Speaking in the Latvian capital on the eve of the federation’s latest big idea to raise its profile in the hugely influential area of road running, Coe said: "Riga, over the next few days, is making history.

"We haven’t had a new World Athletics Series event since the inaugural World Relays in 2014.

"This one is an important one because this is the first time that we have really brought a unique, global running festival to market."

Around 340 athletes from 56 countries, including Olympic and world champions and world record holders, will compete for men’s and women’s global titles in the road mile, 5km and half marathon.

The latter event will feature Kenya’s Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir seeking to become the fourth woman in history to win three world titles at the half marathon distance.

Kenyan women will play a key part in this new event as world cross country champion Beatrice Chebet goes in the 5km race and world and Olympic 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon goes in the mile - one of three distances at which she has set world records this season.

Recreational runners from around the world, meanwhile, will be able to participate in the same distances on the same day.

Those races will take place on Sunday (October 1), with tomorrow being given over to Kids’ Athletics participation.

"I see Riga as not just a global festival of running and outstanding suffusion of middle-distance and distance runners; it’s an important way of democratising our sport," Coe added.

"There are very few sports in the world where recreational participants can compete in the same event as world and Olympic champions.

“This is a celebration of running at its best, across different distances and concepts.

"From a personal perspective, I am of course delighted that we’ve been able for the very first time to formally enshrine the mile in a World Championships, and that’s important.

"Not only is it one of the most accessible distances, but it also has such an extraordinary and lustrous history.

"We are also able to meld into that mix the 5km and the World Half Marathon Championships, which is an important way of saying that at pretty much every level running is the most accessible sport on the planet, it is the most practised sport on the planet, and there are some really important clues and messages about the way our sport has to develop over the coming years.

"There can be very few sports in the world that could claim to have fields where, as a recreational runner, you can compete in the same event and in the same championships and in the same discipline as an Olympic champion or world record holder at the front of the field.

"And that really in a way sums up what we have all tried to achieve here.

"I’m also delighted that there has been such keen interest off the back of the inaugural event here in Riga that the Council approved a recommendation that we turn this into an annual event.

"We have observer teams here from the 2025 edition, which will be in San Diego, and of course in 2026, a little closer to home in Copenhagen."