Yeman Crippa, Jimmy Gressier, Nerio Alessandri, Sebastian Coe and Gaia Sabbatini (© Technogym)
- First indoor virtual running competition set to connect professional athletes and enthusiasts in fitness and sports centres around the world
Technogym – the world leader in wellness, athletic training, health, and the official supplier to the last 10 Olympic Games – and World Athletics, the global governing body for athletics, are delighted to announce a partnership to launch RUN X™, the first-ever World Treadmill Championship.
The event was launched today in Milan in the presence of Technogym Founder and CEO Nerio Alessandri, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, and world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier.
This groundbreaking 5km competition is set to shake up the concept of running, breaking geographical barriers and making a global athletics championship accessible in sports and fitness centres worldwide.
For more than 40 years, Technogym has been the leader in innovative, high-performance treadmills. Technogym is present in more than 50,000 fitness, wellness and sports centres across 120 countries and boasts the world’s largest connected treadmill installed base. The company has also long promoted its social campaign “Let’s Move for a Better World”, aimed at encouraging regular physical activity to build a healthier and more sustainable planet.
RUN X™ stems from the shared vision of Technogym and World Athletics to leverage the universal popularity of running and make it accessible indoors – in fitness and sport centres – with total safety, comfort and no time or weather constraints.
Starting from Q1 2026, fitness and wellness clubs from all over the world will be able to affiliate and join the network hosting the first World Treadmill Championship. Starting from Q2, runners will be able to register for the competition that will be held in Q4 of 2026. RUN X™ will give members the chance to compete against professional athletes via an online leaderboard displaying real-time rankings from participants across the globe. The 5km results will be certified through treadmills connected to the Technogym Digital Ecosystem. The top-ranked participants in each country, categorised by age group, will then advance to regional championships to qualify for the world final.
The final will take place in an iconic location at the end of 2026, where the world’s top 10 male and 10 female runners will compete for the first-ever treadmill world title in an exciting and engaging format that takes running to a completely new level. RUN X™ will feature a US$100,000 prize pool, while World Athletics will grant wild cards for some of its World Athletics Series events, such as the World Road Running Championships.
Coe said: “We are delighted to partner with Technogym, for the World Treadmill Championship. Together, we aim to create a virtual competition space that builds a global community, entertains and motivates amateur runners to compete and connect with a worldwide virtual community. By combining the best of Technogym’s running technology with the reach and universality of athletics, this event promises to revolutionise the world of e-sports.”
Alessandri added: “We are very proud of this partnership with World Athletics, which perfectly aligns with our long-term mission to engage more and more people in regular physical exercise. RUN X™ will connect millions of runners with our partner fitness centres around the globe, while our exclusive Technogym Ecosystem will serve as the driving force behind this new competition.”
World Athletics