The NAIA, Explore Asheville and Airstream Ventures have announced Asheville, North Carolina, as the host city for the NAIA Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in 2026 and 2027.

“We are honored to welcome the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships to our community in 2026 and 2027,” said Vic Isley, president and chief executive officer of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority. “Hosting this prestigious event underscores Asheville’s standing as a leading sports destination in the Southeast while also fueling our local creative economy and supporting the recovery of small businesses following Hurricane Helene.”

The three‑day event brings together approximately 1,300 athletes representing men’s and women’s teams, along with their families and fans. The championships will take place at UNC Asheville’s recently renovated Karl Straus Track, with expansions made possible in part by a $1.5 million Tourism Product Development Fund investment through the tourism development authority.

“The NAIA is excited to partner with Airstream Ventures and Explore Asheville to provide a first–class experience to the student–athletes competing for outdoor track and field national championships,” said Austin Bennett, NAIA vice president for championships. “The Karl Straus Track and the amenities the area brings to the table will allow the NAIA to provide an event that will make lasting memories for our student-athletes, coaches and fans.”

For its first year in Asheville, the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships will take place May 20–22, 2026. In 2027, the event is set for May 26–28.

“Hosting the NAIA championships at Karl Straus Track is a tremendous honor and opportunity,” said Janet Cone, athletic director at UNC Asheville. “Our facilities are designed to support elite level competition, and we are committed to providing an exceptional experience for athletes, coaches and spectators. We’re proud to bring national attention to Asheville and UNC Asheville and thankful for this partnership with Airstream Ventures, Explore Asheville and the NAIA.”

Cape Town will host the 2027 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships from October 6–10, marking the first time the World Athletics event will be held in Africa.

It is estimated that about 1,200 runners from more than 80 nations will compete in 2027. There are four senior championship races with individual and team medals awarded in each: classic (up and down), uphill, short trail and long trail. Along with an U20 championship race, there will also be mass participation and side events, allowing amateur runners to experience the thrill of the event.

“It is always exciting when a major athletics event is staged in a new continent for the first time and this is no exception,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “Cape Town hosting the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships marks not only an exciting opportunity for the local area, but also for the sport as a whole. This will be the fifth global athletics event held in Africa within a 10-year period, and I have every faith that Cape Town will prove to be spectacular hosts of these championships.”

Cape Town hosts the annual Cape Town Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon. While Table Mountain boasts a  flat-top peak, the trails around Cape Town feature significant elevation changes.

The World Mountain Running Championships began in 1985 while 2007 saw the first World Trail Championships. The two events merged in 2021 to become the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships and the event shifted to a biennial format. This year’s championships will take place in Canfranc-Pirineos, Spain.

“On behalf of the partnership of the World Mountain Running Association, the International Association of Ultrarunners and the International Trail Running Association, we are delighted to bring the fourth World Mountain and Trail Running Championships to Africa,” the presidents of the three partner associations – Tomo Sarf, Nadeem Khan and Janet Ng – said in a joint statement. “The sensational views of Cape Town and Table Mountain will form a fitting backdrop to the WMTRC 27 and we are sure it will build on the forthcoming WMTRC 25 in Canfranc, Spain. Cape Town has had plenty of success from being the host of a number of prestigious international events and we are looking forward to enjoying the races on Table Mountain and the hospitality of the Cape. The standard of the bids for the event was very high and we also thank all those who took the time to submit their interest in hosting the event.”

The road run to Los Angeles is already in process for USA Track & Field, which has started the process to find a host for its marathon trials and hopes to have the selection of a host wrapped up within the next year.

The 2028 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon will select the U.S. team of six athletes (three men, three women) for the Games in Los Angeles. It is assumed the trials will also coincide with the USATF Marathon Championships.

The date must be the weekend of March 25–26, 2028, and preference will be given to bids that include the Para Marathon Trial as well. Interested destinations must signal an intent to bid by September 1 before site visits in the first part of 2026 with an eye toward awarding the bid in May 2026.

