London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships has ended in failure and heartbreak after it lost out to Nairobi. It marks an historic day for the Kenyan capital as it becomes the first African city to host the global championships. World Athletics president Seb Coe also announced that Munich would be staging the 2031 event, saying it had “all the ingredients to be a spectacular world championships.” One source in the London team told the Guardian they were “gutted” at the news, given they felt they had a strong proposition.
There will inevitably also be plenty of soul searching, given that London was widely seen as the frontrunner for 2029. With hindsight, the long battle with West Ham over whether they would be granted permission to use the stadium in September 2029 didn’t help, while the sparse crowds on the opening days of last month’s European Championships in Birmingham was not ideal. However, Coe said that all four bids for the 2029 and 2031 championships, which also included Rome, had been outstanding.
The council, the executive board, and our HQ leadership team have deliberated long and hard over the decision because there were four compelling propositions. Nairobi has presented a compelling and an emotional bid,” added Coe. Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment.” It is understood that Munich’s presentation to the World Athletics’ evaluation panel, which was tasked with recommending which cities should host the championships, was extraordinarily strong which made it the outstanding contender for the 2031.
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