The IAAF World Championships (4-13 August) are the second half of the Summer of World Athletics, kicking off 11 days after the conclusion of the World Para Athletics Championships (14-23 July).
The IAAF World Championships and World Para Athletics Championships are being held in the same year in the same city for the first time ever and together mark the biggest sporting event in the world in 2017.
Over 3,000 athletes from 200 nations will have competed at the London Stadium at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park by the end of both Championships – undoubtedly the biggest event to be held at the iconic venue since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The United Kingdom has only ever held either of the Championships once before when Birmingham hosted the World Para Athletics Championships in 1998.
Away from the London Stadium thousands will also take to the streets with the marathon and race walk events set in the heart of the city. The men’s and women’s marathons are being held on the same day for the first time ever at the IAAF World Championships and will start and finish at Tower Bridge. A Festival of Race Walks will follow a week after the marathon with The Mall acting as centre stage of a 2km loop between Buckingham Palace and Admiralty Arch.
The medals each and every athlete will be competing for at the Championships places them at the heart of their clockwork design. Inspired by time and the notion of ‘What makes an athlete ticket?’, every winning athlete will have a symbol of their event on their medal. Coaches of medal-winning athletes are also set to receive medals for the first time at the IAAF World Championships.
And finally, the official mascot of the IAAF World Championships – Hero the Hedgehog – was designed by a talented nine-year-old from the West Midlands called Elinor and is a symbol of the need to protect endangered and threatened species in the United Kingdom.