Telling the Story of a Race and its Athletes - Intuitively

In preparation for the competition, the engineering team for Sony Corporation's Sports Entertainment Business Unit had their hands full developing a new visualization technology: one which could instantaneously reproduce the very moment an athlete crossed the finish line, rendered in full 3DCG (3-dimensional computer graphics).

Using 8 cameras installed near the finish line, this technology captures the movements of athletes as they approach, processing this data to reproduce 3D renderings of the final moments of the race. Replayable from head-on, bird's eye, sideview, and other angles, the constructed visuals provide new perspectives of the race unimaginable from a regular broadcast camera. In races where the winner is decided by differences as tiny as a hundredth of a second, the technology was used to great effect to create clear, direct, and easily visualized images for short-distance competitions, including the men's and women's 100m, the mixed 4×100m relay, the men's 110m hurdles, and the women's 100m hurdles races.

To properly set up this system, Sony's engineers made their way to Budapest two weeks before the competition began to install cameras, make fine-tuned adjustments, and thoroughly rehearse the production process. During the actual championship, data processing, 3D image production, and final quality checks were all conducted in under 30 seconds, after which the final visuals would be sent to the production truck of Host Broadcast Services (HBS), in charge of live production for the championship's international broadcast. The final video would be transmitted to over 30 broadcasting stations across the world, reaching the eyes of viewers worldwide.

Sony engineers installing the cameras within the stadium

This new way of capturing sports is exactly the type of visual experience sought after by World Athletics, the international governing body for athletics, among other sports. A central aim of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship itself is to provide a new level of interest and understanding for the performances put on by world-class track and field athletes, as World Athletics Chief Information Officer An Dang Duy explains:

"We have been exploring this concept with our broadcast team for a long time and Sony has helped turn that ambition into reality. We challenged the Sony team to deliver live broadcast augmentation within the demanding rendering times of a live production environment and they delivered the experience we had imagined. The reaction from fans has been fantastic and overwhelmingly positive. Most importantly, the technology is not there for technology's sake: it creates powerful storytelling around pure athletic performance, helping audiences see, understand, and appreciate the extraordinary achievements of our athletes in new ways."

Looking back on the assignment, project head Hironori Hattori from Sony Corporation's Sports Entertainment Business Unit recalled, "Our thoughts while working were solely on how to create the absolutely, uncompromisingly best product, and since we're Sony, everyone had high hopes that we would be able to do it." Looking forwards, meanwhile, he remarked, "I still think there's room to create an experience which really conveys the excitement and depth of sports not only to hardcore sports fans, but to people who just happen to see the broadcast on the TV. We will certainly be considering expanding to field sports or other events outside of athletics in the future."

Ensuring the Fairness of Competition Through Video Replay Technology

Equally important to conveying the excitement and competitive spirit of sports is protecting the integrity of competition. On this front, Hawk-Eye Innovations, a Sony Group company, provided its officiating technology to the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, allowing referees to review video playbacks of key moments during the championship.

In addition to 8 cameras installed exclusively for Hawk-Eye, the championship used 18 general Broadcast cameras for track disciplines and an additional 15 for field disciplines, all of which were used by the Hawk-Eye system for officiating purposes. By integrating over 40 video sources which could be synchronized to provide instantaneous video replay, the system allowed referees to quickly confirm lane violations for track sports or running start and step violations in field sports. This included the ability to magnify key portions of the replayed videos. In addition, when footage used for officiating was provided for broadcast, graphics could be added to the footage.

For an event focusing on the story of competition, speed is of the utmost concern in refereeing in order to promptly announce winners and present them awards after a race. According to Kira Hutton, Senior Operation Lead at Hawk-Eye, "Speed was particularly important at this event. We divided the roles within the team so that the replay operators and the graphics operator could focus on their respective tasks." This included an overall system director, a replay manager for track sports and one for field sports, and a manager in charge of creating and delivering graphics for broadcasters. Through the team's combined expertise and smooth cooperation with referees, the event was able to proceed without a hitch.

For a championship inviting the world's best athletes to compete at the highest level, fair officiating is absolutely indispensable. Through its technology and direct presence on the field, Hawk-Eye ensures that competition remains fair on the grandest of stages.

To Capture that Perfect Moment

Sports coverage around the world simply wouldn't exist without the photographers and content creators covering each and every angle of the event.

To support these creators, Sony installed a camera service booth at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, establishing a seamless workflow spanning everything from the photography itself to sending image data to recipients. The booth provided inspections and maintenance for Sony's Alpha™ mirrorless cameras and lenses, as well as information and guides on the camera's equipment and usage.

Yasuo Baba from Sony Europe B.V.'s Professional Imaging Business Development department described the role of the service booth by saying, "Our role is to support and inspire photographers by working together with them in determining what's possible with Sony's cameras and lenses. Specifically, we're letting photographers who've never used our devices before experiment with our equipment experience their performances, and discover new creative possibilities. In addition, even for photographers who are already familiar with Sony's equipment, our presence at these events helps build a sense of security and trust between us. We want to keep being there for photographers when they need us, having that system which gives them the requisite support, and providing an environment for them where they can focus on taking the greatest shots of the action that pursue."

With glorious victories, heartbreaking losses, and the world's greatest athleticism on display, every split second has the chance to either make or break the shot of a lifetime. Behind each iconic picture or immortalized moment lies not only a creator's vision, but also countless people and pieces of equipment there supporting them.

Deepening the Emotion of Sports

Behind the scenes of the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship, Sony's technology and talent brought new lenses to view the competition, officiating aids to ensure the championship's integrity, and steadfast support for the photographers there to capture the spectacle of sport.

Though these initiatives each feature vastly different technologies, the feeling behind their implementation is the same: the desire to more deeply understand sports, and to connect them more passionately to emotion. With the power of creativity and technology, Sony aims to continue contributing to the world of sports into the future.