“Hosting the Trials means you are a part of the journey toward LA 28 and saying that you sent athletes to L.A.,” said Rob Mullet, USATF’s associate director of events. “That’s probably the biggest selling point for the hosting is to is just to be a part of something that that hasn’t happened for 32 years.”

Around 400 destinations received information on the bidding process between USATF, Playeasy and the Sports ETA portal. Mullet, a 2016 Olympian for Team Great Britain who joined USATF within the past year, is working on the site selection process along with Amy Begley, USATF director of long distance running programs and a 2008 Olympian.

“Athletes are going to start qualifying (for the Trials) September 1,” Mullet said. “It’s such a big event that that one athlete might qualify, but they might have in some cases 10 people who want to come to watch. From an event experience, the more planning time for the athletes and families and spectators is important. And from a logistical standpoint, obviously more time to plan is better.”

What a Bidder Needs

Both Begley and Mullet have worked in the past for the Atlanta Track Club, which hosted the Trials in 2020, “so for us being able to work on the RFP this time around, we probably pulled more life and job experience from the past,” Begley said.

Weather conditions for the race are crucial, obviously — “it needs to be in a place that’s not going to snow on March 28,” said Begley with a laugh. Between CVBs and sports commissions, working with a local organizer well-versed in race organization will also be key.

“(In 2024,) Greater Orlando Sports Commission, they were the ones that started the bid, but they also worked with Track Shack who did the operational stuff,” Begley said. “When Atlanta Track Club hosted, they pretty much did it all by themselves because they are a big organization and they had the organization and the people to be able to do it. We know some people are already reaching out and working with different people to help them put bids together.”

The RFP also includes detailed needs for (among other things) security planning, volunteer recruitment, transportation for athletes and emergency medical service needs along the course.

“The personal aid stations and bottles is a huge thing, especially for the athletes, along with safety and security,” Begley said. “Having the network of being able to pull in enough high quality volunteers, being able to work with the city is huge as long as they and most of the cities are involved in the RFP process.”

One thing that is also important is the course and making sure it’s fast enough to get qualifying times for runners. Having a course that replicates what competitors will see at LA28 is not as high a priority.

“We don’t know what the course in L.A. will be for the Olympics,” Begley said. “And second of all, we need our athletes to be able to run fast and be able to get times. That is what we’re really emphasizing to any of the places that come and want to bid is really looking at your course and make sure that you’re going to be able to give us a fast race for better opportunities for our athletes to qualify.”

New RFP Aspects

One change for the 2028 Trials is the housing element for athletes and the return of an A standard and B standard for competitors. A-Standard qualified athletes are provided cost-free housing and where B-Standard athletes are given ample options to book into similar housing blocks at their own cost. Mullet said depending on what a bidder provides for B standard athletes, it would be roughly a $250,000 savings.

“Not that if someone wants to pay for every single athlete to go and have the same experience — I think that’s awesome,” he said. “But it is also a costly thing to do. So I think returning to that (A/B standard) is positive for the LOCs.”

The USATF revenue from the event would come from the event rights fee ($150,000), national sponsors approved by the USOPC, USATF hospitality suites and tents, merchandising and licensing rights plus TV/Internet broadcast rights, entry fees and more. A bidder would be able to receive revenue from tickets/gate receipts, local sponsorships and local hospitality suites, event publications and souvenirs, concessions sales and other avenues including spectator parking.

The Para Marathon Trial could also be a new component for bidders wanting to organize both in their destination with USATF taking over the Para Track and Field operations earlier this year.

“We would love to combine them as best we can,” Mullet said. “We’re going to work through that as it is a little bit of a new process for us and for the new staff that come in from Para Track and Field. We would love to bring them together and we’re exploring whether that’s realistic in 2028 or if it is a better option to keep them apart or not.”

