Athletics, running – illustrative photo.
Monte Carlo – World Athletics (WA) wants to allow ovals 200 meters long not only for indoor but also for official outdoor competitions. It promises the expansion of athletics stadiums even where there are no conditions for a traditional four hundred meter oval. The upcoming changes in world records, which WA reported on the website, are also related to this proposal. In technical disciplines, there would no longer be a distinction between indoor and outdoor historical highs. The proposals will be approved by the World Athletics Council, whose members tentatively agree with them, at the World Championships in Budapest in August. They should then apply from November 1 this year.
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For more than 150 years, athletics competitions have traditionally been divided into outdoor and indoor with different lengths of ovals. Outdoor and indoor conditions are different, so World Athletics maintains two sets of records. The exception is the pole vault, where only the absolute maximum is recognized. These rules may change soon.
The so-called “short track” could be not only in the hall, but also outside, records could be broken on such a long oval. “A world of possibilities will open up for meeting organizers to hold official competitions in the sports venues they have available – outdoors or indoors, with a 200m or 400m track. This change will allow and actively encourage the possibility for the 200m tracks to be moved from the hall to the outside, and it will offer a more affordable option to cities, especially those where space is in short supply,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.
The hall should continue to host top athletics events, such as national and continental championships or world championships. However, athletes could fulfill the nomination requirements outdoors, which would be useful for regions with good climatic conditions and no athletic halls. Instead of indoor world records, short track records should be kept. It will not matter if the athletes run them on a two-hundred-meter oval indoors or outdoors.
The proposed list of newly recognized world records also implies that there should be only one record value in technical disciplines. It should now apply to the high and long jump, triple jump and shot put, where Helena Fibingerová has been the indoor world record holder since 1977. At that time, the Czechoslovak shot putter in Jablonec nad Nisou registered 22.50 meters. The outdoor world record has a value of 22.63 and is held by the former representative of the Soviet Union, Natalya Lisovská.
