IAAF Explains New World Outdoor Championships Qualifying System

By Adam Kopet

The IAAF released the framework Friday for qualifying for the 2019 IAAF World Outdoor Championships. The new qualifying system will largely be dependent on a new world ranking system the IAAF has been working to create over the past year.

That ranking system ranks both athlete performances and the meetings themselves. Thus, a performance at a Diamond League meet would rank higher than at a small domestic meet. This is different from past years when athletes were required to hit a specific qualifying standard.

However, the IAAF has left the door open for strong performances that do not take place at highly ranked meets. A set of qualifying standards will be released in November to make it possible for athletes who cannot travel or get into high level meets, like the Diamond League, to still qualify.

Another aspect of championship qualifying from recent years remains as well. The wild-card entries given to defending champions and Diamond League winners will be joined by the leaders of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge, the IAAF Race Walk Challenge and the IAAF Combined Events Challenge. However, no more than one wild-card entry can be used per country per event, limiting a country's presence in an event to four athletes.

With the 2019 IAAF World Outdoor Championships taking place in late September and early October, it will be the 2019 Diamond League winners who gain wild-card entries into the championships, as opposed to this year's winners.