Last-Minute Promotion Leads to Turnaround: Over 11,000 Participants Head to Daegu

[Anchor]

Approximately 11,000 participants from 106 countries are set to compete in the Daegu World Masters Athletics Championships, which will be held in August. Despite a surge in airfares due to high oil prices, this marks the second-largest turnout in the event's history. With about two months remaining until the opening, excitement on the ground is steadily building.

TBC reporter Park Ga-young has the story.

[Reporter]

The Daegu World Masters Athletics Championships will take place this coming August.

Registration for the event closed on the 23rd, two months ahead of the opening ceremony.

A total of 11,014 people from 106 countries have registered to participate.

This exceeds the initial goal of 90 countries and 11,000 participants.

The event, to be held here at Daegu Stadium, will be the second-largest in history by scale, following the 1993 Miyazaki Championships in Japan.

Compared to the event held in Gothenburg, Sweden, two years ago, the number of participants has increased by a staggering 37 percent.

This year's competition will feature a total of 7,409 athletes, including 3,791 domestic and 3,618 international competitors, along with 3,605 accompanying persons.

There are 225 registered participants aged 80 or older, including some who are over 100 years old.

By event, the 10-kilometer road race saw the highest number of entries with 1,958, followed by the half-marathon with 1,853, the 100-meter dash with 938, and the 200-meter dash with 795.

Due to the impact of high oil prices causing airfares to skyrocket, there were concerns that the event might struggle to attract participants, with the number of applicants hovering around 6,000 just one week before the deadline.

However, the organizing committee succeeded in a turnaround by focusing all efforts on comprehensive, last-minute promotional campaigns.

Building on this momentum, the organizing committee is determined to host a successful event and establish Daegu as a global city for athletics.

[Interview: Jin Ki-hoon, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee] "Since the event begins in late August and there are many elderly participants, we are thoroughly preparing for climate-related risks such as heatwaves and are working to establish a perfect emergency response system."

The championships will be held from August 22 to September 3 at various venues, including the main stadium, Daegu Stadium, as well as the auxiliary stadium, Gyeongsan Civic Stadium, and Suseong Family Park.

(Video by Noh Tae-hee, TBC | Graphics by Kim Se-yoon, TBC) Reported by Park Ga-young, TBC
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.