World Athletics has offered 25 athletes year-round protection on some of their social media platforms, using artificial intelligence, after they were identified as highly targeted individuals for abuse during major events.

The governing body has run a study over the past four years, comprising of two Olympic Games and two World Championships, to analyse online abuse to its athletes.

More than 1.4 million posts or comments were analysed, covering 2,438 track, field and road athletes.

The study included comments and targeted abuse – where the athletes were tagged – but excluded direct messaging or non-targeted abuse.

World Athletics has not identified the 25 athletes and said the support would be expanded next year.

“We have invested significant resources into conducting research into online abuse and one of our significant successes from this initiative has been our ability to offer athletes support and providing them with the tools to proactively protect themselves against online abuse,” said World Athletics president Lord Coe.

“Athlete welfare is at the very top of our priority list, and we will continue to put measures in place to ensure that athletes can confidently and safely engage with social media platforms.”