Sebastian Coe in good shape to win IAAF presidency vote

In the days leading up to the International Association of Athletics Federations world championships on August 22, the organization will vote on a new president for the next four-year cycle to replace outgoing president Lanine Diack. The Senegalese man has led the organization for 16 years.

Sebastian Coe has pledged to, over the span of four years, give each of the federations’s member states $100,000 to be put to use for facilities and equipment or to train coaches. Coe is running against Sergey Bubka of Ukraine, once the world record holder in the pole vault.

Coe got a confidence boost this week in being endorsed by the Athletic Association of Small States of Europe, a group of nine small countries in Europe. Following, Ireland, Italty and Estonia each also pledged to back Coe, bringing the number to twelve in a single day.

The two-time gold Olympic medallist seems a front runner in the race to take the head of the IAAF and the support for these European countries will go a long way in the vote. The IAAF is comprised of 214 member countries and every nationa gets one vote, equal in weight to every other country, so support from Estonia is worth as much to Coe as support from his home country of Britain or the United States.

Coe has served as a politician in England and was chairman of the 2012 Olympics in London and has openly voiced his hope of taking on what some believe to be rampant doping in athletics. He also hopes to build a stronger network of local and regional events to provide amateur athletes more opportunities to compete at a high level.