Sebastian Coe throws hat in the ring for IAAF Presidency

Photo: Lord Sebastian Coe (Getty Images)

Lord Sebastian Coe, currently a vice-president of athletics’ world governing body, has formally announced that he is to stand to succeed Lamine Diack, who is stepping down next year after being IAAF president since 1999. Coe has officially launched his campaign for the IAAF presidency. Coe, the double Olympic champion who headed the London 2012 organising committee and is the current British Olympic Association chairman, is expected to unveil his election manifesto as early as next week.

Coe said in a release via the Telegraph Sport, and PA “For as long as I can remember, I have woken knowing that athletics, in some way, would shape my day. As a young boy, running was the thing that I loved beyond anything else and I have been hugely fortunate that athletics has been at the centre of my life ever since.

“As I speak to friends and colleagues around our great sport I appreciate that we are entering a very important time for athletics and that it is the right time to open up a discussion about the future.”

He is likely to face competition from Sergei Bubka, the Ukrainian former pole vault champion who is also an IAAF vice-president. Another person viewed as a possible candidate is Nawal El Moutawakel, the former Moroccan hurdler and the first female African-born Muslim to become an Olympic champion. She however is viewed as having an outside chance.

The deadline for candidates to register they are standing for the presidency is May 2015 and the election will take place at the IAAF Congress in Beijing in August.