The International Association of Athletics Federations made two rule changes.
20:09•Updated 20:55
The board of the international athletics federation World Athletics decided on two rule changes at its Wednesday meeting in Monaco.
From next year, the finals of the throwing events, the long jump and the triple jump in the value competitions under WA will use a elimination system that colors the rest of the competition.
The number of finalists, 12, will remain the same in the future. Everyone gets to compete for three rounds, after which the two weakest finalists are eliminated.
The same elimination of two contestants takes place after the fourth and fifth rounds. Thus, in the last round there are only six competitors instead of the previous eight.
The changes will already be in effect at next summer’s World Championships in Tokyo. In the previous model, after three rounds, the top eight finalists received a full six attempts.
– With the reform, the importance of rounds can be increased, Finnish member of the WA board Antti Pihlakoski tells Urheilu.
Change to walking trips
Pihlakoski says that the WA government also decided to change race walking distances.
In the previous World Championships organized in 2023, the walkers won the medals in the 20 and 35 kilometer races. The same trips are also on the program for the World Cup in Tokyo.
Instead, from 2026, the official competition distances are the half-marathon (21.1 kilometers) and the marathon (42.195 kilometers).
The walking distances changed for the first time in 2021, when WA replaced the 50 kilometers considered as the royal walk with 35 kilometers.
Winner of the 50 km world championship in 1995 Valentin Kononen views the change made now positively.
– A marathon is clearly a longer distance than a triathlon and metabolically closer to fifty. Secondly, the half marathon and the marathon are easy for the viewer to understand. Quite a lot of people have run one or the other distance at some point in their life and will be able to compare their performance with walking in the future. I am very happy with this decision, Aku Partanen says Kononen, who works as a coach.
At the Paris Olympics, the walking medals were competed for in 20 kilometers and in the mixed relay, which made its debut in the prestigious games. However, the mixed relay will not be seen at the World Championships in Tokyo.
It is not yet known which walks will be contested at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. However, Konose has a clear wish in this regard.
– The medley relay was better than expected as a competition in Paris. However, I hope that the distances are a half marathon and a marathon.
Are the qualification limits removed?
According to Pihlakoski, the WA board also discussed the removal of the qualification limits in its meeting.
There is a model on the table where only the top 12 athletes in each field event are taken to the finals. For example, at the Paris Olympics, the best 20 athletes made it to the women’s pole vault final, while those ranked 12-20 had the same protocol.
According to Pihlakoski, in a similar situation in the future, the Knockout Contest would be used to determine the last place in the finals.
Pihlakoski estimates that the issue will be decided at the WA board meeting next March.
Edit at 20:53. Added Kononen’s comments.