Athletics Kenya (AK) officials remain hopeful that it’s only a matter of time before Nairobi hosts the World Athletics Championships.
Through their media department, AK on Friday congratulated Tokyo for winning the bid to host the 2025 World Championships.
The other candidates for the event were Nairobi, Silesia and Singapore, all of which were deemed strong enough and experienced enough to host the event.
The next championships next year will be hosted in Budapest, Hungary.
Tokyo scored the highest of the four candidates in the bid evaluation across the four focused areas: the potential for a powerful narrative; revenue generating opportunities for World Athletics; a destination that will enhance the international profile of the sport; and appropriate climate.
The announcement was made on the second day of the 228th World Athletics Council Meeting in Oregon, USA.
The Council also announced that the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be held in Medulin and Pula in Croatia and the 2026 World Athletics Cross Country Championships will be held in Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
The 2025 World Athletics Championships will see the sport’s biggest stars return to Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium, venue for last year’s Olympic Games, in the year that the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) celebrates its centenary year.
“As Athletics Kenya, it undoubtedly feels like a missed opportunity for Kenya to become the first-ever African country to host such a grand championship. However, there are many positives to pick from this disappointment; chiefly, the strong partnerships that were forged between different stakeholders to make this dream a reality,” AK said in their statement.
“We congratulate Tokyo for winning the hosting rights and are convinced that they will stage a memorable event. Japan is like a second home to many Kenyan runners and we are looking forward to returning to the city where Team Kenya emerged as the best African country at last year’s Olympics.”
In 2025, Tokyo will have the opportunity to fill its Olympic stadium with athletics fans who were denied the opportunity to attend the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games due to pandemic restrictions last year.
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe thanked all the cities who took the time and effort to prepare bids, showing their commitment to athletics.
He reinforced the Council’s wish that all of them continue to discuss future opportunities to host World Athletics events.
“Within an extremely strong field of candidates to host the World Athletics Championships 2025, Tokyo offered a compelling bid,” Coe said. “I hope this will be a shining light for Japan as they celebrate 100 years of the Japanese Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) in 2025, by bringing world-class athletics back to the people in Tokyo.”
The staging of the 46th World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee in 2026 adds to the roster of world-class track and field events being held in USA and helps enhance World Athletics’ ambition to become a top five sport in the USA by 2028.
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