‘Big and punchy’: World Athletics chief Coe looks to future in final 2 years in role

Sebastian Coe has two years left as World Athletics president and it promises to be lively, as he said next year’s inaugural Ultimate Team Championship would remind the world the sport was “big and punchy and still there.”

The 68-year-old Englishman has shrugged off the disappointment of finishing third in the International Olympic Committee presidential election in March, saying he was not “not one for rear view mirrors”, adding he had “conceded and moved on”.

Moved on he certainly has. The old brio, dynamism and charm were all to the fore as he addressed the issues that would dominate the final leg of a 12-year tenure that – like his Olympic gold medal-winning track career – has never been dull.

The World Championships arrive in September in Tokyo – “a massive moment”, Coe said, not least because there would be spectators unlike at the Covid-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in the same stadium.

Then attention switches to the Ultimate Team Championship, slated for September 11 to 13 next year, in Budapest – the city which hosted the 2023 hosted the 2023 World Championships.

Each session will last three hours and athletes will represent both themselves and their national teams, wearing national kit.