World Athletics reported that the global governing body closed 2025 with record revenues. World Athletics reports that USD $586 million (€496m) was generated from three championships, an increase created from new benchmarks in audience interest.
There may be interest in the sport continuing from the new exposure to the activity of running after the worldwide COVID lockdown.
Interest may have also been garnered from world-class performances. Several world and area records of note were set in 2024 and 2025, due to the Paris Olympics and Tokyo World Championships. According to World Athletics much of the increase in revenue came from three primary global events.
Three global events
The three events were the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, World Relays in Guangzhou and the World Athletics Championships (outdoor) that took place in Tokyo.
According to World Athletics, the three meets were streamed or broadcast to a cumulative television audience of 1.4 billion hours watched across 234 territories.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said, “On average, our return is four times our investment, although in some cases, such as the outdoor World Championships in Tokyo, it was five. This represents a notable increase in impact compared with previous events. These figures tell us we are on the right path and that our sport is of great interest.”
The Tokyo World Championships were a tremendous success. Again, COVID may have played an indirect role. Specifically in Japan’s largest city, where the 2021 Tokyo Olympics took place without live audiences. There may have been a pent-up desire to see world-class athletics up close by the time the World Championships happened in Tokyo.
It also helped that more countries had more athletes qualify for the meet and for the finals.
Eighty-four countries had athletes qualify for the finals. More than 600,000 tickets were sold, and seven of the nine sessions were sold out.
The socials also generated interest. For example, World Athletics reported an increase of three million followers on social media and now has 17 million followers. This is complemented by traditional media coverage approaching 400,000 articles.
March saw a historic milestone in sports administration as Kirsty Coventry became the first female president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Zimbabwean succeeded Germany’s Thomas Bach. At 41, the former swimmer and two-time Olympic gold medallist became not only the first woman but also the first African and youngest person to hold the position. She will be at the helm for an eight-year term.
Athletics is the largest part of the Olympic Games.
The athletes bring the audience
It also helps that charismatic athletes of supernatural ability are breaking records. At the same time, they are more accessible via social media and digital technology.
Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis dominated the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, first winning the title with a 6.15m vault before breaking the world record with 6.30m. His celebration after his record in Tokyo Stadium was infectious.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone continues to dominate the 400 metre and 400 metre hurdles events. She holds the world record in the 400mh at 50.37 from 2024 at the Paris Olympic Games. In 2025, she took the American and North American records for the 400m flat at 47.78. The 26-year-old American still has several years remaining in her career, and fans want to watch her trajectory.
Faith Kipyegon continues to dominate in a way heretofore unseen. She is likable enough that her competitors celebrate wins with her. In 2025, the 31-year-old set a world record and an African record. She ran the 1500m event in a time of 3:48.68 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, OR. Then she ran the 3000m African record of 8:05.04 in Chorzów, Poland.
Kipyegon already holds the world record in the mile (1609m) at 4:07.64. What helped fuel further interest in the Kenyan was her attempt to run the mile under four minutes at the behest of Nike Corporation. She didn’t accomplish it, but the attempt was of great interest. Kipyegon is an eight-time World Championships medallist, with five gold and three silver. She is also a three-time Olympic gold medallist and earned a silver. She is not done yet.
In 2025, several other world-class marks were set. Notably, in indoor races, by Americans Yared Nuguse and Grant Fisher in the 1500m, mile and 3000m and 5000m, respectively.
Nuguse took North American records in the mile and 1500m indoor events in 2025, clocking 3:46.63 and 3:31.74. Fisher ran the 5000m in 12:44.09, currently a pending world record and the 3000m in 7:22.91, which is an American record.
Other key records
Men’s world indoor 3000m set at 7:29.99 by Ethiopian Biniam Mehary in Liévin, France, on Feb. 13. There was the road mile in 3:51.3 by Briton Elliot Giles in Düsseldorf on Sept. 1, 2024, but ratified in 2025. There was also the U20 indoor men’s mile by Australian Cameron Myers with his 3:53.12 performance in New York on Jan. 25.
Norwegian Karsten Warholm’s 300m hurdles in 32.67 in the Oslo Diamond League meet added to his 400m hurdles world record set in 2021. The 300m “record” is the “World’s Best Known Time.” The 300m is not an official distance event.
Kenyan Beatrice Chebet’s 5000m world record at the Prefontaine Classic was otherworldly. She became the first woman in history to run sub-14:00, with her 13:58.06 performance. The pint-sized Kenyan already had the road 5km record from Barcelona at 13:54. Chebet ran the first sub-29-minute 10,000m performance at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic at 28:54.14, so her 5000m record was not unexpected.
The 25-year-old owns two Olympic gold medals and two World Championships golds in the 5000m and 10,000m each. Chebet has also won silver and bronze. She is the three-time World Cross Country Champion.
