It might have first been mentioned as a joke, but World Athletics’ proposal to stage a world treadmill championships has merit and is way for athletics to tap into a huge market
If it seemed like an April Fools’ Day prank perhaps that’s because it once was. In 2023, on April 1, Canadian Running Magazine published an article proudly proclaiming that the “inaugural World Treadmill Championships are coming to Canada”. The event, it suggested, was aimed at broadening the sport of running to a wider audience and making it “more inclusive to fair-weather runners”.
It even included a fictitious quote from World Athletics explaining that Edmonton was the “ideal destination for the event” because “it’s absolutely freezing” there.
So far, so amusing. But then came the recent news that athletics’ governing body are actively looking to launch the event. What had begun as nothing more than a throwaway bit of humour had suddenly moved to the cusp of reality.
“There are millions of people around the world that just go to the gym and run on the treadmill,” World Athletics chief executive Jon Ridgeon told the Daily Mail. “We should create products for those people. We should have a Treadmill World Championships.
“You are an athlete if you go for a 30-minute run on a treadmill or if you win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres. It is all athletics. We are working it out at the moment. We will be announcing a tech partner that we are going to work with to develop the virtual running scene.”
The reception was, to put it mildly, mixed. To many athletics fans, Ridgeon’s words were no more serious than that April Fools’ Day joke. Responding to AW’s Instagram post about the news, America’s Olympic 110m hurdles finalist Freddie Crittenden said: “Our Global Governing body is really trying to make [a Nintendo] Wii sports championships. What are we doing man?”
Multiple world, Commonwealth and European 4x400m medalist Conrad Williams wrote: “Pointless. And not needed.”
Others were more supportive. “Sign me up!” said multiple Commonwealth and European medalist Eilish McColgan. “Obviously, the sport has a lot of other areas to fix… But it could be a good way of connecting our sport with the mass market, every day runner, who hits the treadmill in the gym. And it’s a far better idea than adding another sprint relay, IMO [in my opinion]!”
Her partner, former international 800m runner Michael Rimmer, said he…
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