In total, there were 54 athletes that won individual medals on the track at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. Just 13 competed this past weekend in Poland at World Indoors. At first, that seems like a disappointingly low number from a participation standard… that is until you consider there were just six that came over from the Olympic podium to Nanjing last year.

Being that this is a non-Olympic year and Poland is in a relatively accessible time zone for most of the world’s top athletes, there were a few less excuses than normal to not attend. Still, many athletes choose not to focus on the indoor season for one reason or another, and some didn’t even acknowledge its existence.

That’s disappointing from a fan interest perspective, but it has financial implications as well. Host federations generally don’t often fill their coffers putting on a global championship. (They actually tend to lose quite a bit of money!) Fortunately, governments are willing to take on a significant cost burden to subsidize things in hope of the economic benefit that tourism can bring to a city. In 2023, Budapest reported that their $186 million expenditure was worth $408 million in local impact, much of which was spent on Dreher lagers in the caves. The 400,000 tickets sold made about $8 million of revenue.

Like most major sports federations, World Athletics isn’t terribly financially exposed to each individual championship. But its ability to make money—outside of being handed a large bag by the IOC every four years—is dependent on media rights deals and sponsorships. The more events they can convince other countries to host, the more inventory they can potentially sell. (Enter the World Road Running Championships and World Ultimate Championships!)

Here’s the tough part: the busier the calendar, the harder it tends to be to win over athletes. Having 13 of the biggest stars in the world compete in Poland is good, but it’d make future negotiations and pitch-decks more intriguing if Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Letsile Tebogo, and Sha’Carri Richardson had been there.

In addition to being a huge fan of his music, talent, and sense of humor, Seb Coe loves Mondo Duplantis because he makes his life a bit easier. He knows that at every track and field championship, Mondo Duplantis is guaranteed to be there, ready to put on a show. However, the pole vault has its limitations—namely, that there is no cross country or road-specific pole vault championship.

There is, however, one athlete that has never missed an opportunity to contest a global championship. She deserves every medal she’s ever earned, and in a just world, she’d have a statue outside the Monaco headquarters. Since graduating from Oregon in 2019, Jess Hull has run at EVERY championship that she could have reasonably competed in—all 13 of them!

Let’s list them out so you can understand her dedication to the World Athletics calendar, and appreciate the vast quantity of airline points she’s likely accrued:

• 2026 World Indoors – Poland
• 2026 World Cross Country – United States
• 2025 World Outdoors – Japan
• 2025 World Indoors – China
• 2024 Olympics – France
• 2024 World Indoors – Scotland
• 2023 World Road Running – Latvia
• 2023 World Outdoors – Hungary
• 2023 World Cross Country – Australia
• 2022 World Outdoors – United States
• 2022 World Indoors – Serbia
• 2021 Olympics – Japan
• 2019 World Outdoors – Qatar

Hull yeah!

If Hull could just learn how to race walk then she would likely be heading to Brasilia in two weeks. For her efforts, Hull has earned seven global medals, most recently a silver and a bronze in the 1500m and 3000m, respectively, this past weekend. To be that consistently healthy, let alone competitive enough to regularly podium, is an accomplishment in and of itself. Additionally, the Australian superstar has raced at Diamond League Meetings in 13 different cities.

After her race in Poland, Hull told reporters, “If there’s a race for medals anywhere in the world, I will be there.” If Seb Coe builds it, come Hull or high water, Jess will come.

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