Sergey Bubka

Former Olympic pole vault champion Sergey Bubka announced yesterday he is running for the presidency of world athletics body IAAF, taking on Briton Sebastian Coe in a battle between two of the sport’s greats.

Bubka, who won an Olympic gold medal and set 35 world records, wants to lead the International Association of Athletics Federations when president Lamine Diack steps down this year.

Fellow IAAF vice-president Coe, a double 1,500m Olympic champion and the chief organiser of the London 2012 Olympics, an-nounced his candidacy last year.

Bubka, one of the biggest names in athletics, has carved out a successful sports administration career in recent years after dominating his sport for more than a decade in the 1980s and 1990s.

The 51-year-old is head of his country’s Olympic Committee as well as an International Olympic Committee member, who in 2013 made an unsuccessful run for the IOC presidency.

“I am ready to work for the good of athletics at every level. I understand the challenges that athletics faces and the opportunities on a national, regional and international level that we have”, Bubka said in a statement.

Back when Bubka and Coe were competing, athletics attracted huge TV audiences and often dominated the back pages of newspapers around the world.

Thirty years on, the sport is fighting to make a connection with the next generation.

A dire shortage of recognisable personalities, an ageing audience, a confusing calendar, a continuing struggle to attract interest in the United States and the dark shadow of doping has left athletics fighting for a foothold in an ever-more crowded sporting and leisure landscape.