<p><br />Athletics@Home returns - this time with a spooky twist!</p>
<p>World 110m hurdles champion Grant Holloway, world long jump champion Malaika Mihambo and African triple jump record-holder Hugues Fabrice Zango have woken up on Halloween feeling a bit... different.</p>
<p>Can you bring their new characters to life by adding some colour to these images?</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=392413dc-a5ae-48fe-83f3-ccfde64071e1.pdf&amp;urlSlug=athleticshome-halloween-colouring-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download and print</a></strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/download/download?filename=392413dc-a5ae-48fe-83f3-ccfde64071e1.pdf&amp;urlSlug=athleticshome-halloween-colouring-in" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/90d79d0e-957c-4d7e-a947-0717c5ce2fea.png" alt="" width="600" height="288" /></a></p>

Athletics@Home returns - this time with a spooky twist!


Athletics@Home returns - this time with a spooky twist!
World 110m hurdles champion Grant Holloway, world long jump champion Malaika Mihambo and African triple jump record-holder Hugues Fabrice Zango have woken up on Halloween feeling a bit... different.
Can you bring their new characters to life by adding some colour to these images?
Download and print


Athletics colouring halloween

Athletics@Home - Halloween colouring in

<p><br />When the elite men and women hit the streets for the rescheduled <strong>World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020</strong> on 17 October, it will be a symbolic moment for the sport of athletics in these challenging times.</p>
<p>It will, of course, be the first World Athletics Series event since the outbreak of the global pandemic earlier this year. But more than that, it shines as a beacon of hope to show what is possible when like-minded, determined and united parties come together to achieve a goal.</p>
<p>Originally slated to take place on 29 March, the event was postponed earlier this year due to the rising levels of coronavirus, particularly in Europe at that time. However, there was always a deep-seated desire that the show must go on and the alternative date of 17 October was quickly announced for the rescheduled World Athletics Half Marathon Championships.</p>
<p>Although cancellation of the event was a possibility, it was never the preferred option for two reasons, according to World Athletics Director of Competition and Events Jakob Larsen.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Competing at international championships is very important for our elite athletes,&rdquo; explains Larsen. &ldquo;Not only to provide purpose for their training but also as a platform for their sources of income. Furthermore, cancelling without even trying to find another date would simply not be right when you have a city and a local organising committee who do not want to let their efforts and investment of time and resources go to waste.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Larsen fully acknowledges the crucial role played by the LOC in ensuring the rescheduled race will go ahead this weekend.</p>
<p>He describes them as World Athletics&rsquo; &ldquo;boots on the ground&rdquo; and insists their knowledge of local and national systems was invaluable.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We often play a role, but we would never be able to do what they do with the same results,&rdquo; admits Larsen.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This is also the case in this particular situation, where we have had to design a Covid-19 protocol more or less from scratch. Our Health &amp; Science Department possess the medical expertise needed, but the implementation requires a lot of work at local and national level. As an experienced event organiser, the LOC was well connected and knew who to reach out to in lots of situations &ndash; this has been extremely valuable.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Despite the expertise and enthusiasm of the LOC, the challenges of putting on an international sporting event in a global pandemic have been complex and varied.</p>
<p>Developing a detailed and thorough health and safety protocol has been critical and balancing the cost structure of a rescheduled event has also required much thought.</p>
<p>There have been bumps in the road. In late-August organisers were forced to make the tough decision to cancel the mass participation race, which was set to accompany the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, and had attracted 27,000 entrants. The mass event is now being held as a virtual race.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Given the fact the World Half Marathon Championships is very much about mass participation as well, and one that is highly valued by the community as the entry numbers show, it definitely was a sad decision,&rdquo; says Larsen. &ldquo;But at the same time, given the situation and indeed national regulations, it wasn&rsquo;t really a choice.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
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<p><br />While health and safety protocols, cost structures and the mass participation race have all presented their issues, Larsen says the greatest challenge remains ensuring the teams are able to travel to and subsequently enter Poland.</p>
<p>&ldquo;International travel is compromised, so we still have a lot of work to do for all teams to make it to Gdynia,&rdquo; admits Larsen. &ldquo;But we are hopeful and, based on the entries from the federations, so are they.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Larsen says that the event on 17 October will be &ldquo;almost totally different&rdquo; to the plans which had been implemented for the original race back in March.</p>
<p>The course has changed from a one-lap 21.1km loop to four loops of approximately 5.5km. The health and safety plan is on an &ldquo;entirely different scale&rdquo; and, given the absence of a mass participation race and massively scaled down spectator numbers, the event presentation has had to be amended. Yet not only are the competition and operational elements to the race different, so too will be the approach to communications.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have no mass race, but probably an extremely high-calibre elite race in a window with very few events going on &ndash; which is very unlike normal circumstances,&rdquo; he adds.</p>
<p>Larsen admits to having a few &ldquo;moments of doubt&rdquo; as to whether the rescheduled event would go ahead over a frantic past six months or so. However, thanks to the good will of the LOC, led by Michael Drelich, the Polish government and the city of Gdynia, the event has got the green light and will provide one of the highlights of a severely disrupted year of sporting action.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is clear that the entire community &ndash; athletes, national federations, coaches, athlete representatives &ndash; has risen to the challenge,&rdquo; says Larsen. &ldquo;It is evident that this is something everybody wants to happen &ndash; and indeed are making it happen.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Its importance cannot be overstated. As the governing body of athletics, we have committed to providing our athletes an opportunity to compete, giving them a reason to remain focused, and fulfil their sponsorship commitments. For national federations we will provide an opportunity to showcase their best athletes not only for an international audience but also to present themselves at national level. And for organisers worldwide I hope we can present a sustainable path forward until we reach a &lsquo;new normal&rsquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Everybody &ndash; World Athletics, the LOC and the athletics community &ndash; is working overtime in order to put on what I&rsquo;m sure will be an amazing event on 17 October.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for World Athletics</strong></p>

