THE WORLD ATHLETICS Council has approved the protocol through which athletes may qualify for the ’27 World Championships in Beijing (September 11–19, 2027). Some voices in the sport are decrying it as a counter-productive, unfair, departure.
“The approach,” WA reasons in expected disagreement with the nay-sayers, “is designed to ensure that the World Championships continue to bring together the world’s leading athletes across all disciplines, while recognising both exceptional single performances and consistent high-level competition across the qualification period.”
At a cursory glance the “Road To Beijing” resembles the qualifying system for last September’s World Champs in Tokyo. Not so, however, once one absorbs the implications of a hugely substantial change.
Whereas for Tokyo 25 WA aimed for a 50-50 split between athletes qualified through having achieved Q standards and those with high scores in the global federation’s world rankings. This time the target will be 40% Q-standard qualifiers and 60% qualifiers via the WA rankings.
For this reason, and because performance levels have exploded upwards in some events — lifted by super shoes, bicarb loading and other track surface and training advancements — qualifying standards are notably tougher (See chart).
| Beijing 27 Q Standards vs. Tokyo 25 Q Standards | |||||
| red=’27 standard tougher | blue=’27 standard easier | ||||
| MEN | WOMEN | ||||
| TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | ||
| 100 | 10.00 | 9.95 | 11.07 | 10.96 | 100 |
| 200 | 20.16 | 20.07 | 22.57 | 22.45 | 200 |
| 400 | 44.85 | 44.45 | 50.75 | 50.00 | 400 |
| 800 | 1:44.50 | 1:43.00 | 1:59.00 | 1:57.50 | 800 |
| 1500 | 3:33.00 | 3:30.00 | 4:01.50 | 3:58.00 | 1500 |
| Steeple | 8:15.00 | 8:08.00 | 9:18.00 | 9:06.50 | Steeple |
| 5000 | 13:01.00 | 12:50.00 | 14:50.00 | 14:36.00 | 5000 |
| 10K | 27:00.00 | 26:48.00 | 30:20.00 | 30:40.00 | 10K |
| 110H | 13.27 | 13.18 | 12.73 | 12.60 | 100H |
| 400H | 48.50 | 48.00 | 54.65 | 54.00 | 400H |
| Road | |||||
| MEN | WOMEN | ||||
| TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | ||
| Mar | 2:06.30 | 2:06:00 | 2:23:30 | 2:23:20 | Mar |
| HMarW | n/a | 1:23:00 | n/a | 1:33:10 | HMarW |
| MarW | n/a | 3:01:00 | n/a | 3:28:00 | MarW |
| Relays (4x1s, 4x4s, mixed 4×4) | |||||
| TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | ||||
| top 14s from ’25 World R + 2 from lists | top 12s from ’26 World R + 4 from lists | ||||
| Field Events | |||||
| MEN | WOMEN | ||||
| TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | TOKYO 25 | BEIJING 27 | ||
| HJ | 2.33 | 7-7¾ | 2.30 | 7-6½ | 1.97 | 6-5½ | 1.96 | 6-5 | HJ |
| PV | 5.82 | 19-1 | 5.90 | 19-4¼ | 4.73 | 15-6¼ | 4.75 | 15-7 | PV |
| LJ | 8.27 | 27-1¾ | 8.25 | 27-¾ | 6.86 | 22-6¼ | 6.86 | 22-6¼ | LJ |
| TJ | 17.22 | 56-6 | 17.35 | 56-11¼ | 14.55 | 47-9 | 14.40 | 47-3 | TJ |
| SP | 21.50 | 70-6½ | 21.50 | 70-6½ | 18.80 | 61-8¼ | 19.30 | 63-4 | SP |
| DT | 67.50 | 221-5 | 67.20 | 220-6 | 64.50 | 211-7 | 64.50 | 211-7 | DT |
| HT | 78.20 | 256-7 | 78.30 | 256-11 | 74.00 | 242-9 | 74.00 | 242-9 | HT |
| JT | 85.50 | 280-6 | 85.50 | 280-6 | 64.00 | 210-0 | 63.40 | 208-0 | JT |
| Dec | 8550 | 8620 | 6500 | 6550 | Hept |
Best Intentions?
Many critics aren’t accepting the premise that these rigorous performance targets align with the purported goal of 40% qualifying via entry standards.
“Based on recent international performance data,” respected Netherlands national team coach Laurent Meuwly wrote in an analysis posted to his X account, “we estimate that only approximately 25-30% of athletes would achieve direct qualification through standards.