U.S. Olympic Trials-Marathon Previous Hosts

Note: The men and women have been at same site since 2012. There was no women’s marathon in the Olympics until 1984.
2024: Orlando, Florida
2020: Atlanta
2016: Los Angeles
2012: Houston
2008: Men, New York; Women, Boston
2004: Men, Birmingham, Alabama; Women, St. Louis
2000: Men, Pittsburgh; Women, Columbia, South Carolina
1996: Men, Charlotte; Women, Columbia, South Carolina
1992: Men, Columbus, Ohio; Women, Houston
1988: Men, Jersey City, New Jersey; Women, Pittsburgh
1984: Men, Buffalo, New York; Women, Olympia, Washington
1980: Buffalo, New York
1976: Eugene, Oregon
1972: Eugene, Oregon
1968: Alamosa, Colorado

USA Track & Field has announced the appointment of Jay Holder as its new chief content and communications officer.

Most recently, Holder served as the executive director of Running USA. During his tenure, Holder led the development of a comprehensive strategic plan and introduced a modernized membership structure with expanded benefits. In the interim, Kathleen Titus, president of the Board of Directors, will assume the role of executive director.

“I am extremely proud of the work Running USA has done and continues to do,” said Holder. “There is incredible momentum behind our mission to educate, engage, and elevate the running events industry. The organization’s staff and board are well-positioned to carry this momentum forward.”

Holder will lead USATF’s strategic communications, media relations and storytelling efforts across all platforms, beginning with the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor & Para National Championships. His experience includes serving as a track and field media operations and broadcast consultant for the past two Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo and Paris as well as the 2022 World Championships and as director of media for the last two U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon.

“Jay brings not only deep expertise in strategic communications and content, but also a lifelong passion for our sport,” said USA Track & Field Chief Executive Officer Max Siegel. “From grassroots meets to the Olympic stage, he has worked across nearly every level of track and field. Jay has a thorough understanding of our mission, and his proven ability to craft compelling, athlete-driven stories makes him the ideal person to help shape the next chapter of USATF’s Journey to Gold on the road to the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Previously, Holder was the vice president of marketing and communications for Atlanta Track Club. He has completed 15 marathons and works annually with major road races and track events worldwide, providing public relations, media and broadcast expertise.

The Jay M. Robinson Mondo Track & Field Facility will host the USA South Conference Championship on April 25–26 in Concord, North Carolina.

The event is the first meet of the 2025 season at the Cabarrus County venue, featuring 150 athletes competing in track and field events including high jump, long/triple jump and all throwing events.

“As the destination’s official marketing organization, one of our goals is to attract visitors from the sports segment in order to generate positive impact through visitor spending,” said Donna Carpenter, Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau president and chief executive officer. “We’re thrilled to see that goal being met with a community asset that benefits both visitors and residents. Taxes generated by visitor spending made enhancements to this facility possible, so we have past visitors to thank.”

The Mondo Track & Field Facility was completed in 2023 on the campus of Jay M. Robinson High School based on its proximity to area hotels. The venue will also host the Coach O Track and Field National Championships from July 23–26.

“Thanks to our strong partnership with the Cabarrus Visitors Bureau, the track facility at Jay M. Robinson High School is a shining example of what collaboration can achieve,” said Rob Walter, Cabarrus County Board of Education chair. “This project not only enhances opportunities for our students and student-athletes, but it also positions our district as a destination for regional and state-level competitions.”

To date, the Cabarrus County CVB has worked with community partners to host seven events at the facility in 2025. The events are expected to draw approximately 17,000 attendees, including athletes and spectators, and have the potential to generate a total of $5.9 million in estimated economic impact in Cabarrus County.

“The USA South is extremely excited to kick off the 2025 outdoor track season in Concord,” said USA South Commissioner Tom Hart. “The outdoor track and field facilities at Robinson high school exceeded our expectations during the first year. With the addition of a video board, we remain impressed with the commitment community leadership displays as they strive for continuous improvement. We look forward to calling Cabarrus County home for a few days each spring.”

World Athletics says national track and field federation executive boards must be at least 40% female by 2029 after the governing body of athletics published further details of its three-year gender leadership strategy on Tuesday, having achieved gender parity on its ruling council in 2023 and becoming the first Olympic sport to do so.

