- A World Treadmill Championships is being proposed by World Athletics
- Lord Coe said: ‘You might have to watch this space, but ultimately, why not?’
World Athletics are considering creating a World Treadmill Championships in their latest attempt to grow the sport.
Lord Coe’s international governing body are close to signing a partnership with a technology company to ‘develop the virtual running scene’.
And it could lead to athletics following sports like rowing and cycling in having a global event for participants on indoor ‘gym’ equipment.
‘There are millions of people around the world that just go to the gym and run on the treadmill,’ World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon told Mail Sport.
‘We should create products for those people. We should have a Treadmill World Championships.
‘You are an athlete if you go for a 30-minute run on a treadmill or if you win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres. It is all athletics.
A World Treadmill Championships is being proposed by World Athletics with the aim of developing the virtual running scene
‘We are working it out at the moment. We will be announcing a tech partner that we are going to work with to develop the virtual running scene.’
Asked about the prospect of a World Treadmill Championships, World Athletics president Lord Coe said: ‘You might have to watch this space, but ultimately, why not?
‘We have to embrace and we have got to take our sport to where people are. That is crucial.
‘Whether it is through virtual, whether it is through Esports, whether it is through treadmill, these are all the things that we want to really explore.’
In rowing, a World Indoor Championships was launched in 2018, with competitors using rowing machines, also known as ergometers.
The UCI Cycling Esports World Championships has been going since 2020, with participants riding bikes indoors on turbo trainers using a virtual platform, initially Zwift but now MyWhoosh.
‘We are looking to produce an athletics version,’ said Ridgeon. ‘When you think athletics is the most participated sport in the world, we should have our equivalent.
‘We are trying to innovate across a whole range of areas and future-proof the sport as much as we can.’
World Athletics president Lord Coe said: ‘You might have to watch this space, but ultimately, why not?’
Mail Sport reported last year that the International Olympic Committee would welcome virtual versions of existing Olympic sports becoming medal disciplines if they are physical, like the treadmill.
‘Where there is a full physical replication of the traditional sport, the door is open, and we are governed by the respective international federations,’ said Kit McConnell, the IOC’s sports director.
Esports is unlikely to become its own standalone sport at the Olympics in the near future, but the first Olympic Esports Games is being held in Saudi Arabia next year.
The sports for the programme are yet to be announced, but cycling was part of last year’s Olympic Esports Week test event in Singapore.
