Athletics centre at Alexander Stadium

Article posted by Coliseum, December 2^nd, 2022

Image: Birmingham 2022

A new athletics performance and innovation center is set to open at the redeveloped Alexander Stadium campus in Perry Barr in Birmingham, UK, next Summer.

‘Birmingham World’ stated that the center will provide high-class technology for athletes which are “not currently available in the United Kingdom”.

The 18,000-capacity Alexander Stadium is a track and field athletics stadium in Perry Park, Birmingham, England (UK). It hosted the athletics and opening/closing ceremonies of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

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The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multisport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England (UK) between July 28^th and August 8^th, 2022.

‘Birmingham World’ further stated that UK Athletics (UKA) has confirmed that the stadium will host the new center from Summer 2023, after agreeing to a partnership with the City Council.

The City is set to host the European Athletics Championships in 2026 and the center will provide athletes with the best possible facilities to prepare for the tournament.

Designed for the primary use of UKA World Class Programme (WCP) athletes and coaches, the state-of-the-art facility will enable world-leading capability to understand track and field performance through “enhanced technology and analytics”.

UK Athletics say athletes and coaches visiting the center will be able to deep-dive into their performance through having access to diagnostic capabilities with specialist expertise.

The Performance and Innovation Centre is part of the legacy project for the Commonwealth Games site, through close working with partners – the Birmingham City Council, the English Institute of Sport Performance Innovation Team, the UK Sport Elite Training Centre Strategy, and Sport England.

Jack Buckner, UKA CEO, said, “For some time, UKA has aspired to have an environment which adds value to the daily training of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes, where training and performance insight can be taken to the next level and rival international competitors. The creation of the Performance and Innovation Centre will help us to achieve this.”

The Loughborough University will remain an important training base for WCP athletes on both the Olympic and Paralympic programs. The Performance and Innovation Centre will become the home for the additional innovation and problem solving required.

Stephen Maguire, UKA Technical Director, said, “Partnerships and expertise with a long-term commitment to support athlete progress such as these are critical to realizing our ambitions whilst delivering a lasting legacy for athletics performance in the United Kingdom.”

UKA’s enhanced presence on site will complement a range of existing tenants such as Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club and Birmingham City University, which is set to establish a campus at the stadium for sports and exercise students.

Councilor Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council, added, “This partnership with UKA underlines the Alexander Stadium’s status as the premier athletics facility in the United Kingdom. I am delighted that Birmingham, through this Performance and Innovation Centre, will play a key role in the development and success of future generations of world-class talent. But just as important is the enhanced purpose it brings to our new facilities. The Commonwealth Games always needed to be about more than 11 fantastic days of sport – through partnerships like this and other things we are working on, the stadium will become a focal point for health, wellbeing, education and community activity for everyone from the people of Perry Barr to elite-level athletes.”

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