An event certified by World Athletics

Since 2021, the Geneva 20km by Genève Aéroport sits now alongside the world’s premier elite running races. By receiving the World Athletics prestigious Road Race Label, the global governing body of athletics recognised the quality of event organisation, standard of course and elite field of athletes.

The event is one of the few running events in Switzerland to hold this prestigious label.

The slew of postponements and cancellations brought on by the pandemic in 2020, however, also prompted a move this year from a four-tier system of Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze events to a more realistic format better suited to the travel restrictions and ongoing logistical challenges that event organisers will continue to face in 2021.

Instead, a three-tier programme will be used in 2021, comprising three Labels: a World Athletics Label, a World Athletics Elite Label and a World Athletics Elite Platinum Label.

The Geneva 20km by Genève Aéroport will therefore receive the “World Athletics Road Race Label” in 2021.

The World Athletics Label is available to all duly-sanctioned road races that have taken place for at least two consecutive years prior to 2021 and hold an international measurement certificate.

About the World Athletics Labels

The “World Athletics Label Road Races” program gathers the world’s leading road races.

A World Athletics Label denotes high standards in event organisation, safety and runner experience, application of the World Athletics Competition Rules, support from public authorities to the event and a financial commitment to anti-doping.

The Labels also categorise elite competitions, with implications on ranking points available to international elite athletes, and Olympics and World Championships qualification slots offered by the highest-categorised competitions.

To find out more about the labels and events certified by World Athletics: Click here.
On 17 July 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden, following the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in the Swedish capital, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) was founded as the world governing body for the sport of track and field athletics.

About World Athletics

During the 10 decades that followed, athletics underwent many changes which reflected the political and socio-economic evolution of the wider world. Even the IAAF’s name has changed, in 2001 becoming the ‘International Association of Athletics Federations’ to reflect the growth of a professional sporting world which did not exist in 1912, and then again in 2019 to ‘World Athletics’.

To find out more about World Athletics: Click here.