“As a consequence, the qualification system becomes even more heavily dependent on rankings and competition access, potentially disadvantaging athletes with fewer opportunities to compete on the World Tour circuit despite possessing championship-level performances.”
For example, take the men’s 800. WA’s target field size for Beijing is 56 athletes who will have 12 months (date details below) in which to hit the standard if they are to gain entry by that route.
During the Q period for Tokyo 25 —25 days longer than that set for Beijing — just 15 men exceeded the new qualifying standard, 1:43.00. That would mean just 26.8% of the field.
What’s more, 4 of those men were Americans: Bryce Hoppel, Josh Hoey, Donavan Brazier and Cooper Lutkenhaus. Only 3 per nation gain entry barring one having a Wild Card (see below). Thus the qualified-by-standard figure drops to an even 25%. Hoey, 4th at the ’25 USATF Champs, did not manage to secure a Wild Card to Tokyo.
Meuwly’s analysis is likely sound, although standards have stayed the same or been eased in 12 events — all but the women’s 10,000 among them field events. WA is clearly betting the super shoes/bicarb revolution isn’t finished.
An interesting consideration is that road 5K and 10K times can count. This inserts road shoes that have contributed to the raft of faster times in the marathon, and are banned in track races, into the picture.
Qualifying By WA Ranking
Two aspects of the rankings-based route to Beijing merit attention.
•Per WA’s announcement of the new system, “The world rankings now place more weight on the results score and less on the placing score, to even the playing field for athletes with limited access to high-ranking competitions.”
•However, for Beijing 27 qualification the slate of meets in which rankings points may be banked is limited.
As the WA protocol states it, “For Entry Standards, all performances must be achieved in a competition in World Rankings Category C and above. Only exception are Road Running performances (Marathon, 10km and 5km) which can also be achieved in World Athletics Label (Category E) Road Races.”
Category C and above encompasses the WA fixtures you’d expect: Diamond League plus Continental Tour of all three levels (Gold, Silver, Bronze). Also Major Games (All-African, Asian, Commonwealth, Pan American, European, South American) and some not so major, area championships (think Euro Teams Champs and the like).
The NCAA Outdoor Champs will count. Other high-level U.S. collegiate meets will not. Marks made, for example, at the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, ACC, etc., will not be considered. Nor will any U.S. high school meets.
And what about indoor competitions? The NCAA Indoor won’t count, WA’s indoor “Label” series, all three levels, will.
Big caveat: No running event marks on indoor ovals (think BU’s speedway) will count for Q-standard qualification, though they’ll still count for WA world rankings.
Also, it appears wind-swept Throw Town Ramona is out of the running as a producer of WC qualifiers via qualifying standards.
The WA protocol stipulates, “Discus Throw performances for Entry Standards must be achieved within the confines of a traditional athletics facility unless otherwise approved at least one month in advance by World Athletics Competition Unit. But will be accepted for World Rankings.”
Thus any ’27 edition of Ramona’s Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational, part of the Continental Tour this year, would still offer rankings points opportunities. The sailing-in-the-breeze long heaves probably won’t, by themselves, score a WC entry — even if one of them is a World Record. This strikes many as fair.
Wild Cards
The Wild Card system remains in effect for individual events. Those eligible:
•Defending world champions from 2025
•Winners from this September’s WA Ultimate Championships
•Winners of the ’26 editions of the:
1. World Race Walking Tour
2. World Combined Events Tour
3. Leading hammer performers (by mark) on the Continental Tour
•2027 Diamond League Winners
If a nation has more than one Wild Card qualifier, only one may be named to its team with the selection criteria at the national federation’s discretion.
Area Champions
In each individual event, winners at Area Championships (e.g., NACAC) may qualify if there is no other qualifier from that Area. Not likely to be many of these.
Relays
The protocol is simple: 12 teams qualified out of the ’26 World Relays and 4 more will be drawn off performance lists at the end of the Q period.
Marathons
For the long road running races (not the new marathon walks), the top 5 finishers at Platinum Label marathons held during the qualification period and the winners of Gold Label marathons held in 2027 until May 2, 2027, will also be considered to have qualified.
Qualifying Periods
•Marathon: November 3, 2025 through May 02, 2027.
•10,000, Walks, Multis and Relays: February 23, 2026 through August 22, 2027.
•All other events: August 23, 2026 through August 22, 2027.
There are also restrictions on the participation of teen athletes in some events, and no athletes younger than 16 on December 31, 2027 will be eligible in any event.
For a full rundown of the protocol’s details, see WA’s release and associated links here.
