Oregon 2022: Organizers introduce instant medals

With nine days until the start of the first World Athletics Championships on U.S. soil, the local organizing committee (LOC) on Tuesday 5 July unveiled the medals for the event.

In a first for track and field, Instant Medals will be awarded to the three medal-winning athletes in the immediate moments after their finals.

Full medal ceremonies with national anthems will still take place, but this additional celebratory component of Instant Medals is designed for athletes to commemorate their individual victory ‘in the moment’ and to share that moment with family and friends. 

“There is something uniquely powerful about the interaction between an athlete and the medal they have earned. By including the medals in the initial emotional aftermath of their medal-winning performance, athletes will be able to experience their triumph more fully.

Feeling the weight of their accomplishment around their necks right after earning it and proudly displaying their victory during a lap of honor and in post-event media interviews.

Two lap rising star Mary Moraa yet decide on 400m at World Championships

At the end of the mixed zone interviews, the medals will be taken back from the athletes for engraving ahead of the official presentation on the podium as scheduled,’ offered Niels de Vos, Executive Director of Oregon22, LLC.

The first medals will be won in the stadium and on the roads on the very first day of competition. On the opening night, the mixed 4x400m relay will produce the first medalist with medals set to be won in 49 event disciplines.

“It was imperative that our medals were true to the unique, unmissable, unconventional nature of the first World Athletics Championships on U.S. soil.

Months of cutting-edge creative thought and experimentation into the latest manufacturing techniques went into the medals, designed and fabricated right here in Oregon.

Full list of Team Kenya heading to World Athletics Championships

The medals are won by athletes as the result of a lifetime of dedication and commitment. They are the best in the world, and our team wanted to ensure a medal which reflected that status,” de Vos added.

While traditional in shape and weight, the medals will look very different, even down to the attachment of the ribbon, which uses a bar inserted inside the body of the medal to ensure both longevity and the maintenance of clean design lines.

Additional reporting by World Athletics.