As any track and field athlete knows, progress comes in fits and starts, and a big breakthrough can come at any time.

Less than two years before the scheduled opening of the 2021 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, organizers and track fans are waiting for a breakthrough from Gov. Kate Brown.

Organizers say they need $40 million from the state. Brown seems stuck at about $20 million.

Since she attended the 2019 World Champions in Doha in September, Brown has been more vocal in her support. She’s promised to produce the full $40 million requested by the event’s organizers, said Paul Weinhold, executive director of the University of Oregon Foundation and chair of Oregon 21, the Eugene-based group organizing the event.

Newly obtained documents show just how difficult and delicate a task Brown faces: Skeptical lawmakers, a demanding international governing body and a local organizing committee desperately reliant on the state. The hoped-for $40 million represents nearly half of the event’s total expected revenue. “I am proud to have this historic event in Oregon and look forward to continuing our work together,” Brown said in an April 25 letter to Jon Ridgeon, the international federation’s chief executive. She added, “in 2020, I will work to pass legislation to provide additional funding needed.”

The other good news for Oregon 21 is the University of Oregon Foundation has agreed to serve as financial backstop to the event. The international governing body of the sport typically requires a local government or some other deep-pocketed entity to guarantee the event’s financial performance.

Organizers and state officials also must fix a tax issue. Under United States’ and Oregon law, the $7.2 million in winnings for athletes is taxable at the state and federal level. In the past, local governments have simply forgiven the tax. But for that to happen, the athlete prizes would have to increase sufficiently to cover the tax or the Oregon Legislature would have to act to make the athletes exempt. The Eugene championships would be the first staged in the U.S., so there’s no precedent in solving the problem.