Brisbane 2032 programme decision due in April as race walking considers shoe sensors

The final shape of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic programme will not be settled until an International Olympic Committee session in April 2027, according to the Guardian, leaving sports and organisers awaiting decisions that will affect athlete places and venue planning. The newspaper reports that race walking is among the disciplines under scrutiny as the IOC reviews the Games programme.

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The review is examining individual disciplines as well as whole sports, with television audiences, venue costs, operational complexity and athlete numbers among the considerations. The Guardian reports a planned athlete cap of 10,500 for Brisbane. Swimming, gymnastics and athletics are expected to remain, but that does not guarantee a place for every event or discipline within those sports.

Australian race walker Isaac Beacroft has highlighted shoe-mounted microchips as one possible response. The 19-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medallist told the Guardian that the technology measures the time walkers spend without ground contact, offering a way to reduce subjectivity in judging. He also pointed to moving from 20,000 metres to a half-marathon distance as part of efforts to make the discipline more accessible. These ideas do not amount to confirmation of race walking's inclusion in Brisbane.

Other sports have already changed their formats. Modern pentathlon has replaced horse riding with an obstacle course, while canoe sprint is shifting its emphasis towards 500-metre events, the report said. Surfing, skateboarding and climbing also face uncertainty over their places in the core programme. Sports left outside that programme would need to compete for one of four additional selections available to Brisbane's organisers.

Those host selections carry financial consequences because the local organising committee must meet their costs without IOC co-funding, according to the Guardian. Prime minister Anthony Albanese has suggested considering existing facilities in Sydney and Melbourne for sports beyond football, while emphasising that the decision belongs to Queensland. Football pool matches outside Queensland are already planned.

The report says the list of core disciplines should be known by the new year, with the complete programme following in April. Brisbane 2032 president Andrew Liveris has expressed concern about getting the decisions finalised. Beacroft remains hopeful that race walking will survive the review, but acknowledged the uncertainty for athletes whose long-term ambitions centre on competing at a home Olympics.