A CONSEQUENTIAL CHANGE is coming to the international calendar in ’25. You might call it groundbreaking though the sport rode through similar circs with Doha ’19, and they were only remarked upon in passing. Next fall the World Championships in Tokyo (September 13–21) will ring down a hard — and the hope is fittingly climactic — finale for the season.
There will be no familiar round of curtain calls on the Diamond League circuit. This year Lausanne, Chorzów, Rome, Zürich and the DL Final in Brussels followed the show of shows in Paris. Two World Records (men’s 3000 and pole vault) and an American Record (Elise Cranny 3000 in Lausanne) were toppled.
In ’25, with Tokyo’s hot wet-mop summer weather a factor for certain — as was the Qatari capital’s blazing climactic reality 5 years ago — the Worlds will move late to follow the August 27–28 DL Final in Zürich by 16 days.
True, there will also be a 17-hour Europe-Japan time zone difference to which elite tracksters must adjust. That’s how many view it although I’ve always looked at it as a 7-hour difference. When it’s noon in Switzerland, it’s 7:00pm in Tokyo. Does your body clock know anything about the International Date Line?
Either way, Americans and others from the Western Hemisphere will be handed the shortest straw. It’s a global sport, what ya gonna do?
These ’25 time and weather facts aside, WA wants its global blockbuster to serve as the spine-tingling final competition volley of each non-Olympic season. WA President Seb Coe makes no bones about it. The new 3-day World Athletics Ultimate Championships, to debut in ’26 in Budapest and planned to carry the torch in “off years” henceforth, is set with September 11–13 dating, after the DL Final.
I favor the calendar shift. Put the sport’s best foot forward with resounding fanfare when the largest broadcast/streaming/social media audience possible has eyes attentively on it. That’s presentation 101: Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and the playoffs preceding each. Also the ATP and WTA Finals in tennis.
Are there exceptions? Sure. Premier League, F1. What else? I’m so T&F-focused I just know somebody’s going to tell me I’ve skewed the picture. Have at it.
In our sport we’ve seen post-Worlds and Olympic seasons cut both ways. The DL Final in Eugene last year was spectacular — some said the finest 2-day meet ever. Fans walked out shocked, awed and supremely entertained. I won’t forget that meet!
The DLF in Brussels this year? Boffo stuff defying chilly conditions. Albeit with stars missing from the firmament. No fewer than 8 Paris gold medalists skipped the “post-season.” Can you blame them?
The 10 track & field days in Paris played out as an endless highlight reel. Magnifique! And the mother of all pressure cookers. The high of highs it represented inevitably left some athlete batteries drained. I doubt it’s a coincidence that Valarie Allman, Ryan Crouser, Mondo Duplantis and Noah Lyles announced engagements this fall. An interlude of another kind of bliss surely sounded like just the ticket. (It perhaps dilutes my thesis that Allman, Crouser and Duplantis all won at the DL Final.)
Nonetheless, the biggest meet as final fireworks blast — let’s try it.
There are counter-arguments.
• Star power at the four ’25 DLs that will follow national championships/WC Trials in late July may be diluted. Americans, especially, could be tempted to pass. The DLs to follow the July 31–August 03 USATF Champs fall on August 16, 20, 22, 27. Western Hemisphere athletes, to be sure, have been handed the toughest time zone juggle, two non-trivial jetlag dislocations in less than 6 weeks. However, August DL participation may woo them. Winners at the Final in Zürich will get wildcards to Tokyo. All those meets except the Final will count toward Tokyo qualifying via WA rankings.
• Won’t top collegians be disadvantaged by a yawning-gap-to-fill 7 weeks between the NCAA and the USA Trials, with World Champs 6 weeks later?
Not a large problem. Three collegians medaled in Paris — Mykolas Alekna, Leo Neugebauer and Wayne Pinnock. Kenneth Rooks and Jasmine Moore could have competed collegiately in ’24 but turned pro early.
The NCAA is the world’s finest farm team, a developer of talent unparalleled anywhere. It’s not even close, but the call of the almighty dollar frequently wins out. Smart college coaches understand that.
On with the ’25 show, and Tokyo as show-stopper. Does it chap my hide that the U.S. football season will have started? Not overly.
