Denise Lewis and Kelly Sotherton on International Women's Day and the London 2017 World Athletics Championships

Olympic champion Denise Lewis and double Olympic bronze medallist Kelly Sotherton joined two young members of the British athletics team – Morgan Lake and long-jumper Lorraine Ugen – to commemorate International Women’s Day and mark the moment that tickets have gone back on sale for the IAAF World Championships and World Para Athletics Championships in London this summer.

Read more: Denise Lewis chats about being a role model and being a TV pundit

Read more: Kelly Sotherton on making a serious difference as a role model and coach

Heptathlon 2000 Olympics gold medallist Lewis said: “It is fantastic to celebrate being a female athlete in our wonderful sport which is incredibly gender-balanced and has such a great heritage of female success. This will be an amazing year for athletics in the UK which will see strong female role model making headlines and inspiring other women. This year’s World Championships in London will be the best ever and I expect the British women to step up and shine.”

British long jumpe Ugen, winner of a silver medal at the European Indoor Championships last weekend, said: “Athletics is a sport which has an amazing history of female stars shining just as brightly as the men. We are proud of that fact. It has been amazing to take some advice from Denise and Kelly today as to how they delivered when it mattered on the biggest stages of all. This summer’s World Championships is a great opportunity for the British female athletes to make their mark.”

Sotherton, who won bronze in the heptathlon and 4x400m relay at the 2004 Olympics, told Yahoo Sport: “These women are the future of athletics. Fans will be able to see the best athletes on the planet compete at the London Stadium this summer in the IAAF World Championships and we want to see the girls take advantage of the biggest event in the sport taking place ‘at home’ in London this year. I have no doubt that they will continue the rich tradition of inspirational British women in athletics.”

Tickets went back on sale from 10am on Wednesday 8 March for both the World Para Athletics Championships and the IAAF World Championships London 2017 with tickets available across all sessions.

Tickets are available at tickets.london2017athletics.com/.

London will host World Para Athletics Championships from 14-23 July and the IAAF World Championships London 2017 from 04-13 August.

The World Para Athletics Championships and the IAAF World Championships will bring together 3000 world-class athletes from more than 200 countries, who will compete in 30 sessions across 20 amazing days.

Organisers have created the opportunity for thousands of children to attend the events and have increased the availability of the massively popular ‘Bolt ticket’ – a £9.58 children’s ticket in honour of the legendary Jamaican’s 100m world record, following a huge response from families purchasing tickets.

World junior heptathlon and high jump champion Lake said: “This summer presents an important moment for athletics in Britain to inspire new, younger fans. It is fantastic to see that children and families will have the opportunity to attend the World Para Athletics Championships and IAAF World Championships and cheer on the world’s greatest athletes in London.”

It is the first time ever that a city has hosted both world championships in the same summer, and both events are already celebrating record ticket sales with little over four months to go.

Tickets were first put on sale via an application process in August 2016 seeing overwhelming demand with over 1 million tickets requested. Over the past few weeks, tickets have been off sale whilst customer orders are allocated to specific stadium seats.

Across both championships more than 200,000 children’s tickets have been purchased; for the IAAF World Championships 75,000 young fans have taken advantage of the ‘Bolt ticket’ whilst for the World Para Athletics Championships more than 100,000 tickets have been purchased for children as part of a Mayor of London backed schools ticket offer with 25,000 children’s £5 tickets also snapped up.

Tickets for the World Para Athletics and IAAF World Championships London 2017 go on sale from 10am today, 8 March. With over 1 million tickets applied for, it promises to be the must-see event of the year. Get your tickets at tickets.london2017athletics.com