World Championships to ‘dominate the landscape of London

London, Apr 12, 2017: landscape, The first day of the 209th IAAF Council Meeting took place in London chaired by IAAF President Sebastian Coe.

The highlight of the day was a presentation to Council by the local organising committee (LOC) for the IAAF World Championships London 2017 (4 to 13 August).

The LOC is meeting the plethora of milestones that comes at this stage of preparation and is on track to delivering a great event with full stadia and passionate fans. The international tickets sales are the best ever with 605,000 tickets sold to date, more than any other IAAF World Championships. This includes 80,000 children’s tickets at the Usain Bolt price of £9.58.

The marathons on Sunday 6 August and the Festival of Race Walks on Sunday 13 August in the City of London offer a unique opportunity for the sport to dominate the landscape of London, maximising attention.

The marathon start and finish will be on Tower Bridge and the course of 4x10km loops is very spectator friendly and takes in many iconic London landmarks with victory ceremonies held in the Tower of London Moat.

The race walks will be held on a two-kilometre loop along The Mall, between Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square with the world famous ‘Changing of the Guard’ being featured with victory ceremonies taking place against the stunning backdrop of Buckingham Palace at the end of the day.

Important milestones to the start of the championships:
20 April: Mascot unveiled
26 April: 100 days to go
25 May: Medal design unveiled
1 June: Training begins for 700 volunteers – ‘The Runners’
15 June: 50 days to go
200m / 400m double now possible in London

Following requests from the athletics federations of The Bahamas and South Africa to amend the timetable to better allow for a 200m / 400m doubling opportunity, Council has approved changes to the timetable of IAAF World Championships London 2017 (4 to 13 August) as follows:
• Men’s 200m round 1 moved from day 5 (8 Aug) to day 4 (7 Aug)
• Women’s 200m round 1 moved from day 6 (9 Aug) to day 5 (8 Aug)
• Women’s 3000m steeplechase round 1 moved from day 5 (8 Aug) to day 6 (9 Aug)

IAAF President, Sebastian Coe commented: “This summer’s World Championships are close to my heart. 12 years ago London won the right to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. That decision led to the building of the Olympic Park and the stadium and a decision to keep the track after the Games. This in turn meant that London could bid for and host this summer’s championships. With just four months to go until competition begins, I look at the success story which is Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and am grateful to the LOC and so many other people for believing in and delivering this extraordinary legacy.

I see a vibrant community space, the former athletes’ village redeveloped into housing and a series of world-class sporting venues being used by Londoners on a daily basis and hosting international sporting events. This was the dream we all had over a decade ago.

“I am also delighted that the Council today approved the 200m and 400m double. These double headers create great excitement among both athletes and fans.”

The IAAF Council also approved the following:

Athletics Integrity Unit Board confirmed
Council approved the composition of the Board of the independent Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) which began operation on Monday 3 April 2017.

The Chair David Howman, whose appointment was announced last week, is joined by three fellow Board Members, Abby Hoffman, Marc Peltier and Andrew Pipe, who bring with them a wealth of experience across sports governance and anti-doping.

IAAF Council Member Abby Hoffman is a Senior Executive in the Ministry of Health of the Government of Canada and has been the coordinator of the IAAF Anti-doping Task Force since 2004.

English born Dr Andrew Pipe is Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and has played a key role in the design and development of the structures and processes of World Anti-Doping Agency.

Marc Peltier, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, teaches Sports and Business law and is an observer on the World Anti-Doping Agency Education Committee of which he was a member from 2014-2016.
The fifth and final member of the Board is the AIU Head, a position which, until a permanent appointment is made, will be filled by Thomas Capdevielle who is Head of Testing and Deputy Head.

World Athletics Series dates and timetables approved
Council agreed the following dates:
• IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships Taicang 2018: 5-6 May 2018
• IAAF World Cross Country Championships Aarhus 2019: 30 March 2019
• IAAF World Championships Oregon21: 6 August – 15 August 2021.

Council agreed the following timetables:
• IAAF World Half Marathon Valencia 2018 (24 March 2018):

Women’s race: 17:05; Men’s race: 17:30
• IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018 (download)

Extra competition session added to IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018

Council has agreed to a special high jump session being added for the evening of Thursday 1 March to the timetable of the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018. This means that the championships, which will be held at Arena Birmingham, will be a four-day event instead of the traditional three, with the dates changing from 2-4 March 2018 to 1-4 March. —- IAAF

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