Trailers are now out for the second season of “Sprint”! The huge selling point being that it’s the “Olympic Season”! The season that matters. If you don’t get it done at the Olympics, you won’t be remembered! Unfortunately, this is probably true. I remember championship races outside of the Olympics. The 1987 men’s 100m with Ben and Carl. Maurice Greene’s emergence in Athens in 1997. The close men’s 200m finish in Edmonton 2001. Justin Gatlin’s sprint double in Helsinki 2005 (yes, Gat won a double), followed by Tyson Gay’s double in Osaka two years later. However, I’m a track nerd that watches and remember dozens of races every year! For the average fan, the thing that matters is the Olympics, because in their minds it’s the only championship our sport has – and that is a problem!

It’s a problem, because we do have a championship meet, but the Olympics is considered to be better! In some ways, it is. This Olympics was one of the greatest events we’ve ever seen in this sport. Tremendous competition. Outstanding results. The type of meet that every World Championships or Olympics should be, the defining moment of our sport. An event that if it’s the only example of track and field you saw this year, it makes you want to see more! That’s what I want to discuss today. How to make every World Championships THAT meet, because that is currently not the case.

Let’s take a quick look back at the 2023 version of Worlds. There were athletes that chose not to compete due to various levels of injuries and preparedness. With the explanation that they were focusing on getting ready for this year’s Paris Olympics – a year away! This included athletes like Kelvin Kiptum (#2 all time marathon), Sydney McLaughlin (WR holder 400H), Athing Mu (AR holder 800m) and Michael Norman (defending champion, 400m) among others. (note that Athing finally chose to compete at the last minute). This reflects the perception of those within the sport towards our own World Championships – ostensibly the pinnacle of competition in track and field! That perception has been made clear – in our sport NOTHING trumps the Olympics. Not even the World Championships! THAT to me is concerning. That OUR championship, the World Championship, is not considered to be the height of the sport. That it’s worth “skipping” in order to prepare to compete in another competition, an entire year later!

Now, I’m old enough to remember the very first Worlds in 1983. To be honest, at the time I was both excited and disappointed. Excited that the sport was finally going to have a global championship and a stage to showcase OUR best athletes, and settle the question of “who’s the best” – sort of. Unfortunately what we did, was simply copy the Olympics! Giving no thought to how we could make it better. The same format, all the way down to making it every four years! Then we set it the year before the Olympics. Making it the warm up act for the Games! It was my feeling at the time that we were setting ourselves up to be the little brother of the Olympics – and that is exactly what the World Championships have become! Yes, a decade in, we added a second meet in the “Olympic cycle” (1993). Making Worlds every other year. But that just made us the lead in and follow up, to the world’s largest sporting spectacle. We dared not have a championship that didn’t sit next to the Olympics. Still the same meet. Still second fiddle to the grandeur that is the Olympics. And more importantly in my opinion, not a true championship! I’ll explain in a moment.

Ironically, because of Covid, we’ve had a four year cycle of championships. Interesting because everyone had become used to having an “off season” where you could rest and rejuvenate. I bring this up because as I said in a couple of previous posts, top athletes competing often is key to building our audience. From that position, I think having annual championships is important. So I would like to see that happen. That said, before laying out how I would restructure and improve our current World Championship, let me identify two problems that I see that exist.

One is the Diamond League. The problem with the DL is that World Athletics has attempted to elevate it in importance to the same level of the World Championships. As competition in the Diamond League is at the heart of the World Athletics ranking system, which it uses to determine qualification for the World Championships (and Olympics), outside of actual qualification via qualifying standards. If this sounds convoluted, that’s because it is. Making it very difficult for athletes and coaches to figure out if they qualify or not. Then scrambling to figure out how, and more importantly WHERE, they can qualify! It gets better however, as the Diamond League has its own “championship meet”. At which time its winners are given passage (bye) to the World Championships! Equating winning the Diamond League competition to winning Worlds itself. No other meet should be given equal status with your championship meet if you want it to be special! Period. Especially when you look at the DL final, and the fact that it isn’t even the best meet (competition wise) on its own the circuit!

The second problem I have is this new “Ultimate Championship”. Basically a meet of finals. Competitors are selected by being at the top of the WA ranking system (again). Another attempt at giving power to the ranking system, which in turn gives priority to competing in Europe. Making this meet more like another form of European championship. I find it prejudicial to continue to elevate European meets, as well as prioritize them above all other meets. It’s also disingenuous to keep calling everything a championship! You should only call your true championship meet, a championship. Especially if you want to build support for the sport! For example, the end of the Diamond League (series) should simply be the finale! Award your payouts according to the system, but that’s it. No fan fair as if they had just won the second version of the World championship. More like winning an event at the Penn Relays, or similar competition. So, with that, let’s take a look at how to improve and elevate the actual World Championships.

Let’s start by divorcing ourselves from the Olympic format. One, we need to stop being a compared to the Olympics. Two, the Olympics are NOT a championship. The Olympics were designed to be a “participation” competition – not really a championship competition. The purpose of the modern Olympics was to gather the entire world together in peaceful competition! Yes, the winners of those competing are called Olympic Champions – mirroring the name of the competition, but the Games were not created to determine global champions. Every nation on the planet gets to send competitors, regardless of how good the athletes are. Meanwhile many of the world’s best are left at home, because there is a limit of 3 athletes per country that are allowed to represent each nation. Remember, this is a “festival” of sports. Not a championship. It is this structure that track and field adopted as it’s “championship” structure back in 1983! And it’s this structure that has made us second class citizens to the Olympic Games. We can’t out Olympic the Olympics, because we are a single sport attempting to compete against the grandeur that is the Olympics, with it’s multitude of sports! That stage has billions more eyes on it than our stage – as big brothers typically have over little brothers. So, as little brothers have to do to become their own person. It’s time for us to go our own way. Which in my opinion means developing a true global championship that actually has meaning!

