The exercise has become a ritual: as at the Olympic Games, athletes attending the World Athletics Championships are invited to vote for their representatives within World Athletics. In Budapest last week, the first-ever electronic ballot secured a new mandate for former New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams (pictured above) and French pole vaulter Renaud Lavillenie. The former came out on top, with 627 votes, ahead of the latter (604). The other members of the World Athletics Athletes’ Commission for the period 2023-2027, elected or re-elected at the Budapest Worlds, are Jamaican Aisha Praught-Leer (559 votes), Spaniard Diego Garcia Carrera (553), American Jasmine Todd (546), and Briton Adam Gemili (542). They join a group of six athletes elected to the 2022 World Championships in Eugene: Ivet Lalova-Collio (Bulgaria), Anna Ryzhykova (Ukraine), Lea Sprunger (Switzerland), Lisanne de Witte (Netherlands), Matthew Hughes (Canada), and Toshikazu Yamanishi (Japan). Six additional members of the Athletes’ Commission will be appointed next month by the World Athletics Board. The positions of Chairman and Vice-Chairman will be put to the vote of the Commission once the composition has been finalized. The Chairman and one other member – a woman and a man – will sit on the Board.
