The World Athletics Championships will be staged in Africa for the first time in 2029.
‘olympics.com’ stated that Nairobi (Kenya) has been selected to host the 2029 edition following a decision by the World Athletics Council.
The above decision was taken after a two-day meeting in Budapest, Hungary.
Munich 2031
Munich 2031 will mark the third time Germany hosts the World Championships after Stuttgart in 1993 and Berlin in 2009.
The World Athletics Championships are a biennial athletics competition organized by the World Athletics.
The World Athletics Council is the main governing and decision-making body of World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
Monaco-based the World Athletics (WA), formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and the International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics covering track and field, cross-country running, road running, race walking, mountain running, and ultra running.
Hosting Rights
‘olympics.com’ further stated that two years later the event will head to Germany after Munich beat bids from London (UK) and Rome (Italy) to secure the hosting rights for the 2031 Championships.
‘Compelling Bid’
The World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said after announcing the Council’s decision, “The quality, ambition and commitment demonstrated by all the four candidates underlines the strength and global appeal of the World Athletics Championships. Nairobi presented a compelling and emotional bid and taking the World Athletics Championships to Africa for the first time will be historic.”
World Athletics Championships History
Kenya is the second-most successful nation in the World Athletics Championships history and previously staged the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in the port city of Mombasa while Nairobi hosted the 2017 World Youth Championships and the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships.
Iconic Kasarani Stadium
Nairobi plans to stage the 2029 edition at its iconic Kasarani Stadium in Kenya which also hosted the World Youth Championships and has a renovated capacity of 48,000.
‘Home of Champions’
Stated Salim Mvurya, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports, “We accept this honor and want to promise the global community that Kenya will continue to be a home of champions in matters of athletics. The world will come to a country where running is more than a competition, it’s our national story and where every generation believes that the next world champion can emerge from.”
It is another step for Africa in welcoming the major events. Next month, the continent hosts the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal (the Westernmost country of mainland West Africa) and is in line to stage the FIFA World Cup™ for the second time in 2030 when Morocco co-hosts the event with Spain and Portugal.
The 2030 FIFA World Cup™ is scheduled to be the 24th FIFA World Cup™, the quadrennial international football tournament that is contested by the Men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament is planned to be jointly hosted by Morocco, Portugal and Spain. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the first edition in 1930 a special match and celebration are scheduled to be held at the 60,235-seat Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, Uruguay – host stadium of the 1930 Final – as well as one match each in the 85,018-seat Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the 32,000-seat Estadio Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb in Asunción, Paraguay.
Beijing, People’s Republic of China, hosts next year’s World Athletics Championships before the event heads to Nairobi. The event will then return to Europe in 2031.
‘Top-level Sport’
Remarked Ronald Rauhe, Minister of State for Sport in Germany, “For us, hosting such a major sporting event is far more than top- level sport. We want to create an impact that reaches beyond the stadium. This World Championships are intended to encourage the young people to believe in their own potential.”
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