Athletics

Sports technology community Sports Loft has announced the launch of a new Advisory Board, appointing five executives and investors from the UK and US sport industries.

According to the network - which brings together start-ups and technology companies at the intersection of the sport and media landscapes - the Advisory Board will help shape how the community evolves, as well as providing insight and guidance to its members as they expand and grow. 

World Athletics has announced a new partnership with parkrun, which will combine the pair’s resources in order to grow athletics as well as promote physical health and wellbeing.

World Athletics and parkrun will work together to encourage people around the world to get moving by joining a local parkrun, pooling the governing body’s 214 Member Federations, to promote the community 5k and junior 2k run series, which has events in 20 countries.

The World Athletics Championships in Oregon have been rescheduled and will avoid a clash with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The championships were scheduled to take place in August 2021, but were moved to accommodate the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which have been postponed for a year.

The new event will take place between 15-24 July in 2022 which ensures there will be no clash with the Commonwealth Games, due to take place between 27th July - 7th August 2022.

The London Marathon will now take place on 4th October 2020 after being postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

As numerous sports across the world have been affected, the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon - which will be celebrating its 40th race - has been pushed back, and will allow runners who already received their places to take part in the deferred event.

“The world is in an unprecedented situation grappling with a global pandemic of COVID-19 and public health is everyone’s priority,” said Hugh Brasher, Event Director.

UK Athletics has announced a leadership shake-up, appointing Joanna Adams as CEO, whilst Chair, Chris Clark, has stepped back from the role.

Adams was most recently CCO at the London Legacy Development Corporation at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. She will take over from UK Athletics Interim CEO Nic Coward, who was appointed to the role last month. Coward will instead take on the role of Interim Chair at the organisation to replace the outgoing Chris Clark.

Nike has launched a mass market version of the prototype Alphafly shoe it says complies with new World Athletics rules.

The London Marathon is celebrating its 40th Race in 2020, and has launched with a new video projecting iconic moments onto London landmarks.

The event takes in the Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and The Mall, while the celebratory video follows a runner putting on a pair of headphones before running past landmarks such as the Tate Modern, the OXO Tower and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Iconic London Marathon moments, such as Paula Radcliffe’s world record - which stood for more than 16 years - Tanni Grey-Thompson’s six victories, and Eliud Kipchoge’s 2019 win.

World Athletics has announced new regulations on athlete footwear in the wake of controversy over Nike’s Vaporfly running shoes.

The shoes, which feature a carbon fibre plate inserted in the sole, were worn by Brigid Kosgei when she broke Paula Radcliffe’s long-standing women’s marathon record in Chicago in 2019, and a prototype Alphafly shoe was also worn by Eliud Kipchoge when he ran a marathon in under two hours in Vienna as part of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge.

Coinciding with the launch of Nike’s new React Infinity Run shoes, the brand has created a short film with British sprint world champion Dina Asher-Smith.

The Team GB athlete, who will be bidding for medals in the 100m and 200m events at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, has let the Nike cameras into her home training track at Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club.

The film follows Asher-Smith around the track at her home club, and features the world 200m gold medallist talking about making it to the start line fit, healthy and in great form ahead of Tokyo.
 

The World Athletics Indoor Championships, which were scheduled to take place in Nanjing, China, in March, have been postponed due to the outbreak of Coronavirus.

The event, slated for 13th - 15th March, will not be moved to a new city, but World Athletics has instead confirmed that it will postpone the event until 2021.