It’s coming home! These were the chants of the Kenyan delegation at Tuesday’s World Athletics Council press conference in Budapest, Hungary, as the country celebrated a landmark achievement.
Lord Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, announced that Nairobi would host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, making Kenya the first African country to stage the sport’s biggest global event.
For the first time in the championships’ history, the global athletics showcase will take place on African soil, uniting over 200 countries and approximately 2,000 of the world’s top track and field athletes.
Often referred to as the ‘World Cup of athletics’, the championships will transform Nairobi into the epicentre of global athletics for the duration of the event, with the world’s greatest athletes competing on Kenyan soil in a variety of events, from sprinting and middle-distance running to marathons and field events.
Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi celebrates winning the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo on September 20, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Munich, Germany, won the bid to host the 2031 edition, as announced at the 242nd World Athletics Council meeting in the Hungarian capital. The 26 members of the World Athletics Council deliberated before voting on the bid, which was also contested by Rome, Italy, and London, Great Britain.
The choice of Nairobi is highly symbolic. Kenya is one of the world’s great athletics nations, having produced generations of Olympic and world champions, particularly in distance running. For more than four decades, Kenyan athletes have helped to define the history of global distance running.
Now, for the first time, the country that has helped shape the sport will stage its biggest global championships at home.
Kenya is the second most successful country in the history of the championships, having won 182 medals (72 gold, 60 silver and 50 bronze) since the inaugural edition in Helsinki, Finland in 1983, behind only the US.
The country won its first gold medals at the second edition of the championships in 1987, with victories in the 800 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon by Billy Konchellah, Paul Kipkoech and Douglas Wakiihuri respectively.
Kenya went on to top the overall medal table at the 2015 championships in Beijing, China, further cementing its reputation as the ‘Country of Champions’.
Therefore, the 2029 championships offer Kenya more than just the prestige of hosting a global sporting event. The event provides an opportunity to showcase the country’s athletics culture, talent and organisational capability to a worldwide audience, as well as giving Kenya the bragging rights of bringing the sport’s biggest event to the home of some of its greatest champions.
Kenya's Beatrice Chebet celebrates winning the women's 10,000m Final at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo on September 13, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
Central to its successful bid were Kenya’s rich athletics history, passionate fan base, experience in hosting major events and the government’s financial backing. It has already demonstrated its ability to host World Athletics events, having staged the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa and the 2017 and 2021 World Athletics Under-18 and Under-20 Championships in Nairobi.
The 2017 World U18 Championships, in particular, demonstrated Kenya’s extraordinary appetite for athletics, with huge crowds filling the Kasarani Stadium throughout the competition.
Building on this success, Nairobi subsequently hosted the 2021 World U20 Championships and established the annual Kip Keino Classic as one of Africa’s leading one-day meetings, forming part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold.
Mr Coe added that Nairobi has since established the Kip Keino Classic as one of Africa’s leading one-day meetings, and that the experience had provided firm foundations for a 2029 bid, combining strong operational planning with financial guarantees.
Kenya’s appeal is also reflected in World Athletics’ fan research. Of those surveyed, 68 per cent of Kenyans rated their interest in athletics as high, compared with a global average of 39 per cent.
“Kenya has the highest net promoter score of any market, and athletics is the country’s second most followed sport, behind football only,” said Coe, adding that Kenya is also the fourth highest country in terms of followers of World Athletics’ social media channels.
This victory in 2029 comes after Kenya learnt hard lessons from its unsuccessful bid to host the 2025 championships, which were awarded to Tokyo, Japan.
“Having previously bid to host the 2025 championships, which were awarded to Tokyo, Nairobi returned with an even stronger proposition for 2029, drawing on almost a decade of experience in staging major international athletics events,” the world athletics body announced yesterday.
World Athletics had previously expressed concerns regarding the cost, tight time-frame, and the extensive refurbishments required to bring the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani up to the standards required for a global championship. The venue was originally constructed for the 1987 All-Africa Games.
Following the failed bid, Kenya reviewed its approach and returned with a stronger proposition, drawing on almost a decade of experience in staging major international athletics events.
Kenya beat the preliminary pre-qualification deadline on October 1 last year, submitting its application on April 3 this year and filing the final bid documents on August 6.
