Inaugural Athletics World Cup in London to commemorate centenary of women’s right to vote

Coinciding with both the Wimbledon and FIFA World Cup finals, the inaugural two-day event will be held at London Stadium over July 14 and 15, spoiling sports fans for choice.

Female captains will lead eight nations, with Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the USA, Poland, Germany, France, Jamaica and South Africa competing in all track and field events up to 1,500m.

Each event will take a straight final format, with only one male and female athlete from each country selected.

Mayor Khan, leading the #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign, said: “I am delighted British Athletics has joined me in the campaign to support the continuing success of women and our push for greater gender equality from all backgrounds.

“When it comes to hosting world-class sport, no other city does it quite like London."

The event boosts London’s growing status as an athletics hub, after it became the first city to host both the IAAF World Athletics Championships and IPC World Para Athletics championships in the same summer, last year.

UK Athletics chair Richard Bowker CBE said fans could look forward to an amazing, world-class feast of athletics, featuring many of the sporting world’s biggest superstars.

Niels de Vos, chief executive of UK Athletics, told BBC Sport that he expects the event to sell out its 110,000 tickets over the two days, funding prize money which would be split between the teams of about 45 athletes each.

With a reported minimum prize of £71,000, going up to £320,000 for the winners, even an eighth-placed finish would garner approximately twice the prize money from a Diamond League event, making the World Cup a lucrative financial prospect for both athletes and federations.

He added: “People love medals, flags, countries and that is what they will get. Every event is a medal event.”

Sportsbeat 2018