BAUHAUS-galan will create an enhanced audience atmosphere together with World Athletics for the athletes at the stadium.
World Athletics introduced a bespoke atmosphere creation system at the Monaco Diamond League meeting. The technology has been developed especially for the sport of athletics and is based on audience-like audio effects which will compensate the absent of spectators at the stadium this year. The audio effects have been collected from previous championships and Diamond League competitions.
The technology received great reviews after the meet in Monaco. "It was very successful! We have received fantastic feedback from TV producers, spectators and not least from the athletes.", says Florian M. Weber, World Athletics Event Presentation Manager.
"That was pretty important for me. The last three meets I competed in had no spectators and it almost felt like this was just the reality now and I was getting used to it, so coming here even with limited spectators, the energy felt overwhelming almost. It was fantastic. There were some times on those third attempts where I really needed the crowd to hype me up and get me over those bars and they came through.", said Armand Duplantis after the meet in Monaco.
This was a very, very good season opener. It's great seeing some audience, hearing the sound of the audience, and having some competitors by my side felt great.", said Karsten Warholm after the meet in Monaco.
The winner of both long jump competitions at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on 23rd August will be determined by ‘The Final Three’ - a mini final contested by the three highest placed jumpers after 5 rounds of competition.
In the ‘Final Three’ (effectively the 6th round) each of the athletes will have one further jump. Whoever records the best jump out of the three is the winner of the event.
In a case of a tie the best performance from the previous 5 rounds will determine the winner.
This is a new concept that the Wanda Diamond League will evaluate for future use. The idea behind the ‘Final Three’ is to ensure that the competition retains a level of thrill and excitement right up until the last jump.
Speaking about the new initiative, Petr Stastny, CEO Wanda Diamond League, said, "We want to be innovative and try out new concepts. Given the impact that COVID-19 has had on the WDL this summer, this is certainly the right year to experiment a little. This format is likely to award athletes who have the ability to perform under the most intense pressure. We think it will bring more drama to the field events as nothing will be decided until the very last performance.
A jumper who sets a new record (personal, national, area or world) in rounds 1 to 5 will keep that record, whether or not they qualify for the ‘Final Three’.
