Cathal Dennehy: Who'll crack code and make fans care about new track ventures?
SUPERSTARS: USA's Sydney McLaughlin on the way to winning the gold medal in the Women's 400m Hurdles, alongside Netherlands' Femke Bol who finished third at the Olympic Stadium on the twelfth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. Pic: PA/AP
How many events is too many events? In the year ahead, athletics is about to find out. Because the sport is changing, fast, trying to capitalise on the buoyancy of the Paris Olympics and keep its head above water ahead of Los Angeles 2028.
Like many of the traditional Olympic sports, it has an ageing audience and while it will always have that once-a-year big bang – the major summer championships – everyone knows that’s not enough to sustain a fanbase. It needs a professional circuit that’s accessible to roving sports fans, which can keep athletics part of the mainstream conversation and not just exist, as it often does, in the shadows.
