World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics, has announced a sponsorship association with the Japanese manufacturing company, NTN.

Following this deal, the brand has been labelled as another main sponsor from the Japanese market.

NTN strengthens the World Athletics sponsorship roster in advance of the 2023 World Athletics Championships, which will be held in Budapest from August 19 to August 27. NTN will also serve as the competition and presentation bib partner for the women’s events. The agreement runs through the end of 2024 and includes other events such as the 2023 World Road Running Championships in Riga and the 2024 World Athletics Race Walking Championships in Antalya.

NTN is the fourth company from Japan to be included in the elite tier of World Athletics partners, joining Seiko, TDK, and Asics.

The high number of Japanese sponsors is a reflection of Dentsu’s core market in international marketing and advertising. A 10-year international media and marketing rights agreement between Dentsu and World Athletics covers the selling of rights to the World Athletics Championships alongside additional competitions like the World Cross Country Championships. The agreement was inked from 2020 until 2029.

World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe, said, “I’m delighted to welcome NTN Corporation to our sport. Our Official Partners are key contributors to the staging of our World Athletics Series events, and there are none bigger than the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23. We are always looking for partners who share our global vision and want to make the world a better place, and NTN certainly fits that bill. Gender equality is one of our key pillars so I’m particularly pleased to see that NTN will support our female competition programme through the bib sponsorship.”

NTN, CEO, Eiichi Ukai, said, “We are pleased to have the honour of supporting World Athletics. NTN has developed its business globally based on the two Founders’ ‘Frontier Spirit,’ which encourages us to keep taking on challenges, and in the spirit of ‘Coexistence and Co-prosperity’, which encourages us to develop together with society. This is in accord with our corporate philosophy ‘We shall contribute to international society through creating new technologies and developing new products.’ Through its business activities, NTN also contributes to the resolution of social issues, such as respecting human rights, promoting diversity, contributing to local communities, and protecting the environment.

“Through its support for the world’s leading track and field events, NTN will encourage the world’s best athletes to strive for excellence, will promote the World Athletics Series events and the sport of athletics, and will contribute to positive international exchange between nations.”

Since its founding in 1918, NTN has expanded its business internationally with bearings as its primary product. In a variety of industries, such as transportation, aircraft, and rolling stock for railroads, NTN helps reduce energy consumption. As of the end of March 2023, there were almost 200 bases spread throughout 34 nations, 23,027 workers worldwide and 774 billion yen in net revenues.