World Athletics has ordered that the term ‘indoor’ in track and field be renamed ‘short track’ to denote events and performances held on a 200m track, thesportsbay.com reports.
The World Athletics website issued a press release stating that the new word “short track” would allow for more freedom in the layout of 200-meter courses.
“The World Athletics Council is supporting the concept short track’ competition to allow more flexibility in the setting of 200m tracks, which may, in the future, be constructed outdoors or in temporary city locations, rather than in a traditional indoor arena. Performances set on outdoor or temporary 200m tracks could therefore be recognised as official results for the purpose of records and rankings.”
This new development is due to evolution which has prompted World Athletics to redefine the boundaries of outdoor and indoor athletics, so they relate to the competition facility rather than to the environment according to its president, Sebastian Coe.
“This change is designed to remove an unintentional barrier to competition innovation by offering organisers the chance to explore solutions and opportunities which the current rules may discourage.
Under this new concept, the 200m short track will no longer be confined to the indoor environment, and a world of opportunities will open up for meeting organisers to stage official competition in whatever facilities they have available, either indoors or outdoors, using 200m or 400m tracks,” added Coe.
“This change will allow and actively encourage the possibility for 200m tracks to move to an outdoor environment and will provide a more affordable option to cities, especially where space is in short supply while stimulating the growth of the sport through investment in new infrastructure.”
However, indoor championships (whether at the national, area, or world level) would continue to exist, but in regions/areas where there are no or very limited indoor facilities, short track championships could be held, which would be the equivalent of the indoor championships and could be used as qualifying competitions for major indoor championships.
