Decisions made at World Athletics Council Meeting in Rome | PRESS-RELEASES – World Athletics
The World Athletics Council has made a number of important decisions in its 229th meeting in Rome, to round out a highly successful year for the sport and provide guidance with regard to the coming years.
In his summary of the year, Globe Athletics President Sebastian Coe noted that the organisation had organised four World Athletics Series events, attended by almost 4000 athletes from 180 countries, who set 354 national records. These events reached a cumulative global TV audience of three quarters of a billion, which extended well over one billion when accounting for the digital audience.
Among other events, the sport staged 162 Continental Tour events where almost 12, 000 athletes competed through 159 nations, setting two area records, 118 nationwide records and 2, 396 personal bests.
On the road, the tally will be 200 occasions with almost 3 million people participating and generating a total revenue of $1. 7 mil, of which $72, 000 will be paid to the AIU regarding their testing programme at the top level marathons.
The Planet Athletics website had 33 million visitors with over 1 billion hits on the competition statistics database. Our media coverage has reached 10 billion people. Our social media followers grew to ten million plus our fan database increased to 183, 000.
The Council arrived at the following decisions within its two-day meeting in Rome.
Host of the particular 2024 Entire world Athletics Relays announced
The particular 2024 World Athletics Relays have been awarded to Nassau in The Bahamas.
This event will certainly be held in April/May 2024 (dates to become confirmed) and will end up being the main Olympic qualifying event for that men’s and women’s 4x100m plus 4x400m relays and the mixed 4x400m relay.
Coe welcomed the decision, saying: “We have had three wonderful editions of the World Athletics Relays within Nassau, which usually established this event on the global calendar, so we know we are in safe hands for what will be an important Olympic qualifier for all our exchange events. We are confident that The Bahamas may offer the best conditions for your athletes and a brilliant atmosphere for both athletes and fans as we mark a key milestone on the road to the Paris Olympic Games. ”
The particular President from the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Drumeco Archer responded: “We are incredibly excited for the long-awaited homecoming of the particular World Athletics Relays 2024 and we are grateful to the World Athletics Council intended for considering The Bahamas as the host city to get this all-important event. The BAAA family and stakeholders will be standing at the seashores plus airports with the banner associated with athletics waving high once we welcome the world of athletics and sporting enthusiasts back in order to our shores.
“With the mutual sense of excitement, the Government of The Bahamas is proud to welcome you back to our country, which is widely known as a sporting paradise. Both the Government of The Bahamas as well as the BAAA intend to make the particular fourth hosting of this occasion the most ‘Bahamazing’ experience of them all! ”
Russia Taskforce report
Globe Athletics’ Russia Taskforce expects to be in a position to make a final recommendation to the World Athletics Council around the reinstatement of the Russian Federation (RusAF) in the next Authorities Meeting within March 2023, provided RusAF continues to make progress in reforming its culture, Taskforce Chair Rune Andersen told the Council today.
However he acknowledged that RusAF’s improvement on its reinstatement plan would have no bearing upon any Council decision on RusAF’s status arising from the particular war in Ukraine.
In presenting his regular report to the Council , Andersen said that the particular RusAF leadership team experienced “embedded a new culture of good governance plus zero tolerance for doping throughout the organisation” under Acting Chief executive Irina Privalova.
He noted that RusAF is reporting historic anti-doping rule violations uncovered within the Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), will be delivering anti-doping education pertaining to 13, 000 young sports athletes, has developed a test distribution plan that will includes more than 2000 domestic tests associated with Russian sportsmen per year (most away of competition), and is usually taking some other initiatives, including fining government-funded athletes meant for any single whereabouts infractions.
But Andersen said that widespread and sustainable cultural change would likely take many years to embed and might proceed from different paces in different parts of the particular system. He expressed concern around the decision of the RUSADA disciplinary commission not in order to publish the findings in the case of the particular ice-skater Kamily Valieva.
This individual said the close monitoring and oversight of RusAF’s operations would not end whenever its suspension from membership of World Athletics was lifted, but this function would be taken over by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which would enforce a detailed set of Post-Reinstatement Conditions, more stringent than those currently imposed on “Category A” federations (those regarded as most at risk of major doping issues).
These conditions would become finalised with the AIU over the coming months and might be presented to the particular Council for approval before the Taskforce made its final recommendation on reinstatement.
The Taskforce would also recommend that, to prevent backsliding or interference, any material breach of the Post-Reinstatement Conditions should trigger the Council proposal to Congress to expel RusAF permanently from membership of World Athletics.
Globe Athletics Series updates
In order to continue to support the development associated with road running, especially the particular growth of road miles and 5 km road races, the Council agreed to change the current frequency of the particular biennial Planet Road Running Championships, making it an annual event. The annual rotation will start in 2025.
The Council also approved the following dates for upcoming World Athletics Series events:
World Athletics Cross Country Championships Medulin/Pula 24: 10-11 February 2024
Entire world Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24: 26-31 August 2024
World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25: 13-21 September 2025
Changes to competition rules
From 1 January 2023, World Athletics will introduce an official world record for the road mile. Prior in order to 1 September 2023, official recognition associated with a world record will require a performance of at least 3: 50. 00 (men) / 4: 19. 00 (women). If the listed standards are not met simply by 1 Sept, the fastest recorded, record-eligible performances will certainly be recognised as the world records.
Kenyan Federation status
The particular Council discussed the ongoing situation with doping in Kenya in the context of the Athletics Integrity Unit’s regular report. It was decided that the Kenyan Government’s commitment to provide a good additional $5 million a year for the particular next five years to strengthen Kenya’s anti-doping programmes has been an appropriate response to the situation at this time. As Kenya remains a Category A federation under the World Athletics anti-doping rules, the onus remains on Kenyan authorities to work closely along with the AIU to ensure these funds are used effectively.
Coe welcomed the measures being taken to address the doping situation in Kenya.
“I particularly welcome the additional resource made available by the Government of Kenya in this fight. The only way that we can reduce the particular scale of this problem is a joint commitment across all the sports stakeholders within Kenya and of course World Athletics and its Athletics integrity unit, ” Coe said.
DSD and transgender regulations
Outside of the formal meeting, the Authorities also attended a two-hour information session to discuss an ongoing review of the current DSD Regulations and Transgender Regulations. The preferred option for both sets of regulations was offered to the Council members and it was agreed that this option would certainly be considered more widely during a consultation period with member federations, athletes plus other stakeholders over the particular coming weeks. The results associated with this consultation and the final recommendation will be introduced to the Council for a decision at its March meeting.
“As most of you may know, we have always said our regulations in this particular area, and all areas, are subject to review at any time, ” stated Coe. “In terms of these rules, we can follow the science and the decade and more associated with the research we have in this area in order in order to protect the female category, maintain fairness in our competitions and remain as inclusive because possible. ”
Some extra work is being prepared following the Council information. Once this is complete Globe Athletics will share its preferred option publicly as part of the consultation process.
