World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023 dates changed; Executive Board appoints three new members

The World Athletics Council approved the proposed date changes for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023, which was scheduled from August 26 to September 3, but will now be held from August 19 to 27.

Hasan Arat, Abby Hoffman and Sunil Sabharwal were approved by Council as the three newly appointed members of the World Athletics Executive Board.

Arat, a former professional basketball player, is the Vice President of the Turkish Olympic Committee and an Executive Committee member of the European Olympic Committee. He is also Vice Chairman of Beymen, Turkey's largest retail group.

Hoffman, who represented Canada in middle-distance events at four Olympic Games, has been a World Athletics Council member since 1995 and was Chair of the World Athletics Competition Commission from 2015-2019. She is currently the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Strategic Policy Branch for Health Canada.

Sabharwal, a three-time winner of the NCAA All-American fencing title, has been Secretary-General of the International Fair Play Committee since 2003. The US Olympic fencing team Chief de Mission in 2008, he has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee commission on sustainability and legacy since 2000.

The role of the Executive Board is to govern World Athletics' business. The Executive Board has responsibility for all decisions related to the business of World Athletics including the annual plan and budget, risks and compliance, and organisational policies, procedures and systems.

Three of the nine members of the Executive Board are appointed rather than elected, to ensure the Executive Board has the necessary skills, expertise, as well as gender and geographical diversity, to undertake its responsibilities.

Along with the three newly appointed members, the Executive Board includes World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, Senior Vice President Sergey Bubka, Vice Presidents Nawaf Bin Mohammed Al Saud, Geoff Gardner, Ximena Restrepo, and CEO Jon Ridgeon (non-voting).

World Athletics' 10-year sustainability strategy and plan was also approved. It will be released publicly in early 2020.