The 2025 Novuna Athletics Championships, the intro

Novuna UK Athletics Championships

The first thing to notice about the British Athletics Championships is the new sponsor, Novuna, a financial services company. The event is also back at HQ. After five years in Manchester, we are back in the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, where British Athletics has its HQ, specifically in the stand on the back straight.

The US Championships are fair and brutal.  Come in the first three places and you are selected for the Championship  – no ifs, no buts! That works for the USA, where there is so much strength in depth.  No matter what your past achievements, if you are ill on the day of the trials, there is no sympathy. (The recent World Athletics policy of inviting the reigning champion to the world championship complicates it slightly.)

The British selection procedure is more pragmatic, aimed at ensuring that the best athletes are selected for the team to compete in the World Championships. In practice, this means that the first two in each discipline gain automatic selection, with the third place being at the discretion of the selectors. Missing the trials with a medical exemption is allowed, and this year, the USA-based Olympic silver medalist, Matt Hudson-Smith, was given an exemption as his wife was expecting a baby. More controversially, athletes can run a different distance from the event in which they are seeking selection. And since I am on a roll, I have never been convinced about the practice of giving the top 8 in the 100m a bye through the first round to the semi-final, meaning that they only run twice while others run three times.  I am sure it makes no difference to the outcome, but it seems intrinsically unfair.

One aspect of track and field in the UK that differs from the US is that all athletes are affiliated with a club, and their club is listed on the start list — for example, Neil Gourley (Giffnock North AC), Daryll Neita (Cambridge Harriers), Amber Anning (Brighton and Hove AC), Zharnel Hughes (Shaftesbury Barnet), etc. What makes this more significant is the tradition that athletes compete in their club vests at the national championships, rather than in their sponsor’s colors.

It…