The realm of track and field sports is going through changes. In the last six months, fans have witnessed watershed moments in the sports coming with the Paris Olympics and the Athlos NYC 2024. Whereas the mega event in the French capital attracted a lot of eyes, Athlos caused a revolution by introducing the first women-only track contest. Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is not lagging. With a $100,000 prize pool, the contest has swirled the world by including Jamaica as one host. Now add the World Athletics Ultimate Championships to the list. 

On November 22, Sebastian Coe showed the green flag at the revolutionary track and field contest. With a $10 million prize pot and 28 events across 16 disciplines, the contest is all set to take over the realm. However, as per the announcement, the fans will have to wait until September 2026 to watch the final shape of it in the stadium.

But that long wait for the prized contest has failed to keep the fans meek. Rather, the ardent followers have already started to analyze the contest thoroughly. Though everything is on paper now, the latest release has provided enough data to brainstorm. 

And folks, the track and field community has already spotted a few gray spots in the structure. For example, on Reddit, someone commented, “Whoever decided to keep like Men’s hammer and remove Women’s hammer needs to be fired. Either remove the event for both sexes or keep it.” Surprisingly, in the list of field events in the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, the men’s hammer throw has found a place, but not the women’s one. Any particular reason? A look at the podium finish in the men’s category at the Paris Olympics may help. 

On August 5, the men’s hammer throw event concluded at the Paris Olympics. Can you recall the winners’ names? Well, Ethan Katzberg took the top position. And who was the runner-up? Bence Halasz from Hungary. In the final, his mammoth throw of 79.97m made the day for him. Now, connect the dots. The Budapest National Athletics Centre will host the inaugural edition of the World Athletics in Hungary. As a result, many track and field enthusiasts believe that the inclusion of the men’s hammer throw event is an attempt to tease the local population. Thus, it might increase the footfall in the stadium. However, a hint of it is noticeable in another WA bigwig’s comment. 

After introducing the contest with one of the biggest prize money, Jon Ridgeon shifted the focus in describing the aim of the contest. Meanwhile, the World Athletics CEO revealed, “The Ultimate Championship is also a chance for us to really innovate how we deliver our sport, presenting it in new formats and across different platforms designed to keep the entire venue engaged.” But the astute fans are showing no mood to hop in the initial celebration. Rather, they have found several questionable points in the World Athletics Ultimate Championships offers. 

The track and field sports fans feel no guilt to term the contest a ‘gimmick’

On November 22, a bunch of announcements were made regarding the structure of the World Athletics Ultimate Championships. And it shows that the contest will be staged every two years. The planning behind it is mainly to bridge the gap between the years without the World Championships. But that’s where problems begin. How? On Reddit, the fans noted down a few.

One such comment read, “So this event is not taking over the World Athletics Championship. The Championships will still take place during odd years and the Olympics every 4 years as usual. So is this going to be on the non Olympic even year only? No idea how this work, or who asked for it. Just seems like a gimmick. Very unpopular to cut some events.” Nonetheless, the structure serves a different schedule. As per the announcement, the inaugural edition will come in 2026. Therefore, the second edition should come in 2028. But that year will host the Los Angeles Olympics. So, will there be a miss for the contest? Well, this year, the World Athletics Championships remained absent because of the Paris Olympics. Any clear announcement on this riddle? No, not yet. 

That led another fan to chime in with a comment: “Can’t they just give us a world championships every year like literally every other major Olympic sport?” WA has introduced the World Athletics Ultimate Championships to bridge the gap. But would it extend the year gap of the World Athletics Championships? Otherwise, will there be three contests (the Olympics and the two World Athletics contests) in a single season? Meanwhile, a few fans seemed to change the focus to the list of events in the schedule. 

One such fan wrote, “The shorter the duration of the championship is it’s easier for people to take in who doesn’t have athletic interest. Easier to sell to them. Diamond League is a great format and it’s on broadcast on prime time and people tune in. It’s a shame that multi event can’t make that list and most field events don’t get live coverage but world athletics have to sell the sport to make more money. Athletes who push human boundaries make a lot less money than they should.” Yes, there are 6 field events in the list, compared to 10 track events. Furthermore, unlike track events, there is no innovation in the field events. That may hinder the popularity in some ways. 

Another track and field sports enthusiast submitted, “When people forget about multi events so much they forget to even include them in the “events not included” list. smh.” The list of missed events would have been big. The gap is visible in both triple jump and hammer throw events where the popularity of faces has received an upper hand. However, a lot of things are still on the cards. But what is your take on the so-far announcement?