Under-fire World Athletics launches second-tier 'Continental Tour'

World Athletics on Saturday launched a 10-stop second-tier circuit, called the "Continental Tour", which will include individual events controversially dropped from the elite Diamond League.

The decision to shorten Diamond League meetings to offer broadcasters a 90-minute concentrated programme caused outrage among athletes.

The four latest disciplines to be put on the sidelines do not completely disappear.

The 200 metres and 3,000 metre steeplechase will each appear on the menu at 10 of the 15 Diamond League meets, raced five times each by the men and the women, while the triple jump and discus throw will appear twice each with one men's and one women's competition.

Nevertheless, athletes are furious, seeing a lack of respect with significant consequences for their income.

A group of American athletes wrote to World Athletics, formerly the IAAF, to complain that its decisions were "typically made with minimal input from the athletes".

Frenchman Kevin Mayer, the decathlon world record holder lamented that athletics was "a slave to TV".

The president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, said the sport needed to be more "dynamic".

"Our objective is to create a faster-paced, more exciting global league that will be the showcase for our sport," Coe said.

"A league that broadcasters want to show and fans want to watch. However, we understand the disappointment of those athletes in the disciplines not part of the 2020 Diamond League season."