Indoor track and field competition will be renamed ‘short track’ in a change by World Athletics which the governing body hopes will help grow the sport.
Indoor championships will remain but the move is intended to encourage “competition innovation”, with the traditional indoor 200m track providing flexibility for outdoor use in cities.
Performances on outdoor or temporary 200m tracks would be recognised as official results, including records.
It will come into effect on 1 November.
World Athletics president Lord Coe said the change would open a “world of opportunities” for the sport and encourage growth through investment in new infrastructure.
“This change is designed to remove an unintentional barrier to competition innovation, by offering organisers the chance to explore solutions and opportunities which the current rules may discourage,” Coe said.
“Under this new concept, the 200m short track will no longer be confined to the indoor environment, and a world of opportunities will open up for meeting organisers to stage official competition in whatever facilities they have available.”
The governing body’s accompanying proposed new world-record list includes separate short-track records for events ranging from the 200m to the 5,000m.
Athletics has traditionally been divided between outdoor competition on a 400m track and indoor competition on a 200m track, however World Athletics said hybrid competition venues such as city squares had made the separation “increasingly difficult to maintain”.
The World Athletics Council will formally approve the rule changes at its August meeting in Budapest.
