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≡ WORLD ATHLETICS COUNCIL ≡
“World Athletics is now a high-performing growth business. This isn’t a vision or a wish. It is a fact.
“Growth is exciting, but it can also be risky if you are not prepared. Fast-growth businesses are not just looking for short-term wins, they are building scalable systems and strategies to sustain that growth over time. It’s why we have a four-year business strategy and an eight-year World Plan.”
That’s World Athletics President Sebastian Coe (GBR), speaking after the World Athletics Council meeting in Tokyo (JPN) on Tuesday (9th), noting high-profile efforts like the 2026 World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest at the end of the season, when a World Athletics Championships is not being held. Coe added:
“In two years’ time we will meet again in Beijing and a number of us in this room, including me, will end our term of office at World Athletics. That gives us two years to supercharge our sport so we can hand it over to others in better shape than we inherited it.
“Our challenge isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s knowing where to prioritize, how to adapt, and how to make the kind of strategic decisions that lead to meaningful, sustainable growth.
“Understanding the goal is what is important – actually, critical – as our growth journey will only speed up over the next two years.”
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On the federation’s new SRY gene-testing efforts for eligibility in the female category, the meeting summary noted, “more than 95% of testing is now complete with the remainder of the tests (for the French and Norwegian teams and some athletes based in France) being done in Tokyo prior to the start of the competition at the World Athletics Championships.”
He was asked about issues with the testing, in view of the problems from five federations suffered by World Boxing, and the inability to test in France due to the laws there:
“I’m actually comforted that, thus far, we haven’t and I think it’s because of the very nature and clarity around the testing and the processes. Our medical delegate is the only one that will see the test. If there is anything to be followed up on, they will follow it up directly with the athlete.
“We’re not testing for anything other than the eligibility or otherwise of that athlete. There’s no DNA testing. There’s no genetic testing. That is simply what we’re looking for.
“It’s a one-off test. and once that has been done, that’s it. And when the information that we glean is deemed useful and absorbed, it is then destroyed. We’ve followed this very, very closely.
“We’ve done this to the highest and accepted standards of international medical practice. and look, I think we’re we’re in pretty good shape, but of course, if athletes individually had any concerns, I would or we would want to reassure them that we’ve taken a lot of effort to make sure that those security issues are absolutely followed through.”
But what about France?
“Some nations will have national laws in place, but actually, on this occasion where they have, we’ve actually managed to work our way around those in a sensible and a constructive way, particularly with the member federation.
“So, you know, the very fact that we I’m able pretty much to say to you that 95% of our testing has already been done still within touching distance of a championships tells me that these are workable situations.“
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Also:
● “The Council also approved the proposal to introduce a fixed running order of man-woman-man-woman for the 4x100m mixed relay in World Athletics Series events and to use this format starting with the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Botswana. This running order will be used at all World Athletics Series events up to and at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.”
● The indoor 400 m was re-formatted, “with a potential pilot at the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships. The format will see the number of athletes per heat reduced from six to four, leaving lanes one and two empty due to their inherent disadvantage on tight indoor curves.”
World Athletics will hold its 55th Congress on 11-12 September in Tokyo, with the Worlds to begin on Saturday (13th).
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