World Athletics chief Coe touts faster format, richer rewards after Ultimate debut

BUDAPEST – World Athletics president Sebastian Coe believes his sport has spent too long asking spectators to wait, and he points to the new Ultimate Championship as evidence of how athletics can move faster to attract younger audiences.

The inaugural three-day event, set to wrap on the evening of Sept 13 in Budapest, strengthened Coe’s conviction that athletics needs to quicken its pace, with the condensed format demonstrating how the sport can better engage modern audiences.

“I’ve never understood why it takes seven minutes between the heats of the women’s 200m,” Coe told a small group of reporters on the morning of the final day.

“It just drives me to distraction. So getting stuff more rapidly engages, I think, younger people better.”

The championship, created as a season-ending showcase, compressed competition into a television-friendly format designed to keep fans engaged. Graphics highlighted things like rankings and winning probabilities, while lengthy pre-race introductions were condensed.

“Watching Usain (Bolt) stand on the start line for 20 minutes while volunteers are taking his kit leaves people cold,” he said. “They just want the event.”

While the format attracted attention, Coe said some of the strongest feedback concerned the event’s record US$10 million (S$12.6 million) prize pot.

Winners collected US$150,000, and prize money extended throughout the field, something Coe has long championed.

Two athlete comments crystallised why, he said.

American hurdler and world-record holder Masai Russell told him: “It's the most money I've ever earned in 11 seconds.”

British long jumper Jazmin Sawyers, who earned US$75,000 for second place, had an equally powerful message.

“She said, ‘It means I can stay on in the sport for another year’,” Coe said. “When I was pushing prize money, that’s exactly what I had in mind.”

Fan engagement

In a departure from the Diamond League circuit, athletes competed in national team uniforms rather than commercial kits, a move Coe believes strengthens fan engagement.

“You put an Italian athlete in a national vest, you’re going to get significantly more viewership if there is a national connotation to it,” he said.

Coe, a four-time Olympic medallist over 800m and 1,500m, said the championship attracted significant interest from beyond athletics, with more than 20 International Olympic Committee members attending alongside senior officials from rowing, table tennis and volleyball.

“We all learn from each other here,” he said.

The competition will now undergo a rapid review process, but Coe stressed that the format remained a work in progress. One of the criticisms has been the exclusion of some events.

“I have pointed out that (the line-up of events) is not in tablets of stone,” he said.

Three of the sport’s biggest names were also front and centre, with Bolt back in the World Athletics fold nine years after retirement, and current stars Noah Lyles and Mondo Duplantis helping promote the championship.

“Mondo is the gift that keeps giving because he just wants to help,” Coe said of the world-record holder, who won the pole vault on Sept 11. “He fundamentally understands that promotion is a large element (of an elite athlete’s career).”

Coe was also unfazed by suggestions the next edition could face competition for attention from the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“We wanted our World Championships and now the Ultimate to be the denouement of the season,” he said. REUTERS