There are few things pettier than two older privileged men behaving increasingly passively aggressively towards each other in the pursuit of sporting political power.

Thomas Bach and Sebastian Coe have, over the past few years, perfected the art of the pass-agg comment, subtly disparaging each other without overtly resorting to criticism.

Bach took the pass-agg-ness to another level last week and while it’s often entertaining to watch entitled men cling frantically to power or, in this case, ensure power is not transferred to their arch rival, the knock-on effects are likely to impact far more than two men’s sizeable egos.

Let’s starts with Bach; the German is a former Olympic gold medal-winning fencer and is the president of the International Olympic Committee, a role he was elected to in 2013. After completing his first term of eight years, he was re-elected in 2021 for four more years, meaning the end is rapidly approaching.

Coe is also an Olympic champion – the Englishman won 1500m gold in 1980 and 1984 – but has spent far longer in sports administration than he ever did on the track. Perhaps his greatest post-athletic achievement was leading the London 2012 Olympic bid before becoming chairman of the London 2012 Organising Committee.

Since 2015, he has been president of athletics’ governing body, World........

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