BBC Sport has extended its deal to broadcast live free-to-air coverage of the next two editions of the IAAF World Athletics Championships.
The corporation will cover the 2021 championships in Oregon, United States, followed by the 2023 event which will be held in the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
It continues the terrestrial broadcaster’s strong support of athletics and Olympic sports, less than 12 months out from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Along with rights to the flagship World Championships, the BBC will also broadcast live coverage of the next two editions of the World Indoor Championships in 2020 and 2022, as well as selected other IAAF World Athletics Series events, including the World Cross Country and World Relay Championships.
The BBC is understood to have taken up an option to extend its partnership with the IAAF, having been one of several European broadcasters that guaranteed the acquisition a number of IAAF events from 2018 to 2023 via the European Broadcasting Union, a consortium of free-to-air broadcasters from across the continent.
Commenting on retaining the rights to screen the biennial event until 2023, Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said:
“After the medal-winning performances from Dina Asher-Smith, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and our relay teams, this is fantastic news for the BBC that we can continue to broadcast world-class athletics free to air.
“We will continue to provide audiences across the country with the best coverage of our British athletes and world superstars.”
The BBC is currently broadcasting the 2019 World Athletics Championships from Doha, though the corporation’s coverage was last week criticised by IAAF President, Sebastian Coe, for the way it portrayed the sport in light of poor attendances at the event in Qatar.
Coe was critical of the BBC’s lead athletics presenter Gabby Logan, whom he accused of highlighting poor crowds in the Khalifa International Stadium during the opening days of the event.
The BBC declined to comment on the matter, but Logan’s BBC colleague and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker said that Coe had made a mistake. “Picking the wrong target in Gabby Logan,” he tweeted. “She’s just doing her job brilliantly as always. Maybe look closer to home.”
Despite the controversy, the BBC has been a loyal partner of athletics for many decades, providing the sport’s most prominent free-to-air coverage. Their new deal with the IAAF means they will continue to show an event they have covered since it was launched in Helsinki in 1983.
The BBC’s current major television sports rights portfolio includes tournaments such as UEFA Euro 2020, Six Nations rugby, Wimbledon, the FA Cup and cricket’s newest competition, The Hundred.
