Athletics calendar to conclude with World Athletics Championships from 2025 onwards
- Timetable confirmed for World Athletics Cross Country Championships Belgrade 24
The World Athletics Council has selected Beijing, China, to host the 2027 World Athletics Championships.
The decision was made at the 234th World Athletics Council Meeting, held in Glasgow ahead of the World Athletics Indoor Championships (1-3 March).
The 2027 World Athletics Championships will welcome the sport’s biggest stars back to Beijing, 12 years on from the Chinese capital’s successful staging of athletics’ flagship event and almost two decades on from the Beijing Olympic Games.
China will also host next year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships, in Nanjing.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “Congratulations to Beijing on their successful bid to host the World Athletics Championships in 2027, 12 years after our athletes lit up the National Stadium for the 15th edition of our global showpiece.
“With a population of more than 1.4 billion, China is one of the biggest sports markets in the world. It was the top performer for Wanda Diamond League broadcast consumption in 2023 with a cumulative audience of 368.9 million. This poses a massive opportunity to grow our sport and fan base in one of the biggest commercial markets in the world.
“With the announcement of China as our next host, our last four World Athletics Championships have now been awarded to the world’s four largest economies; the USA (Oregon), the EU (Budapest), Japan (Tokyo) and China (Beijing).”
Wang Nan, World Athletics Council Member and Vice President of the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), said: “Thank you to World Athletics for the recognition and trust in China and Beijing. The CAA will work together with the Beijing organising committee to make every effort to prepare for the championships, ensure that the championships will be held to the highest quality standard, and strive to present a wonderful World Athletics Championships to make more contributions to the development of athletics across the world.”
Zhao Wen, Director of the Beijing Sports Bureau, said: “We thank World Athletics for the trust and support of Beijing. After the 15th World Athletics Championships in 2015, Beijing is honoured to host the 21st World Athletics Championships, the world's highest-level athletics event, in 2027.
“Following the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Beijing has become the first city in the world to have held both summer and winter Olympics. Sports has given life and vitality to this ancient capital. We are very much looking forward to the World Athletics Family returning to Beijing to feel and experience the charm of the ancient and modern capital. With the guidance and assistance of World Athletics, Beijing will do its best to prepare for the championships and present the world with an extraordinary athletics event.”
The last edition of the World Athletics Championships was held in Budapest in August, while Tokyo will host the 2025 event.
Safeguarding Policy
Following on from the robust policies that have been implemented and are taking effect, the World Athletics Council received an update on progress made in relation to safeguarding. Detailed safeguarding event plans will be in place for all World Athletics Series events and the new online Safeguarding Essentials training course is being promoted for everyone in athletics to take.
A revised version of the World Athletics Safeguarding Policy was approved and will be uploaded to the World Athletics Library shortly. The principal changes are to make it mandatory for Area Associations to have their own safeguarding policies and procedures by the end of 2024 and for there to be consequences for Area Associations and Member Federations if they do not have their own safeguarding policies and procedures by the deadlines set by the Council.
Competition updates
The World Athletics Council has approved a proposal to restructure the summer track and field season from 2025 onwards. 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.
The World Athletics Council has also approved the systematic use of all nine lanes (when available) for semifinals and finals in the laned events (sprints and all races up to and including 800m) at the World Athletics Championships. This will be built into the race progression conditions from 2025. This new policy will see the first three from each semifinal advance to the final, where nine athletes/teams would compete.
In other competition updates, the Council has approved the competition timetable for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Belgrade 24. Held on 30 March 2024, the programme will kick off with the U20 women’s race and close with the senior men’s race. Full timetable below:
Saturday 30 March 2024
11:00am U20 women's 6km
11:35am U20 men’s 8km
12:15pm mixed 4x2km relay
12:45pm senior women’s 10km
1:30pm senior men's 10km
Amendments to the following 2024 regulations were also approved by the Council and will be uploaded to the World Athletics Library in due course:
• Continental Tour Regulations
• Label Road Race Regulations
• Diamond League Regulations
• Combined Events Tour Regulations
• Cross Country Tour Regulations
• Race Walking Tour Regulations
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