The 2024 World Athletics Continental Tour calendar has been published, with two months to go until the first Gold level meeting of the season in Australia.
More than 190 meetings are included in next year’s tour, which is divided into four levels – Gold, Silver, Bronze and Challenger. The status of each meeting is determined by the quality of competition and prize money on offer.
The tour’s top tier comprises 12 events spread across five of the six continental areas. The full calendar also currently includes 27 Silver, 62 Bronze and 89 Challenger meetings and will be added to as the season progresses.
Gold level action kicks off in Melbourne, Australia, on 15 February when the Maurie Plant Meet will again welcome some of the world’s top athletes to the Victorian capital. Among them will be Britain’s 2022 world 1500m champion Jake Wightman.
In February of this year more than 7500 fans packed into the Lakeside Stadium to see athletes such as 2022 world 100m champion Fred Kerley open their season and ticket demand for next year suggests that another full stadium is in expected.
After Melbourne, the next Gold level meeting takes place in Gaborone in Botswana on 14 April, before stops in Nairobi in Kenya (20 April), Los Angeles in USA (18 May), Tokyo in Japan (19 May) and Ostrava in Czechia (28 May).
As athletes continue their preparations for the Olympic Games in Paris in August, the Gold tour will continue on to New York in USA (9 June), Turku in Finland (18 June), Bydgoszcz in Poland (21 June), Hengelo in the Netherlands (7 July) and Szekesfehervar in Hungary (9 July).
Following the Olympics, Zagreb in Croatia will welcome athletes for the final Continental Tour Gold meeting of the season on 8 September.
In 2023 15,552 athletes from 173 countries competed in the Continental Tour, setting one world record, nine area records, 181 national records and 5610 personal bests.
Highlights included USA’s Ryan Crouser improving his own world shot put record to 23.56m in Los Angeles, New Zealand’s Zoe Hobbs taking the Oceania 100m record to 10.97 and then 10.96 in Sydney and La Chaux-de-Fonds, respectively, and USA’s Brooke Andersen becoming the third woman to surpass 80 metres in the hammer with a throw of 80.17m in Tucson.
USA’s KC Lightfoot cleared 6.07m to break the North American pole vault record in Nashville, while Kenya’s world 3000m steeplechase record-holder Beatrice Chepkoech set a world 2000m steeplechase best of 5:47.42 to ensure that the 2023 Continental Tour Gold season ended on a high in Zagreb.
Gold level meetings in the 2024 World Athletics Continental Tour
- 15 February – Maurie Plant Meet, Melbourne (AUS)
- 14 April – Botswana Golden Grand Prix, Gaborone (BOT)
- 20 April – Kip Keino Classic, Nairobi (KEN)
- 18 May – USATF Los Angeles Grand Prix, Los Angeles (USA)
- 19 May – Seiko Golden Grand Prix, Tokyo (JPN)
- 28 May – Ostrava Golden Spike, Ostrava (CZE)
- 9 June – USATF New York City Grand Prix, New York (USA)
- 18 June – Paavo Nurmi Games, Turku (FIN)
- 21 June – Irena Szewinska Memorial, Bydgoszcz (POL)
- 7 July – FBK Games, Hengelo (NED)
- 9 July – Gyulai István Memorial, Szekesfehervar (HUN)
- 8 September – Memorial Borisa Hanzekovica, Zagreb (CRO)
