Nairobi chosen ahead of London to host 2029 World Athletics Championships
World Athletics announced on 15 September 2026 that London had lost its bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, with Nairobi selected instead, and president Seb Coe confirmed Munich as the host for 2031.
The decision makes the Kenyan capital the first African city to stage the global championships. Coe said the four bids for 2029 and 2031, which also included Rome, had been outstanding and added: “This has not, as you can imagine, been an easy decision. The council, the executive board, and our HQ leadership team have deliberated long and hard over the decision because there were four compelling propositions.”
One source within the London bid team told the Guardian they were “gutted” at the outcome and said the bid had presented a strong proposition. London had been widely seen as the frontrunner for 2029, a position that heightened the disappointment around the announcement. The result has prompted immediate questions about what went wrong for the British campaign.
Reporting on the bid pointed to specific setbacks that hurt London’s case. 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. The sparse crowds on the opening days of last month’s European Championships in Birmingham was not ideal.
Coe framed the Nairobi choice in historic and sporting terms, saying: “Taking our championships to Africa for the first time will be historic. Nairobi has presented a compelling and an emotional bid,” added Coe. “This is a fast-growing, dynamic, modern metropolis that serves as the economic, cultural, and political hub of East Africa. “Kenya is one of the great athletics nations,” he added. “The sport is woven into the fabric of the country, and athletes such as world gold medallists Faith Kipyegon, Vivian Cheruiyot, Eliud Kipchoge, Hellen Obiri and David Rudisha, as well as two-time Olympic champion Kip Keino, multiple world cross-country champion Paul Tergat and multiple world half marathon champion Tegla Loroupe, have shaped the history of our sport. “It was important that the World Athletics Championships 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.”
It is understood that Munich’s presentation to the World Athletics’ evaluation panel was extraordinarily strong, which made it the outstanding contender for 2031. Coe said: “Germany has proved time and again that it is an outstanding and dependable host for major athletics events,” and added: “Berlin 2009 remains one of the memorable editions of the World Championships, and we have since seen tremendous support for the sport at the European Championships in Berlin and Munich. “The atmosphere in 2022 was exceptional and the attendance figures demonstrated the appetite that exists in the city and across Germany for major events.”
The World Athletics Championships are scheduled next for Beijing on 10-19 September 2027, and both Nairobi 2029 and Munich 2031 will also be staged in September at the climax of the season.