This is an interview with Jack Buckner, CEO of British Athletics, who spoke with British media at the end of November 2024. This interview was written by Stuart Weir, RunBlogRun’s European editor.
Jack Buckner, CEO of UK Athletics, speaks to the media.
Last month, Jack Buckner outlined some of his plans for the future of UK Athletics.
Assessment of the GB Elite team
10 medals in the Olympics in Paris and 10 medals in Budapest. It feels like we’ve got a great performance program with not just established stars but fascinating stars for the future – whether you talk about Phoebe Gill or Louie Hinchcliffe – as well, obviously, as Keely and Jake and Matt Hudson Smith and KJ T and the success of the relays, so we’re delighted with the way the Paris Olympics went. So it feels like we’ve got an inspiring team.
Photo Credit:Chloe Knott/Team GB
London Diamond League
Take the Diamond League this year, I was amazed. It was just a massive step forward from the previous year. Everyone who was there, the energy, made it feel like we could make the Diamond League like our Silverstone [FI British Grand Prix]. It’s already the most significant one-day athletics meet in the world. Some of the ideas being talked about for next year will really raise the bar again in that event. And we can make that event the best athletics meeting in the world. Many innovative ideas exist, and we’re already ahead of ticket sales. We’re over 40,000 sold for 2025, significantly ahead of where we were this year. And that’s without some of the innovation and announcements we will bring out in the new year. So I think the Diamond League will be key, and if that becomes, as it were, our Silverstone, it will sweep up many of the issues we have positively. Also, we’ve just presented our update on the Birmingham 2026 European Championships to European Athletics, and once again, there’s lots of innovation within that.
But there’s still more work to do. The Diamond League in London attracts a huge, diverse family audience. That’s the audience you get, and you know that’s the audience that fits the Diamond League, making it the big athletics day for us.
Last year worked perfectly in the run into the Olympics. Matt Hudson-Smith, European record. Keely’s personal…
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