Age groups for younger athletes to change in April 2026
Age groups for younger athletes are changing from April 2026, in new rules which will be enforced across track and field, cross country and road events.
The move is part of a series of measures to try to stop the drop-off in interest in athletics amongst teenagers. Under the current age groups, teenagers are competing at the top of their age group in GCSE and A-level exam years, which understandably leads to fewer young people taking part.
The new age groups will mean that athletes will compete at the top of the age group in a non-exam year.
The current age groups of U11/U13/U17 will be revised, retaining the date of 31 August for a move of age group, to continue the link to school years. From April 1, 2026, young athletes will compete in the following age groups:
- U10: school years 3 and 4
- U12: school years 5 and 6
- U14: school years 7 and 8
- U16: school years 9 and 10
- U18: school years 11 and 12
- U20: year 13+
These new age groups will mean that athletes compete across the school year in England from October-September in the same age group through cross country, road and then track and field competition, with athletes moving to a new age group, if relevant, at the end of the summer track and field season.
For example, a track and field athlete in year 7 in 2025 will compete as an U13 in the 2025 summer season. They will be in year 8, so U14, in the 2026 track and field season.
As is currently the case, the U20 upper cut-off date will be 31 December in the calendar year of competition; this means that athletes born before 31 December will be U20 for year 13 only, and in September after they leave school they will move to be U23. Athletes born on or after 1 Jan will have a second year as U20.
The Youth Development League (YDL) will offer competition to secondary age athletes: U14 and U16 (lower) and U18 and U20 (upper).
Other organisations such as leagues, counties, areas and open competition providers will make their own decisions on which of age groups they intend to cater for.
The age-group changes will obviously have implications for implement weights, hurdle heights and distances deemed suitable for athletes to run. There is information about these technical changes, as well as a FAQ section and a downloadable age-group-calculator spreadsheet, on this England Athletics page.