World Athletics is not only rebuilding the competition format in Budapest. It is going after the fan’s second screen too.
The governing body has launched a new official mobile app ahead of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, packing live results, performance data, personalised content, games, rewards and event information into one platform available on iOS and Android.
The timing is deliberate.
Budapest’s new three-day championship begins on September 11 and has been designed as a high-pressure season finale featuring Olympic champions, world champions, Diamond League winners and leading athletes from the world rankings. World Athletics says 381 athletes from 65 federations will compete across 28 disciplines.
Now the digital experience is being built to move at the same speed.
Fans using the app can follow live results, splits, statistics and performance data while competition is unfolding. They can also personalise the platform around particular athletes, countries and events rather than relying on one generic event feed.
That matters because World Athletics is positioning the app as more than a scoreboard.
Its Play Zone includes trivia, polls and a prediction feature, while users can also access news, athlete stories, schedules, broadcast information, ticket links and other event material in the same environment. Reward opportunities are also built into the platform.
The bigger play is attention.
Major sports bodies are no longer fighting only for ticket buyers and television viewers. They are fighting to keep fans inside their own digital ecosystems before, during and after events.
World Athletics has been explicit about that direction. In July, it described the new app as part of a broader digital transformation aimed at strengthening direct relationships with fans, increasing accessibility and creating new opportunities around engagement, community and partner activation.
Budapest is becoming the testing ground.
The championship is also introducing augmented-reality broadcast elements, new data graphics, live win probabilities and projected finishing positions. A separate Roblox activation brings the event into the Track & Field: Infinite gaming environment with an appearance from Usain Bolt.
Sony is also supplying optical-tracking technology for new sprint-finish visualisations during the championship.
Put together, the message is difficult to miss: World Athletics wants a championship that does not end when the race clock stops.
For Nigerian and African athletics fans, the app also offers a potentially useful way to isolate athletes and countries inside an event crowded with global stars. Rather than searching across multiple result pages and feeds, users can build a personalised view around the competitors they want to follow.
That could become particularly valuable during an event where multiple disciplines will run across three tightly packed evening sessions.
The technology itself will not make athletics compelling. The athletes still have to do that.
But World Athletics is clearly betting that if the sport can make its data, personalities and live drama easier to follow, it can hold fan attention for longer and turn a three-day championship into a year-round digital relationship.
Budapest will test the athletes.
The new app will test whether World Athletics can win the screen beside them.