Sebastian Coe has two years left as World Athletics president, and he’s determined to leave the sport in a louder, bolder place. “2026 now gives us, in September, an opportunity for the world to remember we’re big and punchy and still there,” Coe told AFP, referring to the new Ultimate Team Championship to be held in Budapest.
The competition, scheduled for September 11–13, 2026, will see athletes don national colours and compete in fast-paced, three-hour sessions. “Next year is unashamedly aimed at TV,” Coe said. “It’s unashamedly aimed at unlocking new audiences.”
It’s a continuation of a dynamic 12-year tenure that’s seen Coe embrace reform and confrontation. He recently lost out in the IOC presidential race, but shrugs it off: “Concede and move on… I’m not one for rear view mirrors.”
Before Budapest, the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo loom large. “A massive moment,” Coe says, highlighting that this time, fans will be in the stands — unlike the Covid-delayed 2020 Olympics in the same venue. “Everybody gets the emotional impact of that.”
Another flashpoint has been athlete welfare. Under Coe, World Athletics announced a record-setting $10 million prize pool for the 2026 event and became the first federation to introduce Olympic gold medal prize money, a move that didn’t go down well in Lausanne. “Although prize money wasn’t flavour of the month in Lausanne, we are going to drive ahead on that,” Coe insisted.
He recalls how the idea came to him mid-flight to New York in early 2024. “I rang Abby Hoffmann from a book shop asking her opinion about my ‘crazy idea’… She replied I think you should take more long-haul flights.”
For Coe, athletes remain central. “They’re competing in a movement that has billions of dollars… It’s a bit like Taylor Swift being the only person not being paid at the concert,” he said.
Coe has also held firm on the ban on Russian athletes following the invasion of Ukraine. “It’s not something I could ever really be neutral about,” he said, recalling the ambulance-laden platforms of Kyiv’s train station.
