A thread to discuss all things athletics related such as events, debates and news and anything to with the world of athletics in 2026.

Athletics Calendar:

https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-

We're in the 'down' year this year where there isn't a World Championships or an Olympic Games. So I guess the biggest action will be seeing how many more times Armand Duplantis can break the Pole Vault world record by a centimetre!

Eilish McColgan set a women's European 10km record in Valencia - seven days after her previous record was broken.

The 35-year-old Briton knocked three seconds off Jana van Lent's time as she finished eighth in the women's race at the Valencia Ibercaja in 30 minutes seven seconds.

McColgan held the record for more than three years after setting a time of 30:19 in Manchester in 2022, but that was lowered to 30:10 by Belgian Van Lent in Nice on 4 January.

Before that, GB's Paula Radcliffe held the record for almost 20 years after running 30:21 in Puerto Rico in 2003.

Benard Kibet Koech has been banned and disqualified by the Athletics Integrity Unit.

The Kenyan's ban lasts four years from June 10 2025 after the AIU found abnormalities in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

His result from the Paris 2024 Olympic 10,000m final, where he finished 5th, has been disqualified.

Three athletes who were led off course when leading the US half marathon championship will receive compensation after ultimately finishing well outside the top three.

Organisers of the event in Atlanta said that police assigned to mark out the route had to respond to an emergency call, which led to confusion from the lead vehicle.

Jess McClain, who was comfortably leading the women's race, was taken off the main course, along with her closest challengers Ednah Kurgat and Emma Hurley.

The race was won by Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind, while McClain finished ninth, with Hurley coming 12th and Kurgat in 13th.