“This strategy is not just a roadmap — it’s a commitment to building a culture where women are equally represented, empowered, and equipped to lead at every level of athletics,” said World Athletics Gender Leadership Taskforce Chair Stephanie Hightower. “We are proud of our achievements to date, but even more energised by the work ahead. We know by collaborating with leaders in this area we can create a stronger, more inclusive future for women and girls in athletics.”

The strategy also includes ensuring mandated gender provisions regarding the World Athletics Constitution are filled (50% in 2027 on Council) and a 50-50 gender balance for international technical officials at the 2027 World Championships in Beijing as well as the 2028 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“We know challenges remain in getting more female coaches, referees and administrators into athletics but we are committed to equality and opportunity to drive lasting change across the athletics community worldwide,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said.

The World Athletics Gender Leadership Strategy outlines objectives focused on promoting awareness, policy change and implementing education to support the pool and pipeline of female leaders. The 40% rule will be for member federation executive boards by 2029, World Athletics Referee Education and Certification System exams by 2027 and a minimum of 40% female representation for CECS Level 1 coaches by 2029 and 30% female representation for CECS Level 2 coaches by 2029.

“I am incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made to date to increase female representation in athletics — highlighted by our 50-50 gender balanced council,” Coe said. “This strategy reflects our continued commitment toward ensuring women are not only present but prominent in leadership and decision-making roles across our sport.”

Grand Slam Track and the Jamaica Tourist Board have announced a partnership ahead of the inaugural Grand Slam Track event in Kingston this spring.

The partnership is between the destination and the track competition launched by four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson. Kingston was previously announced as host of the first of four Slam events April 4–6, with Miami (May 2–4), Philadelphia (May 30–June 1) and Los Angeles (June 27–29) as the other sites.

“We’re excited to officially partner with the Jamaica Tourist Board and bring Grand Slam Track’s first ever event to Kingston,” said Johnson, founder and commissioner of Grand Slam Track. “We know Jamaica has a rich history of excellence and speed in track, so bringing our inaugural Slam to Kingston made a ton of sense. Partnering with the JTB allows us to create a first-class experience for the thousands of fans who will travel from across the globe to visit Kingston and celebrate the official start of Grand Slam Track with us.”

The events will feature Olympians and world champions including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Masai Russell, Josh Kerr, Cole Hocker, Yared Nuguse, Kenny Bednarek and more. The competitors will race twice across three days, competing for the largest prize money pool ever offered in the sport, with $100,000 going to each winner.
“This ‘Season of Excitement’ offers visitors the unique opportunity to experience the authentic heartbeat of Kingston,” said Donovan White, Jamaica’s director of tourism. “We are delivering the finest elements of Jamaican culture and sport through immersive, exciting and engaging events in partnership with organizers like Grand Slam Track. We look forward to the event and further collaborations ahead.”

Kingston will host three track events this spring, including ISSA Boys and Girls Championships (March 25–29), Grand Slam Track (April 4–6), and Carnival in Jamaica (April 21–28).

“As home to some of the world’s fastest sprinters and culture that is deeply rooted in the sport of track, we are honored to welcome the inaugural Grand Slam Track event to Kingston,” said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism. “Following our annual ISSA Boys and Girls Championships, this event will continue the momentum of Kingston’s season of excitement this spring and keep the spotlight on our cultural capital.”

The 2025 USA Track & Field Para National Championships will take place at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon from July 31 through August 2, the first time in U.S. Para track and field history that the meet will be combined with the USATF Outdoor Championships.

The Para program joined USATF last fall. The National Championships will be the first major Para track and field event that USATF hosts as the official national governing body for the sport. Tickets to the 2025 Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships also serve as tickets to the USATF Para National Championships. The three-day competition will also serve as the team selection event for the 2025 Para Athletics World Championships, set for Delhi, India, in September.

“This meet will be momentous for the sport because we don’t often get the opportunity to showcase able-bodied and Para sport side by side,” said Sherrice Fox, director, Paralympics Track and Field. “It will not only determine which of our athletes we take with us to worlds, but also will be the first time that fans will get to see Para sport contested at USATF Outdoor Championships. We are so excited to set the cornerstone for what will hopefully be many more combined meets in the future.”

