Championships

The organizing committee of the 2026 Daegu World Masters Athletics Competition (hereinafter referred to as the organizing committee) has embarked on a wide-ranging walk for the successful hosting of the Daegu competition.

Since the 23rd, the Daegu Organizing Committee has dispatched a delegation to the "2025 World Masters Indoor Athletics Competition (WMACi) held in Alachua County, USA, to build a network and promote the Daegu competition.

Six members of the organizing committee, including the head of the foreign cooperation department, arrived in the United States on the 21st to benchmark overall facilities and operations of the competition, form networks with delegations from continents and countries, and promote the 2026 Daegu Games.

At the opening ceremony of the competition held on the 22nd, the organizational committee's delegation parade inflated expectations for the Daegu competition next year.

In addition, he attended daily team manager meetings to collect game information on the day and learn how to deal with unexpected situations.

In particular, it strengthened mutual exchange and cooperation through meetings with WMA executives and continental delegations, and focused on increasing interest in next year's competition through overseas press meetings.

In the case of benchmarking of the competition, it compared and analyzed the confirmation and certification of players at the registration center and the operation of the Technical Information Center (TIC) to ensure that the player registration process can be carried out quickly and accurately. In addition, the team conducted benchmarking on the overall operation of the competition, including accommodation, transportation, and volunteering, while focusing on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of our competition course and finding things to improve through cross-country competitions and non-stadia course tours.

It has also attracted a hot response by operating a competition promotion booth and a Hallyu experience program for 4,000 participants, partners, and officials from 80 countries participating in the competition.

Secretary-General Jin Ki-hoon said, "The dispatch of the delegation gave the WMA and the formation of a network with key officials in the tournament, such as continental delegations, a great opportunity to attract overseas players and fill the shortcomings in the operation of the tournament," adding, "We will make every effort to prepare for the competition so that Daegu can establish itself as a 'mecca of world athletics' by holding the 2026 Daegu competition as the best competition in all fields."

Meanwhile, the World Masters Athletics Championships are governed by the World Masters Athletics Federation (WMA), which has 166 countries around the world as members, and it is an economic competition where masters aged 35 or older pay for their participation in the competition.

Starting with the opening ceremony on Aug. 21, 2026, the 2026 Daegu World Masters Athletics Championships will feature 35 events (track 18, field 11, road 6) for 14 days until Sept. 3. More than 11,000 people from 90 countries are expected to participate in the Daegu competition.