Lord Coe said it is “really important” that athletics remains at the London Stadium amid uncertainty over the sport’s future at the venue.
UK Athletics (UKA) has a 50-year agreement to turn the centrepiece of the 2012 Olympics into an athletics facility for one month each year, despite West Ham’s lease of the ground.
The BBC has learned that UKA is considering track and field’s future at the venue, with a relocation to Birmingham’s revamped Alexander stadium seen as one potential option.
However Coe, who headed up the 2012 organising committee, told BBC Sport that “it is really important that London maintains a pre-eminence in track and field.”
“My instinct, having spoken to UKA recently and to the Olympic Park authorities, is that everyone is on the same page. They want to maintain athletics as a part of the multi-purpose facility that the Olympic stadium has become.
“We had a hugely successful world championships in London in 2017 and we want to maintain that,” said Coe, who is now World Athletics president.
“West Ham are the legacy tenants but yes we want to keep track and field there and I think everybody’s on that page.”
In 2020, the annual Anniversary Games at the stadium were cancelled because of Covid, with UKA saying it suffered a “significant financial impact”.
Last year’s event was moved to Gateshead because of the £3m reconfiguration costs of turning the stadium from a football into an athletics facility, intensifying doubts over the future of track and field at the venue. Birmingham hosted this year’s Diamond League meeting.
A source close to the LLDC denied that any formal talks had taken place about offering UKA a deal to relocate, and allow West Ham to turn the stadium into a full-time football ground. They pointed out that Major League baseball would be played at the stadium in 2023, 2024 and 2026, ensuring the venue would remain multi-use.
Any move away from the capital would raise a reported £15m for UKA, but raise questions over the 2012 legacy and any future London Olympic or World Championship bid. A number of British athletes, including Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, have expressed concern at the prospect.
The London Stadium, which is owned by E20 – a wholly owned subsidiary of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) is the most visual reminder of the 2012 Olympic Games.
London mayor Sadiq Khan took control of the LLDC in 2017 after a critical independent review highlighted the negative financial impact of deals agreed over London Stadium in particular.
Last year a report found that future estimates for annual losses are between £8m and £10m
The government has said it would not intervene if athletics decided to leave the Queen Elizabeth Park.
Both UKA and the LLDC declined to comment.
