The time has come! Today, Kenya will present its bid to host the 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships to the World Athletics Bid Evaluation Panel in a pivotal moment for the country.
The virtual presentation to the panel, chaired by Antti Pihlakoski (who is also a World Athletics Council member from Finland), will start at 4pm.
It will be delivered by the Local Bid Committee, chaired by legendary distance runner Ibrahim Hussein, from Athletics Kenya headquarters in Riadha House.
Having successfully hosted three major athletics world championships, Kenya is eager to stage one of the world’s biggest athletics events.
Two other African cities, Rabat in Morocco and Stellenbosch in South Africa, have previously hosted the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, in 1975 and 1996 respectively, before Kenya staged the 2007 edition in Mombasa.
Kenya won the bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Under-18 Championships at the 60,000-capacity Kasarani stadium. This was the last edition of the youth event, and the stadium was sold out for the final two days.
Thanks to this success, Kenya was awarded the delayed 2020 World Athletics Under-20 Championships, held in 2021 without any spectators due to Covid-19.
Kenya was also granted permission to host the annual World Athletics Gold Label events championships: the Kip Keino Classic Continental Tour from 2020, and the Sirikwa Classic Cross-Country Championships in Uasin Gishu County in 2022.
The Sirikwa Classic began as the Agnes Tirop Memorial, in honour of the Kenyan distance runner Agnes Tirop, who was murdered by her husband on October 12, 2021, in Iten, Elgeyo Marakwet County.
However, it was the late Confederation of Africa Athletics president Hamad Kalkaba Malboum’s dream for Africa to host the World Athletics Championships.
Speaking at the 2017 event in London, Malboum cited the success of the World Under-18 and Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Rabat Diamond League, and the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.
He also highlighted the success of the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, held in Mombasa in 2007 and in Kampala in 2017.
Kenya then became the first African country to bid for the 2025 edition at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, where the then Sports CS, Amina Mohamed, announced the bid.
Kenya later formalised and submitted its bid document to World Athletics on October 1, 2021, proposing Kasarani Stadium as the venue for the competition.
Inside Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi on August 1, 2025.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
At the World Athletics Council Meeting in Oregon in July 2022, the bids were finalised, and Tokyo was declared the host of the 2025 championships, beating Nairobi, Singapore, and Silesia in Poland thanks to its readiness to use the state-of-the-art Japan National Stadium, which hosted the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics.
World Athletics expressed concerns about the extensive costs, tight timeframe and significant refurbishments required to bring Kasarani stadium, which was built for the 1987 Africa Games, up to global championship standards.
This would require significant financial resources, raising questions about its feasibility compared to other venues, such as the Japan National Stadium, which was ready and had astute commercial revenue projections.
In January 2023, when World Athletics President Seb Coe visited, he expressed his desire for Kenya to host the 2027 World Athletics Championships. However, he was informed of the potential logistical challenges posed by the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and the general election.
The then Sports CS Kipchumba Murkomen revealed that Kenya had applied to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships. He said that the issues that had caused Kenya to lose its bid to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships would be resolved.
Kasarani Stadium is at the heart of Kenya’s bid, with Nyayo Stadium designated as the official training venue.
Kasarani Stadium has been refurbished to increase its capacity to 60,000 from 48,000, and a canopy is being erected.
Kenya successfully met the preliminary pre-qualification deadline on October 1 last year and submitted their application forms on April 3, bidding for both the 2029 and 2031 editions.
The Athletics Kenya Local Bidding Committee then filed the final bid application documents on August 6, ahead of the final presentation to the World Athletics Evaluation Panel today.
The panel will consider bids from three other cities: Rome (Italy), Munich (Germany) and London (Great Britain). Addis Ababa withdrew its bid.
The host cities for the 2029 and 2031 championships will be announced by the World Athletics Council on September 20 after the Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hungary, from September 11 to 13.