When the elite men and women hit the streets for the rescheduled World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 on 17 October, it will be a symbolic moment for the sport of athletics in these challenging times.

World Half Gdynia 2020 plans covid-19

How World Half organisers have adapted to ensure event can go ahead in 2020

<p><strong><br />In the latest in our series of features in the countdown to the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020, we look back at five of the finest performers from past championships.<br /><br /></strong></p>
<h3>Zersenay Tadese</h3>
<p>The man known as &ldquo;Mr. Half Marathon&rdquo; lived up to the moniker by securing a record-breaking five world half marathon titles during a sublime career over the 21.1km distance.</p>
<p>An outstanding talent on all surfaces, Tadese also won 2004 Olympic 10,000m bronze and the 2007 world cross country title. But the Eritrean was perhaps best suited to the half marathon.</p>
<p>Physiologically gifted &ndash; tests found he required much less oxygen per kilometre than many of his contemporaries &ndash; he set two world records over the distance, including his 58:23 mark set in Lisbon in 2010 which stood for eight years.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Yet it was probably his outstanding success at the World Half Marathon Championships for which he is best remembered. Tadese captured four successive titles from 2006*, the year he captured Eritrea&rsquo;s first world title, to 2009, and then collected a fifth in 30c temperatures in Kavarna, Bulgaria in 2012.</p>
<p>His 2007 gold in Udine was secured courtesy of a national record (58:59), although his most eye-catching global title victory came 12 months later in Rio when he secured the top spot by a near two-minute margin. In 2010 he also snared an individual silver and secured team gold for Eritrea in 2014 after placing fourth in the individual race.</p>
<h3>Geoffrey Kamworor</h3>
<p>If Tadese is commonly regarded as the greatest half-marathoner of all-time then Geoffrey Kamworor could be poised as the man to dislodge him of the title.</p>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/ff08a77b-d810-470d-979d-ebd2374d162f.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p>Kamworor has captured the last three titles over the distance. Taking his maiden title in Copenhagen when stopping the clock in 59:08, he retained his title two years later in Cardiff, despite losing his footing and slipping at the start, losing 15 precious seconds. The Kenyan completed the hat-trick two years ago by dismantling the field with a second 10km split of 27:46 in Valencia.</p>
<p>The 27-year-old has also claimed two world cross country golds, two New York City Marathon wins and a world 10,000m silver medal during his stellar career. Last year, he also added the world record for the 21.1km distance to his impressive CV, scalping 17 seconds from the previous mark with a dazzling 58:01 run in Copenhagen.</p>
<p>[Watch the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrYwjL7B3hM"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2014</strong></span></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBpl3NBzUg"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2016</strong></span></a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXzWLTg48I"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2018</strong></span></a> races.]</p>
<h3>Tegla Loroupe</h3>
<p>Today the diminutive Kenyan stands tall as a global advocate for peace, women&rsquo;s rights and education but it is sometimes forgotten that during an earlier phase of her career, Loroupe was a distance running superstar who enjoyed sustained success over the half marathon distance.</p>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/bfdbc70d-00d0-465c-ac80-969656e3a674.png?cachebuster=2a76bf61-c8df-44c4-ab5d-8a8a34511cc3" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p>A world marathon record holder and winner of the New York City, Berlin and London marathons, Loroupe also became the first woman to claim a hat-trick of world half marathon titles from 1997-99. Four years after racing to bronze at the 1993 World Half Marathon Championships in Brussels, Loroupe romped to victory in Kosice, Slovakia in 1:08:14, a championship record.</p>
<p>The following year in Uster, Switzerland, she retained her title in an absorbing head-to-head battle with Elena Meyer, the 1994 champion, before clinching her hat-trick in Palermo where she defeated rising Japanese talent Mizuki Noguchi.</p>
<p>In a stellar career over 21.1km, Loroupe also secured six Lisbon Half Marathon victories.</p>
<h3>Paul Tergat</h3>
