Coe Confident of 'Big and Punchy' Impact

Athletics boss says 'everybody will pick up something' from 2026 Ultimate Team Championship

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PARIS – Sebastian Coe has two years left as World Athletics president and it promises to be lively, as he says the 2026 inaugural Ultimate Team Championship will remind the world the sport is "big and punchy and still there".

The 68-year-old Englishman has shrugged off the disappointment of finishing third in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential election in March, telling AFP he is "not one for rear-view mirrors".

"Concede and move on," he adds.

Move on he certainly has.

The old brio, dynamism and charm are all to the fore as he addresses the issues that will 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 says, not least because there will be spectators unlike at the pandemic-delayed Olympics in the same stadium in 2021.

"Everybody gets the emotional impact of that," he added.

Then attention switches to the Ultimate Team Championship, slated for Sept 11-13, 2026 in Budapest — the city which hosted the 2023 world championships.

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

"Next year is unashamedly aimed at TV," Coe told AFP in an interview following last week's Paris Diamond League meet.