Mixed relay cross-country race proposed for 2024 Olympics

[July 31, 2020]    BERN (Reuters) - A mixed relay cross-country race has been proposed for inclusion at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

AAF President Sebastian Coe during a press conference REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Each team would consist of two men and two women, with each member running two legs of the 2.5 kilometre course, under the proposal announced by World Athletics on Thursday.

World Athletics said it would meet with the Paris 2024 organising committee to work out details of the proposal, which would bring cross-country racing back to the Games after a 100-year absence.

"My love for athletics began with cross country," World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told a news conference after a meeting in Monaco.

"It would be hugely symbolic for this wonderful athletic discipline to return to the fold after a century, and for a new generation of runners to fall in love with the glorious challenge of running off-piste."

(Reporting by Brian Homewood, editing by Ed Osmond)

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