The AW team’s must-watch events this summer

We choose a few of the tales which might be anticipated to create headlines within the coming months.

Jason Henderson (Head of Digital):

The yr of the mile

Regardless of its wealthy historical past, the mile has typically felt like an retro occasion lately. Athletes and organisers have been extra occupied with 1500m races, primarily as a result of they produce qualifying occasions for championships. Final yr the Emsley Carr Mile did not even seem to have a house till it was awarded to the Manchester Worldwide on the finish of the season however then shifted to the extra applicable Monument Mile meet in Stirling.

Certainly, the pages of AW during the last 20 years have been peppered with articles highlighting the declining curiosity within the basic four-lap occasion.

In 2026 issues are completely different. The Emsley Carr Mile has already been confirmed as happening on the Diamond League in London on July 18. Josh Kerr is mounting a much-publicised assault on Hicham El Guerrouj’s world report of three:43.13 too.

A couple of days later we are going to see mile races on the Commonwealth Video games in Glasgow, bringing again reminiscences of the “Miracle Mile” on the 1954 Video games in Vancouver the place Roger Bannister beat John Landy.

Keely’s crack at Kratochvilova’s report

If Keely Hodgkinson rolls into the summer time in the identical form she was in in the course of the indoor season, she ought to have a lot of alternatives to shut in on Jarmila Kratochvilova’s long-standing world 800m report of 1:53.28.

As a former membership runner, my PB is barely faster than Keely’s however slower than Kratochvilova, so I’ve a good appreciation for the form of tempo wanted to hit such a time. Hodgkinson’s latest 400m performances present she has essential pace. Allied to the endurance that after noticed her make the English Colleges Cross Nation Champs podium, she has all of the instruments to take down the mark.

Keely Hodgkinson (Getty)

World Final Champs

Nobody fairly is aware of how good the World Athletics Final Championships will likely be in Budapest in mid-September, so it will likely be fascinating to see it unfold.

World Athletics has clearly put a number of money and time into the occasion and elite athletes actually appear occupied with doing it. Typically conferences succeed or fall flat based mostly on an occasional second of brilliance or drama that lifts the ambiance. The climate may also play an enormous issue. Will every thing “click on”? Time will inform.

Euan Crumley (Editorial Director)

Jakob’s return

Jakob Ingebrigtsen is all the time value watching and the athletics world is undoubtedly poorer with out him in it in the intervening time. The Norwegian’s battle with harm that hampered his world championships marketing campaign so badly final yr in the end resulted in latest Achilles surgical procedure however, as he just lately proclaimed on social media: “The very best is but to come back” as he continues his restoration. Will he nonetheless be a serious power or will his powers have been diminished? It doesn’t seem like he will likely be competing once more till July on the earliest however all eyes will likely be on him when he makes his return.

Tantalising 200m

One of many breakthrough athletes of final yr was Amy Hunt, whose spectacular trajectory hit its peak with 200m silver on the Tokyo World Championships. This summer time, she has loads of alternatives to construct on that and add extra honours. Nonetheless, having moved to a brand new teaching set-up and having impressed within the indoor season, her fellow Briton and former world champion Dina Asher-Smith may even have designs on gold. The ladies’s sprints on the European Championships in Birmingham already seem like being a serious spotlight on the calendar.

Bol’s large transfer

The 800m, on each the boys’s and ladies’s facet, goes to be stuffed with fascinating match-ups and showdowns. Except for Keely Hodgkinson’s pursuit of historical past and Emmanuel Wanyonyi’s improvement, Femke Bol will likely be taking her subsequent steps within the occasion and offering extra clues as to how sturdy her potential over two laps is likely to be. The Dutch athlete doesn’t are likely to do issues by halves, so watch this area.

Wendy Sly (Managing Director)

Novuna London Athletics Assembly

I’ve so many nice reminiscences from this occasion over the previous few years, because it has firmly established as one of many metropolis’s greatest summer time sporting occasions. Athletes from all over the world love to come back to London and there are stellar line-ups already introduced.

In fact as an athlete of the ’80s and remembering the world information I witnessed by British athletes again then, I am trying ahead to Josh Kerr’s mile try within the hope I see one other one in particular person, but in addition the ladies’s 800m will all the time be a favorite.

I am additionally hoping that the thought of the ladies’s pole vault in Oxford Circus involves fruition. Subject occasions work effectively in metropolis centres and this offers us an opportunity to take our sport to a wider viewers in a spectacular setting.

Glasgow to the rescue

I’ll all the time have a delicate spot for the Commonwealth Video games, on condition that profitable silver in 1982 was my first senior medal. I am glad that Glasgow got here to the rescue for 2026, and that stars from the house nations, and the Scottish stars particularly, are supporting the championships. It is all the time an opportunity to see dwelling grown stars of the long run emerge, I simply hope the climate is as supportive because the locals will likely be of the favourites!

Anticipate brilliance in Birmingham

As that is the primary time this occasion has been held within the UK, it is rather thrilling. Speaking to athletes, coaches and types in Tokyo final yr, I bought a sense for the way these championships are going to be a spotlight for a lot of this summer time. The European stars are set to end up, and ticket gross sales are sturdy, so the ambiance within the metropolis and the stadium will likely be unbelievable.

