Climate change could reshape global athletics calendar, Coe says
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says the schedule may need re-engineering as heat and climate change affect elite competition in Tokyo
The World Athletics calendar may need to be re-engineered amid climate change, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said, after athletes faced extreme heat during nine days of competition at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The meet at Japan's National Stadium followed a Tokyo Olympics held behind closed doors four years earlier, and the meet showcased stars such as Armand Duplantis, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Noah Lyles and Faith Kipyegon.
Heat and humidity dominated discussions in the opening days, with temperatures above 30 C and humidity above 90 percent affecting endurance events and shaping race strategies. Coe cited World Athletics research indicating that about 70 percent of athletes report climate-change-related impacts on their training and competition schedules. He suggested that the calendar may need to shift, potentially moving endurance events to cooler times of year or to different venues to protect athletes.
Coe said re-engineering the international calendar would require cooperation across Olympic sports and the broader Olympic movement, even if it creates branding challenges. He argued that governments have not stepped up on the issue and emphasized the need to protect athletes from unsafe conditions while preserving the sport's reach.
On the governance side, Coe confirmed that all athletes who competed in the female category at the world championships underwent genetic testing via cheek swab and that the program would continue. He noted that the details of any athletes who might have been prevented from competing would remain confidential. The policy has drawn scrutiny amid external reporting about cases where puberty-related biological backgrounds have appeared in female events since 2000.
Looking ahead, World Athletics will stage its inaugural Ultimate Championships in Budapest next year, a three-day event designed to bridge major championships and provide a definitive conclusion to the 2026 season. The event will feature world champions, Diamond League winners and the sport’s top performers, with a prize pot of 10 million dollars. Earlier this year the federation also launched Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track, an event series excluding field events, which ended with the final leg canceled for financial reasons and whose future remains uncertain.
Coe described the Ultimate Championships as an incubator for change, noting that the four-year cycle includes a year when the sport does not achieve global exposure. The idea is to test new concepts that could later be adopted at the sport's major stages, while acknowledging there is still a lot of work to do.
Olympic great Usain Bolt told BBC Sport the Ultimate Championships could be a positive first step as track and field looks to grow. Bolt said the sport needs to evolve and that athletes deserve better rewards as the sport remains one of the biggest globally but often underfunded.
Observers cited improvements in synthetic track surfaces, footwear and coaching as factors behind many standout performances in Tokyo. Coe added that while the spectacle is growing, prize money remains a concern and should properly flow to athletes as the sport expands.
