Key progress update from the Field Events Focus Group

Launched in January 2025, the Field Events Focus Group has brought together a collective of people from across the England Athletics community to focus on increasing participation and retention in field events and boost the number of athletes fighting for international championship medals.

We are delighted to share an update on the progress of the group, over one year later. This update is split into key working areas. Tight on time? Press on each of the below to jump to your preferred section.

• Competition
• Clubs and grassroots
• Coach education and development
• Schools and entry points to our sport
• Talent and performance
• Facilities

Competition

England Athletics launched a new Competition Funding Grant in the autumn, which included a strategic focus on field events. Through this initiative, a number of field event specific competitions have been invested in for the upcoming 2026 season. We look forward to showcasing these events and providing a full update on their impact once the season concludes.

This year so far has been packed full of competition on both the indoor and outdoor circuit, with strong performances and increased opportunities for athletes. Here are some of the key updates across competition so far:

• World Indoor Championships: Outstanding performances from the English field event competitors at the World Indoor Championships in Torun. Molly Caudery headed up the team with gold in the women's pole vault. Scott Lincoln opened his Commonwealth and European campaign with an indoor PB of 21.13m to claim fourth. Ellen Barber and Molly Palmer made their senior GB debuts, both finishing 10th in the pentathlon and long jump respectively. Georgina Forde-Wells made her first World Championships team, finishing 15th in the triple jump.
• Regional Winter Long Throws Championships: 2026 was the first time these championships have been held with a total of 202 throwers across the two regional championships (North/Midlands and South)
• National Winter Long Throws: There was a total of 121 athletes competing from 81 clubs across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As part of the competition we also provided an opportunity for seated throwers, with several of them raising their Commonwealth ranking ahead of selections at the end of March. On the Sunday of the competition there were three Q&A sessions with current and former athletes to inspire the next generation. These were delivered by Zara Obamakinwa, Emeka Udechuku, Jake Norris, Sarah Hayes, Bekah Walton, Steve Backley, Mick Hill, Goldie Sayers, Nick Neiland and Mark Roberson.
• Vault Loughborough: Successful World Athletics Challenger event showcasing the top pole vaulters from across the world.
• funetics multi-challenge: The funetics multi-challenge officially launched on 1 April and we are currently mapping out delivery and organising how we can best support competition organisers.
• PB Awards: Ahead of the age group changes on 1 April, we have ensured that the PB Awards have been adjusted to suit the new even age groups.
• UK School Games: The UK School Games will return at the end of summer. We are working with the Youth Sport Trust to reformat the event and run a European Athletics DNA style regional team event for 2026

Clubs and grassroots

• The Club Support Managers are in the process of creating regional plans with clubs, networks and regional councils with a focus on modernisation of track and field clubs and club coaching workforce.
• The East Region throws coach development programme had its third delivery day. Hosted at Chelmsford and led by Rob Earle and Simon Mennell. 10-15 coaches attended the three sessions.

Coach education and development

• The pole vault elective has been updated and is now live.
• The combined events elective is being updated and has been piloted. The hope is it will be live in October.
• The coach level qualifications are being updated. This will include alignment of the technical coaching delivery to the technical excellence frameworks utilised in the talent pathway. England Athletics will collaborate with the other Home Countries and are hoping to release the updated courses in 18 months.  
• England Athletics is in the final development stages for the launch of a new learning and management system making it easier to book courses, navigate e-learning and find coach development opportunities. More information to follow in the coming months.

Schools and entry points

• The Youth Sport Trust have approved the release of the funetics multi-challenge pilots across five School Games organisers.
• England Athletics has set up grants for county schools associations to support competition. Field events will be a key priority to the grant success.
• School Games National Finals will see a new DNA format that aims to ensure field events are showcased within a multi-sport games.

Talent and performance

• England Athletics is working with existing Talent Hubs to enhance their field event offer via professional coaching and workshops.
• The University Chartermark is being reviewed and refined ahead of a relaunch.
• We are increasing the number of competitive opportunities for athletes on the Youth Talent Programme, and will be taking throws athletes to Halle, Germany in May and combined events athletes to Fuerteventura, Spain in May. Earlier this year, we also supported throws athletes at the Reykjavik International and Växjö Throws International and para athletes fighting for Commonwealth Games qualification in Dubai.
• The Pickering Memorial International will take place on the 31 May for throwers and para-throwers in seated and ambulant shot, ambulant discus, hammer and ambulant javelin.

Facilities

• England Athletics went to tender for a consultant to complete the facility strategy. Hopefully, they will start at the beginning of April.
• Track and field rater has gone live and is already helping provide actionable insight to England Athletics and the other Home Countries to support clubs with the aim of ensuring the safety and quality of facilities.