Could There Be A Treadmill Running World Championship?

World Athletics is considering a Treadmill World Championship. 

Lord Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, is said to be close to signing a partnership with a technology company in the hopes of developing the virtual running space.

Coe told Mail Sport: “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,” he said. “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.”

It’s a potential move into the increasingly popular Esports space. Already cycling has an Esports World Championship with the best athletes competing side-by-side in real life, and their progress shown on large screens around the venue. 

In 2025 there will be a rowing World Championship, held remotely and open to amateurs and professionals. And also in 2025, the inaugural Olympic Esports Games will be held in Saudi Arabia, with the full line-up sports yet to be announced. 

Jon Ridgeon, World Athletics chief executive, explained how they are looking to modernise running competition and evolve into new spaces. “When you think athletics is the most participated sport in the world, we should have our [Esports] equivalent,” he said. “We are trying to innovate across a whole range of areas and future-proof the sport as much as we can.”

This news comes as the International Olympic Committee also looks to consider Esport versions of current sports. As Kit McConnell, Sports Director of the IOC, explained: “Where there is a full physical replication of the traditional sport, the door is open.” That makes sports like rowing, cycling and running great candidates for Esport competition.

So what could a treadmill world championship actually look like? If we use cycling as an example, we’d expect to see rounds of virtual qualifying bring together the world’s best treadmill runners in one real-life arena, each powering their own treadmill, and their stats and progress projected onto big screens so that crowds can follow the action. Given treadmill speeds, and the attention-span of Esports, it’s likely that distances of around 10km or 20- to 30-minute time trails, will be the most appealing, and may follow a course with changing elevation. But all this remains to be seen in the coming months and years.

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Would you be interested in watching a treadmill running championship?

And if you want to know more about how to run on a treadmill and treadmill workouts for runners, then check out this post.