The World Athletics Council has today approved the timetable and qualification system for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 and the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25.
The next World Championships will be held in the Japanese capital from 13-21 September. All road events will be held during morning sessions, while all other finals will take place in evening sessions. There will be morning sessions across both weekends, plus Monday 15 September – which is a bank holiday in Japan. The remaining weekdays will just have evening sessions.
The championships will begin with the men’s and women’s 35km race walk, and the first day will end with the mixed 4x400m final. Both men’s and women’s 100m finals will be held on day two, while a packed final day of action features nine finals on the track, ending with the men’s 4x100m – a break from the traditional championship-ending 4x400m.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said: “We are very pleased that the official timetable for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 has been confirmed by the Council here in Paris, which allows ticket pre-sales to start right away.
“We are thrilled to be returning to Tokyo with the biggest stars of our sport who will light up the iconic stadium across nine days of awe-inspiring competition. They are sure to delight fans from Japan and around the world with their breath-taking performances.
“As one of the largest athletics stadiums in the world, the main stadium facilities in Tokyo are best in class – and the more than 40 million people in the Greater Tokyo area present massive growth opportunities for our sport.”
As has been the case for recent global championships, the qualification system for the championships will be based on a combination of entry standards and world rankings. The entry standards have been set with the aim of qualifying about 50% of the athletes.
The qualifying window for the marathon and 35km race walk is 5 November 2024 until 4 May 2025. For the 10,000m, 20km race walk, combined events and relays, the window runs from 25 February 2024 to 24 August 2025. For all other events, entry standards can be achieved from 1 August 2024 to 24 August 2025.
The World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25 will be used as a qualifying event for the relays with the top 14 teams in each discipline securing their place at the World Championships.
As was the case for the last World Championships, the top five finishers at Platinum Label marathons and winners of individual events at area championships (except for the marathon), regardless of marks, will be considered as having achieved the entry standard.
There has been a reduction in the number of athletes qualifying for the 10,000m via the Cross Country Tour. Previously, the top eight athletes in the Cross Country Tour – not qualified through entry standards or other ways – were deemed to be qualified for the 10,000m. This number has now been reduced to the top three athletes.
For the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25, which will be held from 21-23 March next year, athletes can qualify in one of three ways: by achieving the entry standard; by earning a wild card entry through winning their discipline on the World Indoor Tour; or by virtue of their position on the top performances list from 1 September 2024 to 9 March 2025 to complete, where necessary, the target number of athletes in each event.
This is a change from the last edition, where world rankings were used to reach the target numbers in each field.
The full qualification system documents for WCH Tokyo 25 and WIC Nanjing 25 will be published in due course.
Annual report and accounts published
World Athletics’ 2023 Annual Report and Accounts, released today, saw an exceptionally strong year for the sport, anchored by one of the best World Athletics Championships in history as well as strong one-day circuits and new market growth in road running.
While total revenue from television rights and sponsorship saw a slight decrease in 2023, (US$46.3m vs $48.7m), other revenues, including monies from RusAF, Kenya and the Label Road Race programme, increased by 27% which helped revenue remain broadly flat for the period at US$54.2m. Reassured by a solid cash position at the end of 2022, World Athletics continued to invest sensibly in competition and development, leaving a favourable cash position at the end of 2023 of US$33m.
The Grant for Growth programme, for member federations to implement projects to support the World Plan 2022-2030, received a 76% uplift in funds during the year which was offset by a 15% decrease in competition spend due to staging three World Athletics Series events in 2023 as opposed to four in 2022. This resulted in total expenditure remaining broadly flat, year on year, at US$70m.
At the end of the four-year Olympic cycle, which covered the disrupted Covid pandemic years, revenue increased 23% from US$44.3m to US$54.2m at the end of 2023.
Significant investment in competitions – particularly the Continental Tour, which grew from 28 events to 229 over the four years – rose 136%. Grants for Member Federation and Area Association development and competition grew by 45% over the same period. The introduction of an additional US$1m in athlete prize money at the World Championships means World Athletics now distributes, together with their local organising committees, about US$12m in prize money to athletes every two years.
World Athletics also invested substantial funding into new data and research (US$1.8m), which altogether increased expenses over the four years by 69% from US$41.7m in 2020 to US$70.6m at the end of 2023.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in his report: “2023 was an exceptionally strong year for athletics, anchored by one of the best World Athletics Championships in history as well as strong one-day circuits and new market growth in road running. A first-rate World Athletics Championships has left our stakeholders and fans in no doubt that we are a sport that is punching its weight and on the move. Almost 2000 athletes from 195 countries and members of our Athletics Refugee Team took part, with 46 countries winning medals and 71 countries making the top eight. No other sport has the global reach of athletics.”
Other decisions
Numerous other decisions and proposals were approved during the 235th World Athletics Council Meeting in Paris.
Among them was a proposal put forward by the Safeguarding Task Force, ensuring that completion of the safeguarding essentials course would be mandatory for safeguarding officers, Safeguarding Task Force Members, World Athletics staff, roles involved in the investigation or adjudication of safeguarding matters, Athletes’ Commission Members, Council Members, area presidents and vetting panels.
World Athletics
