The decision taken by the IAAF Council will see the 2018 World Championships extended by a day, rather than over its traditional three day schedule.

Competition will now take place from March 1 to 4, with the opening session featuring the men’s and women’s high jump on Thursday evening.

“It’s great that the IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 will showcase the high jump and give field events the attention they deserve,” said Britain’s Robbie Grabarz, a world and European Indoor high jump silver medallist.

“I personally believe the high jump is one of the most exciting disciplines in athletics and as an athlete that lives in Birmingham I’m delighted that my event has been chosen to start off the championships.

“The crowd on the Thursday evening will be in for a treat and hopefully it will inspire some young people to take up the event.”

Five of the six sessions at Arena Birmingham will feature finals, while the Friday morning will focus on multi-event competitions.

Three events from both the heptathlon and pentathlon will be contested as part of the session.

The pentathlon will conclude in the evening, with the later session also including the men’s long jump and women’s 60 metres finals.

Saturday morning’s finals include the women’s triple jump and men’s shot put, while the men’s 60m and the women’s 1,500m final will be among the medal events in the evening.

Nine finals will take place on Sunday afternoon, which will begin with the men’s pole vault final and conclude with the 4x400m relays.

Over 400 athletes from 150 countries are expected to compete at the Championships, which will be taking place in Britain for the second time.