Eilidh Doyle, former GB & NI team captain and one of Scotland’s most successful track and field athletes, is being joined by youngsters from Shettleston Athletics Club at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow today, to celebrate one year to go to the World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Taking place 1-3 March 2024, the event is one of the sport’s premier championships and reaffirms Scotland’s and Glasgow’s position as a world-leading events destination.

The World Athletics Indoor Championships is held every two years and provides three action-packed days of intense competition, in an intimate arena where fans can witness the raw athleticism and talent of many of the world’s best athletes at close range.

Glasgow successfully hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2019, and World Athletics will now bring its 2024 championships to the same arena. Furthermore, the 2024 Championships takes on added significance as it falls within the qualification period for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and with athletes honing their preparations for this important year ahead, up to 700 competitors from more than 130 countries are expected to take part.

Up to 5000 passionate fans can be accommodated in the arena for each of the six sessions, and ticket preregistration is now open online at https://wicglasgow24.com to enable athletics supporters to get in line to book their seats for this must-see event next year.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said: “What makes the World Athletics Indoor Championships unique is the intimacy of the competition. The fans really get up close to the world’s best athletes and can appreciate just how amazing their performances are. That creates an incredibly exciting atmosphere for athletes and fans alike. I’ll never forget the finale to the most recent World Championships in Belgrade, where Ivana Vuleta delighted her home crowd with victory in the long jump and Mondo Duplantis brought the house down by breaking the world pole vault record – something that Glasgow fans also experienced from Mondo in 2020. Glasgow has a fine record of hosting great athletics events, from the 2014 Commonwealth Games to the 2019 European Indoors, so we already know this will be an exceptional stop on the journey to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”

Announced today as the Championships ambassador, Eilidh Doyle competed in both the 400m hurdles and 400m, and featured as a regular member of the GB & NI 4x400m relay team amassing an overall tally of 17 major international podium places. She memorably won silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and won numerous World and European indoor medals including silver at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Speaking at the event Eilidh said: “I am thrilled to be announced as ambassador for the Championships, it is a real honour. I am excited that, as well as promoting the event, I will be contributing to the event steering group, ensuring that the operational plans put in place meet the needs of the athletes, creating the right environment to enable them to compete at their very best.

“Glasgow and Scotland have always been committed to innovation and delivering sport focused, athlete centred events, which is why athletes love to come here, so I am sure Glasgow will step up yet again, taking the 2024 world indoors to the next level. I know from competing at the Emirates regularly that the atmosphere will be incredible, so I urge all athletics fans to preregister for tickets while they can!”

Ian Beattie, Chair of UK Athletics and Co-chair of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 Steering Group said: “UKA were incredibly proud to be awarded the opportunity to host the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships and with just one year to go it’s exciting to see such great progress in preparations has been made.

“World Athletics showed confidence in Glasgow and in the UK to host this prestigious global athletics championships and this time next year we will once again be demonstrating our ability – working alongside our partners – to deliver amazing events.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming spectators to the fantastic Emirates Arena where we know they will experience a brilliant World Athletics Indoor Championships.”