To that end, I’m going to start by changing who participates in our championships! We’re going to move from a participation meet to a championship meet. Meaning that only the best will be invited – ie everyone doesn’t get an entry! My thought is this. Forget the byes. The original bye was done to get an injured previous champion and star of the sport into the ’97 championships. Instead of being a temporary thing, it’s grown out of hand in my opinion. As the sport keeps looking for ways to simply advance athletes in. A championship is supposed to be about the best athletes in the given year. Not one or two years before! Plus I also see byes as detrimental to the sport, because it allows athletes to not compete, and simply work towards their participation at Worlds!

This is why I’m abolishing byes. EVERYONE earns their way into the meet each year. Next I’m getting rid of the “world rankings” as a means of qualification. It’s much too flawed. Previous years’ marks used. Focus on European vs other competitions. Clear bias against meets that are more world class in terms of competitions, than meets graded “A” level. Instead I’m moving to the entry of 32 individuals per event, based on the current year’s (calendar year) performances. An average of an individuals top three legal marks in the calendar year (ie wind aided marks excluded). With a cutoff 45 days prior to the championship. Marks can be made in any meet sanctioned by a national governing body. This will guarantee that the best athletes in a given season, will be competing in the world championship. Without prejudice to where you compete. You no longer have to go exclusively to Europe to secure entry! It does require however, that you compete at least three times before the championship, in your preferred event. I will allow the caveat of qualifying in a second event if you are also top 15 in the second event with a single competition. Also, if you do not have three competitions with legal wind, your entry will be determined by those with legal wind, plus the adjusted time of those required to reach three competitions. So, for example, if you have two legal marks, one adjusted windy mark will be added to determine the three event average. By the way, the three mark average is in effect to prevent the outlier performance from getting an individual into the World Championships. You are what you do on average, not what you do once in an extraordinary situation.

To ensure that no nation can ever completely dominate the entries in an event, there will be a cap of 8 athletes per event (25% of a field) for any individual nation. While a country can’t dominate all of the entries, there is the possibility to dominate a final. Creating a unique goal. Also, 32 relay teams will be invited per event. I’m dropping the mixed relay and adding the DMR. Making the list of relays the 4×1, 4×4, and DMR. All relays will be run at the end of the competition. So as not to interfere with individual events. My way of increasing national participation overall. The relay squads can still be selected via the World Relays. Meaning that this competition will need to increase its level of participation as well. I would dictate that relay squads must be made up of individuals that competed in one’s national championships. To encourage national participation, not discourage it. And I’m eliminating repechage. Competition will be too high, for anyone to run an extra round. Not to mention that repechage was only helpful for a single individual that used it in a manner for which it was not designed.

In addition to dropping the repechage round and the mixed 4×4 relay, I would also like to make some other changes to the schedule of the meet. Starting with providing rest time between “natural” doubles. Those being the 100/200, 200/400, 400/800, 800/1500, 400/400H, and 1500/5000. If these “doubles” have the ability to be run, the odds are more likely to see them be attempted. The Olympics had the 100 end one evening and the 200 begin the next morning. This type of scheduling is difficult on athletes attempting doubles. The goal should always be to get top athletes competing as much as possible. Scheduling should always be done with this in mind. The potential of watching Letsile Tebogo attempt the 200m/400m double, and Sydney McLaughlin Levrone and/or Femke Bol compete over 400m and 400H hurdles is sure to increase viewership! The sport’s best marketing opportunities will always be having the best athletes competing! The more our best compete, the more recognition we will receive.

The idea here is to create an event where the cream of the crop go head to head. Truly the best athletes available in any given season. Leaving the Olympics as the participation event and turning our annual gathering into a true championship! Finally elevating Worlds as the meet where the absolute best of the best compete! This will make our winners true world champions because they beat the very best in the world – the absolute best available in any given year. You don’t get to sit on your arse and just show up and compete one time. You have to earn your way, this year, to be at the party. You had to compete. And if, by mark, you are among the top ten in the world, you go (the system basically guarantees that)! No more being a top five or six in the world and watching on television. Creating a meet that fans will be compelled to watch. Therefore advertisers will want to spend their money! THIS is what our sport needs. It’s time for little brother to show that he is every bit as good as big brother. Frankly, better in his own sphere.

These are my thoughts. The framework/basic structure to take the World Championships to a higher level. It’s time for the sport to take some steps forward. Athletics needs to make it’s own way. Ironically, last year, Seb Coe stated that he believes there is room in 2026 for what he called a, “Best of the Best” event (his Ultimate Championship)! Which makes me believe that he too sees the need for something more in the sport. The Ultimate Championship just isn’t it, as the only thing it guarantees is further participation in European meets. Putting the absolute best that we have in the spotlight can only be a good thing. As good as the World Championships is it’s not yet at the level of the Super Bowl or World Series. It’s not yet, must see TV. It’s time to become, must see TV. When we get the best that we have to offer going head to head that’s exactly what we are – must see TV. You have to look no further than the Paris Olympics! Now imagine Paris with every round being stacked! I have.