World Athletics launched its official app on Wednesday ahead of the Ultimate Championship, which comes just two days before the inaugural Ultimate Championship in Budapest.
The global governing body will use the platform as a single hub for live results, performance data, games and schedules that should make finding content in the sport a bit easier throughout the busy track and field season.
“The app also brings World Athletics content together in one place, with news, features, athlete stories and behind-the-scenes access alongside the live action,” the organization said in its announcement. “Some content may be available in the app before being shared across other World Athletics platforms, giving fans an inside track on the sport throughout the season.”
Users can download the app on iOS and Android now and the interface features an easy-to-navigate experience anchored by five tabs: a homepage, schedule, entries, games and a section to view news or statistics.
It appears the look of the app will change based on the current competition of the moment, with the platform dominated with information about this week’s Ultimate Championship, which begins on Friday.
There is no option to watch events and World Athletics noted that the app is built to function as a “second-screen companion” to its live coverage, with a constant flow of results and data populating in real time in a way that makes the statistics easy to interpret.
The organization also said that some content would be available in the app before it reaches other channels like its website or social media, which could be an added incentive for users to add one more platform to their devices.
Meanwhile, the “Explore” section of the app is packed with the most features, with detailed data breakdowns on world rankings, records, season bests and records by event among the stats that users can sort and dive into, while the news area is a rundown of up-to-date happenings of the sport in addition to press releases.
A ticketing section makes purchases somewhat easier, although users cannot buy passes for events in the app, and they can expect a similar experience when trying to get merchandise, as both areas will launch a web browser.
But the sudden drop of the app is a sign that World Athletics is going all-in on pushing the Ultimate Championship as a marquee event and keeping fans of the sport in its ecosystem as the track season makes way for a busy campaign on the roads and a major marathon season that has already started.
The app will likely get regular updates to improve the user experience, which could benefit from even more content being poured onto the platform, but this pushes the governing body into the digital arena where other sports leagues and events are already heavily invested.
