The World Athletics Council has ratified sweeping changes across several disciplines, including the mixed 4x100m relay and the indoor 400m and 800m races, effective next season.
Meeting for its 238th sitting in Tokyo ahead of the World Championships, which will start on Saturday and run through September 21, the council focused on innovation and growth to shape the sport’s future.
Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei attended in his capacity as World Athletics vice president.
At the heart of discussions was the sport’s trajectory over the next two years, a period that will mark the end of the current council’s term, including that of president Sebastian Coe.
”In two years, we will meet again in Beijing, and a number of us in this room, including me, will end our term of office at World Athletics. That gives us two years to supercharge our sport so we can hand it over to others in better shape than we inherited it,” Coe said.
Among the landmark decisions was the adoption of a fixed running order for the mixed 4x100m relay, which will debut at the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Botswana.
Teams will now line up in a man-woman-man-woman sequence, a format that will remain standard through to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
”The Council also approved the proposal to introduce a fixed running order of man-woman-man-woman for the 4x100m mixed relay in World Athletics Series events and to use this format starting with the 2026 World Athletics Relays in Botswana,” the statement from World Athletics read.
The world governing body noted that the change was brought about following feedback from member federations.
”This proposal followed a series of action points taken since the World Relays in Guangzhou earlier this year, including Member Federation feedback, a trial during the Diamond League meeting in Brussels, and consideration of what is deemed to be the most spectacular yet challenging format,” read the statement.
In the mixed 4x400m relay, the council endorsed a new substitution rule.
Teams will now be permitted up to two substitutions at the World Relays, although the quota will remain at one for the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
From the 2026 World Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze, Poland, the 400m will be reduced to four athletes per heat instead of six, with lanes one and two left vacant to counter the curve disadvantage.
The indoor 800m will also undergo a tactical redesign, with the introduction of a new break point.
Athletes will now break at the same point as the 400m runners, around 165m into the race at the entrance of the home straight, to improve spacing, safety and racing fluidity.
by TEDDY MULEI
