IAAF president Lamine Diack, who recently secured a new four-year term at the helm of athletics’ governing body, confirmed at a press conference on Sunday that Barcelona had pulled out of the race. Diack, speaking ahead of the final evening of the World Championships in the South Korean city of Daegu, also said that the IAAF would consider staging the 2017 Championships later in the year to counteract the intense heat of the Doha summer.

“For the world championships, it is possible to move dates,” Diack said, citing the possibility of shifting the event to the end of the season in mid-September. “It is possible that a date can vary. I will not be hostile to that, if it concludes the season.” The host city will be announced by the IAAF Council when it meets in Monaco in November.

The IAAF president has also insisted there are no plans to change the controversial false start rule despite the high-profile penalisation of Usain Bolt in the men’s 100m final in Daegu. “I work for this rule,” Diack told Reuters. “I like very much this rule, I vote for having this rule. Think about television...it was disturbing to have everybody able to make a false start. After that we said 'one'...So I am happy with the rule.”