The EBU will thus be back in their old field of operation for the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and the 2017 event in London.

Lamine Diack (pictured), President of the IAAF, has confirmed that his organisation will be back in tandem with the EBU for the exclusive distribution of the 2014/2017 World Athletic Series media rights in Europe and Africa.

"The EBU has been our partner for every edition of the IAAF World Championships from their creation in 1983 right through until 2009 and we are delighted to be partners again," said Diack.

"This agreement not only secures the financial future of the athletics' movement until the end of 2017 but is also strategic for IAAF in guaranteeing maximum coverage of our premium events in key territories."

The EBU President, Jean-Paul Philippot, also expressed his satisfaction, saying: "I am very pleased of the IAAF decision to become partner of the EBU again.

"It shows that the traditional strengths of the EBU combined with a new tailor-made servicing concept are more than ever strong assets for a sport federation like the IAAF.

"We are convinced this will enable the further development and promotion of athletics."

The EBU is the largest association of national broadcasters in the world and the world's premier distributor of sports and news content, for broadcast and media platforms.

It has 74 active members in 56 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and its members reach an audience of 650 million people through more than 200 television channels, 600 radio stations and 800 websites.

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