We’re fortunate to have so many world stars throughout the continent so to have the ability to watch Femke, Mondo, Keely, Georgia, Jakob and Josh, amongst so many others, carry out reside at a championships so near house is an actual deal with. Birmingham will do a high-quality job as hosts, and the extent of competitors will likely be excessive, so this goes down as my primary to look ahead to in 2026.

Tim Adams (Multi-media producer)

Common relays for Keely?

Apart from Keely Hodgkinson’s doubtless try(s) on the world 800m report this summer time, there may be additionally the attractive prospect of her being an everyday in future 4x400m relay groups. Her 50.10 cut up – the quickest of the complete area – on this planet indoor girls’s 4x400m relay last showcased simply how far she has come within the 400m. Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows need the Olympic 800m champion to concentrate on her one-lap pace this yr, so count on her to shave a big quantity off her 400m private better of 51.49 this summer time.

Extra nice heights

Mondo Duplantis has already set 15 world information in his profession – together with 4 final yr – however do not count on the Swede to cease any time quickly. After clearing 6.31m at his personal assembly in March, you surprise if he may ever carry 6.40m inside attain? With Emmanouil Karalis now second behind on the pole vault all-time checklist, courtesy of his 6.17m vault in February, the occasion is now not a one-man present. That would additionally push Duplantis to new heights, so it will likely be a must-watch occasion this yr.

Highway working nonetheless rising

Over a million folks utilized to participate on this yr’s London Marathon. Information of a possible one-off two-day London Marathon is not shocking, and it will likely be fascinating to see if that turns into a actuality. The second World Highway Operating Championships, happening in Copenhagen in September, options elite athletes competing within the mile, 5km and half marathon. The championships additionally incorporates a mass participation aspect, which is able to 65,000 folks racing over the three distances. Occasions are promoting out shortly and there is no signal of this development plateauing anytime quickly.

Paul Freary (Product reviewer)

Scottish showdown

In fact, there are numerous different world challengers, however my hope for the summer time is that we’ll lastly be capable to see each Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman competing in opposition to one another on the highest stage at full health. The crowds would lap that up on the Commonwealth Video games in Glasgow.

Kings of the street

September will see the second version of the World Highway Operating Championships (on this format) and once more guarantees some nice races over the mile, 5km and half-marathon. Might Kerr and Wightman additionally take to the roads, and will they face Ingerbrigtsen?

The final word recipe?

For the Final Championships it is going to be fascinating to see the choice system to see who makes the beginning line-ups. In some occasions, we might simply overfill the fields with World and Olympic medallists, world leaders and maybe present world record-holders. Nonetheless they’re put collectively, it should hopefully carry an thrilling new format to the calendar that works in bringing the main focus of the world on athletics and offers occasions the respiration area they deserve in what can typically be a busy schedule.

Jasmine Collett (Editorial and Digital assistant)

The rise of the subsequent technology

The indoor season has already provided a glimpse of what’s coming subsequent, with a wave of teenage expertise stepping up, and there’s each cause to count on that momentum to hold into the summer time. Performances from rising athletes haven’t simply been promising, they’ve been genuinely world-class.

Sam Ruthe has had a small harm setback however he turned heads with a world U18 indoor mile report of three:48.88, whereas fellow teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus, contemporary from a world indoor 800m title, is aiming to construct on his early success. Again within the UK, the main focus will likely be on athletes like Phoebe Gill as she seems to return from harm. With each the European U18 Championships and World U20 Championships on the calendar, the stage is completely set for this new technology to proceed its type.

A large-open heptathlon battle

The ladies’s heptathlon is shaping as much as be one of the vital intriguing occasions of the summer time. Eventually yr’s Hypo-Assembly Götzis, Anna Corridor surged to 7032 factors to maneuver joint second on the all-time checklist, and there’s a powerful sense she might go even increased if every thing clicks once more.

What makes it particularly compelling, although, is the depth behind her. Corridor needed to accept silver on the World Indoors, with Sofie Dokter taking gold, whereas Kate O’Connor claimed bronze and continues to ascertain herself as a real contender. With a number of athletes now able to pushing past 6500–6800 factors, the heptathlon is now not about one dominant determine, it feels genuinely open heading into the summer time.

Mondo shaping the sound and the spectacle

Mondo Duplantis is finest recognized for regularly breaking the pole vault world report, however he has additionally introduced a unique persona to the game by way of music, releasing tracks like Bop and Feelin’ Myself. In reality, his latest record-breaking soar got here together with his personal track taking part in within the stadium.

Now he’s set to go a step additional by creating the anthem for the World Athletics Final Championships. It’s not typically that one of many sport’s greatest stars shapes the sound in addition to the spectacle, and it provides one thing contemporary to athletics. Precisely what it should sound like is anybody’s guess, however that unpredictability is a part of the attraction.

Key summer time dates

Could

Could 2-3: World Athletics Relays, Gaborone

Could 16: Shanghai Diamond League

Could 23: Xiamen Diamond League, European 10,000m Cup, La Spezia

Could 31: Rabat Diamond League

June

June 4: Rome Diamond League

June 5-7: European Athletics Off-Highway Operating Championships

June 7: Stockholm Diamond League

June 10: Bislett Video games, Oslo

June 19: Doha Diamond League