Netflix to show Drive to Survive style show about new sport with hopes of popularity boost like F1

11 months ago 61

SEB COE hopes a warts-and-all 2024 Netflix show will boost athletics’ global appeal and popularity — like it did to Formula One.

Since 2019, there have been five series of Drive to Survive, which sees F1 drivers and team owners bicker behind the scenes.

The worldwide fan base of that sport, particularly in the US, has exploded as it ingeniously tapped into a younger audience.

Now camera crews have been following 100 metres and 200m sprinters over the past year, including Brits Zharnel Hughes and Dina Asher-Smith.

The episodes are set to be shown around next summer’s Paris Olympics.

Double gold medallist Coe, 67, is president of World Athletics and said: “The important thing is that Netflix themselves said they were surprised.

“They were genuinely shocked by the universality, the global nature of our sport.”

It has been a breakthrough year for Hughes, who has broken the British record in both the 100m and 200m in 2023.

The 28-year-old also claimed a bronze medal in the 100m at the World Championships in Hungary.

Hughes came close to more medals at the event, finishing fourth in both the 200m and 4x100m relay.

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British 100m and 200m record holder Zharnel Hughes will feature in the series[/caption]

However, it has proved to be a less successful year for Asher-Smith across the 100m and 200m distances.

She followed her World Championship bronze from last year with a seventh place finish this time around, along with coming eighth out of nine athletes in the 100m final.

Asher-Smith will hope to follow the new series with a return to glory in Paris, though, having medalled in the 4x100m relays at the last two Olympics.