The final bid was presented by Athletics Kenya through a Local Bidding Committee headed by legendary marathon runner Ibrahim Hussein.
Kenya eventually beat bids from Munich, Rome and London to secure the 2029 Championships. Munich was awarded the right to host the 2031 edition.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon celebrates after winning the World Athletics Championships women's 1,500m final at Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, on September 16, 2025.
Photo credit: Photo | Reuters
For Kenya’s legendary athletes, this outcome is a fitting reward for a nation that has spent decades winning medals on the global stage. Two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge said that Kenya had earned the opportunity to host the championships.
“The world needs to give back to the Kenyan community, as we love and respect the sport,” he said, adding that hosting the championships would boost athletics and sports tourism.
“It will inspire more confidence from the outside world in terms of planning, security and execution,” he said, noting that the event would test Kenya’s human resources while delivering economic benefits.
Catherine Ndereba, the two-time world marathon champion and winner of the 2003 Paris and 2007 Osaka marathons, said it was Africa’s turn to welcome the world.
“If Nairobi wins, it will mean the world not only to Kenya, but to Africa as well. We have travelled to many continents and won medals at major world athletics events. Now it’s time for the world to come to Kenya,” said Ndereba, who is also the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games marathon silver medallist.
Former marathon world record-holder Patrick Makau, who became the second Kenyan to break the marathon world record in Berlin in 2011 with a time of 2:03:38, said that hosting the championships would reinvigorate the development of athletics in Kenya. Former world 800 metres champion Janeth Jepkosgei and Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omanyala, also welcomed the decision.
However, behind this historic achievement lies a huge financial and logistical responsibility for the government, which will have to spend billions of shillings to ensure that Nairobi is ready to welcome the world of athletics.
Kasarani will be at the heart of the championships and must be transformed into a world-class venue capable of meeting World Athletics’ demanding standards.
The stadium is already undergoing a major structural overhaul ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which Kenya will co-host two years before the championships.
Nyayo stadium and Ulinzi Sports Complex, designated as training venues, will also require upgrades, alongside the training facilities at Talanta Sports City.
That creates a tight pipeline of major sporting commitments for the government, with the 2027 AFCON coming just two years before the 2029 championships.
The challenge will be to ensure that the investment promised for these events produces lasting world-class sporting infrastructure rather than another last-minute scramble to meet international deadlines.
When Coe visited Kenya in January 2023, he expressed a desire to see the country host the 2027 World Championships. Kenyan officials, however, pointed to the logistical challenges posed by the 2027 AFCON and the General Election.
Then the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Kipchumba Murkomen, who had visited Riadha House in November 2024, revealed that Kenya had applied to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
Kenya successfully beat the preliminary pre-qualification deadline on October 1, 2025, then submitted their application forms on April 3 this year, pitching for both the 2029 and 2031 editions.
Then Athletics Kenya, through the Local Bidding Committee headed by legendary distance runner Ibrahim Hussein, then filed the final bid application documents on August 6 this year, awaiting the final presentation to the World Athletics Evaluation Panel on Thursday this week.
Kenya's Faith Cherotich celebrates with the national flag after winning the women's 3000m Steeplechase final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on September 17, 2025.
Photo credit: Reuters
The World Athletics Evaluation Panel interrogated the bids from three other cities that will include Rome in Italy, Munich in Germany and London in Great Britain after Addis Ababa withdrew their bid.
“The 2017 World U18 Championships demonstrated the extraordinary appetite for athletics in Kenya, with huge crowds packing the Kasarani Stadium throughout the competition. Nairobi has since established the Kip Keino Classic as one of Africa’s leading one-day meetings, with the event forming part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold since the tour was launched in 2020,” World Athletics said.
The World Athletics Championships will next take place in Beijing on 10-19 September 2027. Both Nairobi 2029 and Munich 2031 will also take place in September in line with the objective for the global athletics calendar to reach its climax at the end of the season with a major global championship.
The championships will build on a growing record of successful World Athletics events staged across Africa. Kampala in Uganda hosted the World Cross Country Championships in 2017, Nairobi staged the World U18 Championships later that year and the World U20 Championships in 2021, while Gaborone in Botswana hosted the World Athletics Relays in 2026 – the first edition of that event to be held in Africa. Together, those events have helped build significant experience and expertise in staging global athletics competitions across the continent.