The competition will feature many of the nation’s top Para track and field athletes who earned medals at the 2024 Paralympic Summer Games in Paris. Hayward Field hosted the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials last summer.

“We are thrilled to host the USATF Para National Championships concurrently with the USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field for the first time,” said USATF CEO Max Siegel. “This historic event underscores USATF’s commitment to providing equal opportunities for all elite track and field athletes. With the Championships just a few months away, we’re excited to showcase the incredible talent of both Para and able-bodied athletes in one of the most extraordinary facilities in the world.”

Before Noah Lyles made history in Paris by winning the men’s 100-meter dash in a photo finish, he won a national indoor championship by 0.01 seconds in the 60-meter dash in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The sport itself has seen a variety of new facilities come online in the past few years and off an outdoor season marked by Olympic success in Paris, the coming months will be a litmus test of continuing the sport’s fan awareness.

From the dozens of collegiate meets culminating with the NCAA championships in Richmond in mid-March to a series of USA Track & Field events, the indoor track-and-field season is about to kick into high gear. The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on February 2 is a high-profile meet along with the traditional Millrose Games at The Armory in New York six days later. The end of February also sees a USATF Masters event in Gainesville, Florida, before the USATF Indoor Championships in Staten Island.

New Facilities Opening

From The Podium in Spokane and Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville, both of which opened in 2021, plus new venues in the past five-plus years in Indianapolis, Chicago and Virginia Beach, a number of indoor track facilities have come online around the United States.

The building surge has been based in part on geography as well as an effort to increase visitation in the winter sports season, traditionally a slower travel season, especially outside of the Northeast. When an indoor track opened in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, it was spurred by a 2021 commissioned by the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority that suggested indoor track competitions could bring up to 24,000 room nights in year one and up to 50,000 room nights by year two.

“The sport’s always been very big in the Midwest and on the East Coast,” said John Mansoor, executive director, Pacific Association for USA Track & Field, during the Reno track opening. “A place like New York or Boston, they have multiple facilities. You go west of the Rockies, there are four facilities.”

The Armory Co-President Jonathan Schindel added that as venues come online — new facilities in the past few years include Boston, Staten Island and Philadelphia — the legendary New York City venue is bucking conventional wisdom on booking events.

“Rather than taking pieces of a static pie, it’s growing that pie and there’s more participation all around,” Schindel said. “We’re seeing increases in every category from last year. The increase in facilities is not drawing people away from The Armory, it’s rather drawing people into the sport.”

The ability to stretch indoor participation outside of the collegiate scene in new markets is important to keep people engaged in the sports year round.

“The months of December, January and February have been chill, hang out, maybe we’ll watch an indoor meet on TV, but there’s nothing going on,” Mansoor said. “Now all of a sudden everybody is thinking, well, now we have eight new track meets in Reno this year alone. It’s going to raise the level of the sport considerably.”

Existing Facilities Keeping Up

The level of indoor track accomplishments has been very high in New York for more than a century thanks to the Millrose Games. Formed in 1908 by employees of the John Wanamaker Department Store (hence the Wanamaker Mile at the event), the meet for over a century was held at Madison Square Garden, attracting legends of the sport that would take a mile to list.

In 2012, the Millrose Games found a new home at The Armory, an historic but state-of-the-art facility thanks to consistent updates and renovations. The Armory annually hosts over 100 track-and-field competitions, training for more than 220,000 athletes and 300,000 visitors ranging from elementary school youth to senior citizens.

“From second grade through seniors, all our programs have seen an impressive increase in participants,” Armory Co-President Rita Finkel said. “It’s almost like the more tracks that are built, the more people talk about it and the more people do it. I think we’re pleased with the increases year over year.”

Finkel said The Armory is on pace to sell out this year’s Millrose Games faster than any other meet in its history in part because of the venue’s reputation as the fastest indoor track in the world. This year’s meet atmosphere will be enhanced by having nearly 500 spectators on the track level in seats or standing room only areas.

