World Athletics announced the inaugural World Treadmill Championship on Monday as part of its RUN X series in collaboration with Technogym.
The virtual treadmill competition kicks off in 2026 and is a global 5k race where runners can sign up in their local gyms and fitness centers to battle for a $100,000 prize pool in later in the year.
The top 10 male and 10 female runners will compete for the first-ever treadmill world crown and during the series an online leaderboard will show real-time rankings.
“By combining the best of Technogym’s running technology with the reach and universality of athletics, this event promises to revolutionize the world of e-sports,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said in a statement.
Details are still being finalized and in the first quarter of 2026 gyms and fitness clubs can register as venues with runner signups to follow. But participating venues will need to connect to the Technogym Digital Ecosystem in order to ensure that runners results appear on the global leaderboard.
By integrating the event in gyms and fitness centers, the competition is essentially open to any runner hoping to post their best 5k on the treadmill. Two qualifying rounds will take place with the top results then added to the global leaderboard that will be sorted by age, gender and national along with a wild card for the championship.
“We are very proud of this partnership with World Athletics, which perfectly aligns with our long-term mission to engage more and more people in regular physical exercise,” Technogym Founder and CEO Nerio Alessandri said in a statement. “RUN X will connect millions of runners with our partner fitness centres around the globe, while our exclusive Technogym Ecosystem will serve as the driving force behind this new competition”