<p>As a five-time world cross country champion, two-time Olympic 10,000m silver medallist and world marathon record-holder, Paul Tergat was a distance running colossus. But the Kenyan also boasted a proud record in the World Half Marathon Championships, winning back-to-back men&rsquo;s titles in 1999 and 2000.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/LargeL/d7625a33-d091-40de-9d38-590efb43edb5.jpg?cachebuster=ca6625ce-c0f6-4ea8-980a-63970ad1b890" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></p>
<p>The Kenyan Air Force major first set a world half marathon record in Milan in 1993 with a 1:00:13 clocking before he reclaimed the mark with a blistering 59:17 on the same course five years later.</p>
<p>So when he took to the start line in 1999 for his debut appearance at the World Half Marathon Championships in Palermo he was rightly installed as clear favourite. Tergat lived up to the billing. Despite an official accidentally blocking his path 100 metres from the finish, he sprinted to victory in 1:01:50 defeating South Africa&rsquo;s Hendrick Ramaala.</p>
<p>Just seven weeks after agonisingly missing out on Olympic 10,000m gold in Sydney by 0.09 to long-time rival Haile Gebrselassie, Tergat bounced back to mount a successful defence of his half marathon crown in Veracruz, Mexico.</p>
<p>Earlier that year, Tergat had lowered his world half marathon record by 11 seconds in Lisbon with a blistering 59:06 clocking and in hot and humid conditions in Mexico he proved too strong for the opposition to retain his title in 1:03:47, one second clear of Tanzania&rsquo;s Phaustin Sulle.</p>
<h3>Paula Radcliffe</h3>
<p>As a former world marathon record-holder, world marathon champion and world cross country champion, there is little questioning the British athlete&rsquo;s status as a distance running icon.</p>
<p><img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Original/ed44cefa-8d05-4a7d-91d3-fc164c984dbc.png" alt="" width="500" height="334" /></p>
<p>However, it was the first of her three half marathon championships victories, at the 2000 edition in Veracruz, which acted as the gateway to her future success.</p>
<p>Up until that point in her career, Radcliffe was an eternal bridesmaid on the global stage as a world 10,000m silver medallist and world cross country silver medallist.</p>
<p>Yet just three weeks after blasting to a 1:07:07 clocking to win the Great North Run, she finally snapped the streak of silver in the much hotter temperatures in Veracruz to clinch her first senior global title, defeating Susan Chepkemei of Kenya by 33 seconds.</p>
<p>Her first world cross country title the following March bolstered her confidence. She then added further lustre to her growing reputation by romping to victory at the 2001 World Half Marathon Championships in Bristol by romping to victory in a championship record 1:06:47, then the second fastest time in history.</p>
<p>Her World Half Marathon Championships story ended in 2003 as the Briton, who earlier that year had posted an eye-popping 2:15:25 world marathon record in London, secured her third title in Vilamoura, Portugal, defeating Berhane Adere by nearly a minute and a half in 1:07:35.</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for the IAAF</strong></p>
<p><em>*In 2006 the event was staged as the World Road Running Championships over 20km.</em></p>

In the latest in our series of features in the countdown to the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020, we look back at five of the finest performers from past championships.

Five World Half Marathon Championships legends

Top five World Half Marathon Championships legends

Japanese sprinter Yoshihide Kiryu on the magic of a home Olympics

Yoshihide Kiryu

Be Ready

Dutch distance runner Jip Vastenburg opens up on the dangers of strict diets.

Jip Vastenburg

Fuel

Athletes' Commission Chair Renaud Lavillenie on the importance of athletes recognising the power of their own voice – on matters relating to the sport and beyond.

Renaud Lavillenie at the London Diamond League

The Athletes' Voice

Australian pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall on the night that changed his course

Yulimar Rojas

venezuela

Mondo Duplantis

sweden

Joshua Cheptegei

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Fred KERLEY

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Pedro PICHARDO

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Jacob KIPLIMO

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Hellen OBIRI

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Femke BOL

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Valarie ALLMAN

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Malaika MIHAMBO

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