There’s a lot to look forward to this year, but Catherine Merry is confident that Birmingham will achieve its goal and deliver the biggest moments in the year ahead.
What does Ozzy Osbourne have to do with the upcoming year in athletics? Well, actually more than you might think. Before you start wondering what I’m up to and if I’m still on Christmas Bailey, please bear with me for a moment.
The Prince of Darkness is, of course, inextricably linked to Birmingham and the West Midlands. He and Black Sabbath were one of the area’s biggest exports, and his death last summer, with all the emotional outpouring it brought just weeks after what proved to be his farewell performance at Villa Park, brought unity and renewed energy to the city.
The area responded and not only changed the atmosphere of the streets among the residents, but also spawned initiatives and events that attracted more and more people from all over the world to come and see where Ozzy grew up, see where he performed, visit the Black Sabbath Bridge on Broad Street downtown and just pay tribute to someone who had such star power and such vitality.
“Yes Catherine, that’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with athletics?” I hear you cry. Well, there is a strong connection as Birmingham is set to be at the heart of the biggest events in sport in 2026.
From a British perspective, the national championships will take place in the indoor and outdoor championships, but the main act is of course the European Championships in August. It’s been said many times that the UK excels at staging major events, but I’ll say it again, and as we all know, the impression that a host city leaves can have a lasting effect.
The championship is set to fall less than a month after the anniversary of Ozzy’s death, so his presence will be everywhere. Tourism will be high, people will be booking hotels, the bridge and murals will be overflowing with flowers again… athletes and athletics supporters will arrive at a very, very exciting point in the summer.
Last summer on BBC Radio WM I presented the funeral cortege program as Ozzy drove through town for the last time. My emotional clip from BBC West Midlands went viral and got 1.8 million views. That’s Ozzy Osbourne’s strength, and I’ve already had meetings with my producers about how we’re going to get to the championships and how we’re going to get the word out. There was already a fear of missing out, prompting punters to start buying tickets.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games at the Alexander Stadium far exceeded people’s expectations in terms of how they were delivered and what they did for the region, and at this point, all signs point to that being the case. Athletes know that Birmingham can be counted on to do a good job and that goes a long way to attracting the biggest names.
In person, a district deputy lieutenant who will not live anywhere else has been appointed as king… that will mean a lot. I’ve never been to a major championship at Alexander Stadium. Yes, I ran national titles there, represented my country there and, as a member of Birchfield Harriers, spent countless hours training there, but I never ran any majors there. I would love to do it like Matt Hudson-Smith did in the Commonwealth in 2022. I know he didn’t get the result he wanted at the time, but fingers crossed he can make it to the Europeans.
I’m proud to show these championships, push them and get everyone as excited about it as I am. Obviously, as chairman of Birchfield Harriers, it’s another opportunity for us as a club to showcase what we do. It was well publicized at the time that the Commonwealth Games build was a tough one for us to navigate, but this time around it seems to be a lot smoother. Many lessons were learned four years ago.
I’m sure there will also be a lot to learn from this year’s edition of the Games, which will look very different to them in July in Glasgow. This stripped-down option seems to have saved the Games for now, and with India set to host in 2030, there is at least some breathing room.
I hope Glasgow will be a great success again. I know the Commonwealths are not something everyone is excited about, but I think they are a huge and important opportunity for athletes that I think will be sorely missed by the ever-changing calendar.
I want Glasgow to be successful and Birmingham. I think if both go according to plan, then everything else should take care of itself. The Diamond League isn’t perfect, but it’s made up of long-standing events that have a lot of credibility, and we know it will deliver fast times, big jumps and long throws. There is intrigue over how the inaugural World Athletics Championships could go but, again, Budapest has a track record of putting on a great show after the 2023 world championships, so there is reason to be encouraged there too. It’s not some step into the unknown.
All in all, my wish for the new year is to see more of our brilliant athletes delivering inspiring performances, and that’s one more reason to hope for success at these big championships.
Steve Cram and Steve Smith recently announced an initiative that hopes to keep more young people in athletics and I applaud them for it. They are looking for opinions and ideas from sport about how to tackle the worrying rates of teenage dropout, and I hope they will get a wide range of input from coaches and officials to the athletes themselves.
It is not an easy problem to solve. Both of my kids play soccer and have never shown any desire to try track or ask me if they can go down to the track, and I honestly can’t put my finger on why that is. I know athletics can be very lonely due to its individual nature and being so different from team sports, but there is so much it can teach you and give you, not to mention potential lifelong friends to be made.
I think it’s important that athletics doesn’t try to compete with sports like football, which are world-class in terms of participation and attention. Instead, I believe we should do our best to promote all the benefits that come from being involved in track and field and then put ourselves in the best position to take advantage of those who may decide that big team sports are no longer for them. Matt Hudson-Smith, for example, was at Wolves’ academy and Adam Gemily was at Chelsea before becoming an Olympic sprinter.
Exposure to famous athletes doing amazing things will also help the cause, which is another reason to hope that these major opportunities coming up in 2026 can be grabbed with both hands. “I’m going through a change,” as Ozzy once sang. The same can be said for athletics, so will this be the year the sport can take another significant step forward?
