The IAAF World Indoor Championships Back in Birmingham

In just over 12 months’ time the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 will take place at Arena Birmingham* and more than 400 athletes from 150 countries are expected to compete.

Registration for the event, which will be held at the beginning of March 2018, was launched  on Saturday at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix Birmingham and spectators can now sign up atwww.wicbirmingham2018.com to receive ticket updates and the latest news and information about the Championships. Following this initial registration period, tickets are expected to go on sale in just a few weeks’ time and those people who have registered for updates will be able to buy tickets first.

This will be the second time that Birmingham has staged the Championships, having successfully organised the ninth edition of the event in 2003 – an event which saw the home nation secure seven medals, including golds for Ashia Hansen and Marlon Devonish.

Remembering the 2003 event Councillor Ian Ward, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council and Chair of the Executive Steering Group for the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018, said: “We all have fond memories of the 2003 Championships – an event that helped put Birmingham on the sporting map.

“Since then we’ve hosted many more global sporting events and we are delighted that 15 years later, we will once again be welcoming this prestigious event back to Birmingham. We are very excited about next March and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that we deliver another event of which the city and the country can be proud.”

Since 2003 the city of Birmingham has changed considerably, with new developments and improvements carried out across the city, including a £26 million revamp of Arena Birmingham, a venue which has now staged indoor athletics for 25 years, with 15 world records broken during that period. And the indoor track has received its own makeover, as the entire infield, including the 60m straight and all the field event run ups, has been replaced.

The IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 will be jointly organised by Birmingham City Council and British Athletics, two organisations who are used to working together, both on major championships like the 2003 edition of the IAAF World Indoor Championships, the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2007 and the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2009, as well as the televised events, like the Müller Indoor Grand Prix.

Niels de Vos, Chief Executive of UK Athletics said: “Birmingham has a great history of hosting world class athletics events and next year’s IAAF World Indoor Championships will be the highlight of the 2018 season. This is a great time for athletics in this country with a number of major events to the UK over the next couple of years, and we’re looking forward to welcoming the world’s best athletes to Birmingham next March.”