Press release

In one of the highest quality weekends of the 2020 outdoor season so far, several world and Olympic medallists were in action across Europe, North America and Asia.

We continue our Area in Focus series with an interview with European Athletics interim President Dobromir Karamarinov, who spoke with World Athletics a few hours after attending the funeral of EA President Svein Arne Hansen, which took place near Oslo on 1 July.

The hardest part is behind them – or so they hope. For Europe’s top athletes, the slow emergence from lockdown in recent times has, at long last, cast a hopeful ray of light on the horizon.

The Wanda Diamond League Call Room lockdown series continues on Saturday (4) with its London edition, with Laura Muir, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Akani Simbine taking the stage on the Diamond League's ​Facebook page​ and ​YouTube​ channel at 8pm CEST.

Apostolos Parellis may not be the tallest or largest among world-class discus throwers, however what he lacks in size, he certainly makes up for in speed, technique and determination. Standing just 186cm and weighing 110kg – small for an elite international thrower – the veteran Cypriot athlete has proven himself as one of the most consistent performers at major championships.

When the global coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of this year's Wanda Diamond League final, organisers of Zurich's Weltklasse meeting decided that Covid-19 wouldn't entirely wipe their competition from the European summer calendar. With travel restrictions likely to keep athletes from their event, Zurich decided to go to the athletes. Thus, the Inspiration Games set for 9 July, which will bring together 30 world-class athletes competing in eight disciplines across seven venues.

World Athletics can confirm that it has not received the payments due from the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) on 1 July, nor any information on when the monies may be paid, despite reminders and correspondence with the Federation.

“When I was a kid,” Adam Sebastian Helcelet recalls, “Czech Republic had the greatest decathletes in the world. I watched them with my father. He said ‘You are coordinated. You can feel your body, and I guess that you’re going to be a big guy. You should try it.’”

Four-time world hammer champion Pawel Fajdek, double world pole vault medallist Piotr Lisek and European 400m champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic are just some of the Polish stars set to compete at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Silesia on 6 September.

Speaking at the funeral of Svein Arne Hansen, who died on 20 June, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe described the European Athletics President as “a unique spirit, a steadfast friend and a man with an unflinching and instinctive belief in right and wrong”.

World Athletics has today published its four-year Strategic Plan, designed to harness the power and accessibility of athletics to drive growth in the sport and create a healthier and fitter world.

Here we continue to share stories and updates about how the athletics world is adjusting to and coping with the spread of Covid-19.