World Athletics Decisions

Relais 4x100 m mixed

Related to the relays, the World Athletics Council approved the running order for the 4x100m mixed relay at the upcoming World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25 as woman, woman, man, man. This running order will be reviewed after the event in Guangzhou. Records for the 4x100m mixed relay will be recognised as of 1 January 2026 (with the inaugural performance to better the recognised world best performance as of the end of 2025). As well as forming part of the race programme for the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, the mixed 4x100m will be contested at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in 2026.

IOC: Kirsty Coventry succeeds Thomas Batch

Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry has been elected President of the International Olympic Committee. The 41-year-old former swimmer becomes the first female president of the international body. Her term runs until 2033.

The other candidates vying for the position were Sebastian Coe (Great Britain), Johan Eliasch (Sweden/Great Britain), Prince Feisal al-Hussein (Jordan), David Lappartient (France), Juan Antonio Samaranch et Morinari Watanabe (Japan).

Duplantis breaks world pole vault record

Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis soared 6.27m to set the 11th world pole vault record of his career at the All Star Perche, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, in Clermont-Ferrand on Friday (28).

Botswana and Kenya conquer the world

Botswana has bid to host the 2026 World Athletics Relays, while Kenya officially bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, aiming to be the first African nation to host this prestigious event.

World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25

The World Athletics Championships will be held in Tokyo from 13-21 September 2025.

More than 2000 athletes from some 200 countries will come to Tokyo to take part in one of the world's biggest sporting events. The first event was held in Helsinki, Finland. Tokyo will host the event for the second time and for the first time since 1991. 

World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25

There’s little over a month to go until the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 and excitement is building for three unforgettable days of top-class competition.

More than 500 athletes from some 120 nations are expected to compete for medals across 26 events at Nanjing’s Cube, part of the Nanjing Sports Training Centre in the Jiangbei New District, on 21-23 March.

Things to look forward to 2025

There are so many things to get excited about in the sport of athletics in 2025.

Four World Athletics Series events take place this year, kicking off with the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing in March. The global showpiece is the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 in September and for many athletes the road to Tokyo will include the one-day meeting circuits such as the Diamond League and Continental Tour, the World Indoor Tour, Cross Country Tour, Combined Events Tour and Race Walking Tour throughout the year.

Beatrice Chebet smashes world 5 km record

Olympic 5000m and 10.000m champion Beatrice Chebet ended her year on a high by running a stunning 13:54 to shatter the world 5km record at the Cursa dels Nassos, a World Athletics Label road race, in Barcelona on Tuesday (31).

Mahuchikh, LaFond and Chopra enter MOWA

Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the World Athletics women’s field event athlete of the year, and her fellow Paris 2024 Olympic medallists Thea LaFond of Dominica and Neeraj Chopra of India are among the 23 athletes whose competition artefacts are today (12) inducted into the World Athletics Heritage Collection, which is displayed in the online 3D platform of the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).

“Thank you to the athletes who have so kindly donated their competition clothing, shoes and even medals to our museum’s collection in 2024,” commented World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

In total, 32 artefacts related to 23 athletes from 12 countries representing four continental areas have today been added across the MOWA’s five online 3D galleries.