Coe re-elected as president of World Athletics, Sumariwalla vice-president

Coe stood unopposed in the vote of the World Athletics Congress in Budapest, two days ahead of the start of the World Championships in the Hungarian capital.

Coe’s first two mandates saw the creation in 2017 of the Athletics Integrity Unit, an independent body overseeing anti-doping, and the reinforcement of World Athletics’ stance on Russia. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics since 2015, was on Wednesday re-elected as head of track and field’s governing body on a third and final four-year mandate.

The 66-year-old, a two-time Olympic 1500m champion for Britain in 1980 and 1984, stood unopposed in the vote of the World Athletics Congress in Budapest, two days ahead of the start of the world championships in the Hungarian capital.

According to World Athletics rules, Coe will be unable to stand for a fourth mandate.

Coe, a former Conservative politician who headed the local organising committee of the 2012 London Olympics, took over the presidency of the then-International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) reeling from a corruption scandal involving ex-president Lamine Diack.

Coe’s first two mandates saw the creation in 2017 of the Athletics Integrity Unit, an independent body overseeing anti-doping, and the reinforcement of World Athletics’ stance on Russia, first suspended over institutional doping and then again in 2022 over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Adille Sumariwalla, the president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), was elected as one of the four vice-presidents of World Athletics.

The 65-year-old is the first Indian to be elected to the post and will now be a part of its executive board for a four-year term. The other three vice-presidents are Ximena Restrepo (re-elected), Raul Chapado and Jackson Tuwei.

Olympian Sumariwalla was elected to the World Athletics Council for the first time in 2015 and was re-elected to the body in 2019.