“More records have been set on this track than any other,” Finkel said. “The seats and the audience are so close to the track. The performances are tremendous because the entire audience is breathing as one and cheering them on. The roar is just like nothing I’ve ever heard.”

Those roars were almost muted at Madison Square Garden, where the Millrose Games’ attendance had fallen over the decades until the event moved to The Armory. “There was a tremendous amount of responsibility that we’ve felt,” Finkel said. “We’ve been given this gem, an institution that had fallen on hard times. We have tried to honor this tradition and build on it.”

Schindel added that the venue’s reputation around the New York metropolitan area helps with the number of youth events it holds in addition to high school, college and an international Grand Prix. There’s also a group of those for whom attending the Millrose Games is a rite of passage passed through generations — Schindel being one of them, remembering when his father took him to meets at the old Garden.

There’s also the wave of success by U.S. athletes in Paris, where the Americans won a combined 14 gold medals and 34 medals in athletics overall, romping over the rest of the field.

“The last few Millrose Games since Covid, we have had multiple people tap us on the shoulder and say this is the best one we’ve ever had,” Schindel said. “I can point to the great success and popularity that the U.S. had at the Olympics but I can also point to the last several Millrose Games and how amazing they were. That bleeds over.”

Expanding the Sport’s Awareness

That crossover from outdoor to indoor is music to the ears of USATF Head of Sport Performance Duffy Mahoney, who has consulted on several indoor facilities over the years and is a veteran of the Northeast track scene, having raced at The Armory’s splintered board track floor in the 1960s as a high schooler.

“It helps grow the sport,” Mahoney said of the indoor season. “It’s good for the development of our phenomenally successful high performance unit. And it’s good for the communities and becoming identified with the sport, which is obviously very visible to everybody.”

That visibility and growth are the two pillars of what is important for two important leaders: USATF Chief Executive Officer Max Siegel and World Athletics President Sebastian Coe.

“Max has charted a course that we want to grow the sport so that we have a viable indoor circuit, not only an outdoor circuit,” Mahoney said. “And that ties into Seb along with Max saying over these next four years, particularly, we want to continue to try to grow that sport to get more visibility, more television exposure.”

That exposure this season will come from NBC, which will have coverage of the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston, Millrose Games and Indoor Nationals in Florida. USATF’s own platform will also showcase the Nike Indoor Nationals in mid-March. Mahoney points out the exposure from those events can then transition into the spring outdoor season with a variety of events including the Drake Relays, Penn Relays, the USATF’s own Grand Prix series and the new Grand Slam Track series that will have multiple events in the U.S.

“It’s not expanding the sport per se but expanding the venues that have high-level events to get more viewers on television,” Mahoney said. “And hopefully more spectators come in those venues and then move outdoors from there.”

Curt Clausen, a three-time Olympian and the only American man to medal in the race walk at the World Athletics Championships, was elected to a four-year term as president of USA Track & Field, succeeding the outgoing Vin Lananna.

Clausen earned a bronze medal in the 50km walk at the 1999 World Championships in Seville and finished seventh at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. A four-time World Championships team member and three-time Olympian, Clauson won 29 national titles and still holds five American records in the walks.

“I am deeply honored to be elected president of USATF and grateful for the trust the delegates have placed in me,” said Clausen. “I am committed to advancing the opportunities and resources available to our athletes, coaches and the USATF community. Together, we will build on USATF’s legacy and continue to grow and elevate the organization on and off the track.”

From 2014 to 2018, Clausen served on the USATF Board of Directors. For the past decade, Clausen has worked as senior vice president for Major League Baseball and general counsel for Tickets.com.

“(Curt) brings a wealth of experience to the role as an accomplished athlete and business leader, making him uniquely qualified to guide our organization through our next quadrennial journey,” said USA Track & Field Chief Executive Officer Max Siegel. “I look forward to working closely with him to continue fostering excellence across all levels of track and field in the United States.”