Nairobi will host the 2029 World Outdoor Athletics Championships, becoming the first African city to stage the global track and field event after beating bids from London, Munich and Rome, World Athletics announced on Tuesday.
The 2031 championships will be held in Munich, the sport’s governing body said following a council meeting in Budapest, host of the recently concluded Ultimate Championship.
“We were fortunate to have four outstanding bids for 2029 and 2031, and this was not an easy decision for the Council,” World Athletics president Sebastian Coe told a press conference.
The 2027 World Championships have already been awarded to Beijing.
“This council decision today means we’re able to deliver our World Athletics Championships in Asia, Africa, and Europe over its next three editions,” Coe said.
He described Nairobi’s selection as a historic moment for African athletics, saying the Kenyan capital had presented a compelling bid.
“Taking our championships to Africa for the first time will be historic. Nairobi has presented a compelling and an emotional bid,” Coe said.
“It was important that the world championship should come to Africa when we had the right host, the right bid, and the right circumstances.
“Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment to supercharge the development of our sport in Kenya and across Africa, leaving a compelling legacy that inspires a continent.”
Kenya, which previously failed in its bid to host the 2025 World Championships, has a long history of staging major athletics competitions.
The country hosted the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, the 2017 World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi and the 2021 World Under-20 Championships in the capital. Nairobi also hosted the 2010 African Athletics Championships.
Athletics ‘woven into the fabric’ of Kenya
Coe said Nairobi’s previous experience in the bidding process helped strengthen its latest proposal.
“Having also been part of the bidding process for 2025, the Nairobi team understood and grasped what was required, and came back with a stronger proposition, and a renovated Kasarani Stadium, which is currently undergoing a complete overhaul ahead of hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027,” he said.
“Athletics is woven into the fabric of Kenya,” Coe added, citing world and Olympic middle-distance champion Faith Kipyegon among the Kenyan athletes who have “shaped the history of our sport.”
He also praised the “extraordinary” level of fan engagement with athletics in the East African country.
Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Sports Salim Mvurya said the decision affirmed Kenya’s position as a major force in global athletics.
“The global athletics family has affirmed Kenya’s place at the heart of World Athletics,” Mvurya said.
“The world will come to a country where running is more than competition. It is our national story, and where every generation believes that the next world champion can emerge from Kenya.”
Munich to host 2031 championships
Turning to Munich, which most recently hosted the European Athletics Championships at the city’s Olympic Park in 2022, Coe said Germany had a proven record of staging major athletics events.
“Germany has proved time and time again that it is an outstanding and creative host for major athletics events,” he said.
“We know Germany has an audience for athletics, and we know Munich 2031 has all the ingredients to be a spectacular World Athletics Championships.”
Coe played down concerns that the next three editions of the World Championships would be staged outside Europe, despite describing the continent as a track and field “heartland.”
“We openly accept that it is in large part the breadbasket of our sport.
“But we do also have a responsibility to make sure that an international governing federation, made up of well over 200 federations, has the opportunity to be able to take our championships into areas that strategically we think will actually grow the footprint of our sport.”
Coe also said there had been “a lot of interest” in hosting the 2028 edition of the Ultimate Championship, a three-day, season-ending competition created this year to bring together the world’s leading athletes.
“There’s already heightened interest in wanting to stage those championships,” he said.
AFP
