If African athletes shine on the international stage, their continent will have to wait longer in order to host World Championships event. Kenya lost the 2025 World Athletics championships bid to Tokyo, Thursday. Sebastian Coe, the World Athletics President made the announcement in Orgeon, USA.
“The 2025 World Championships, which was a lengthy process, have been awarded to Tokyo, Coe explained. Let me be really clear about this, for us, this was vindication of the change of approach to bidding processes. We had four great cities, all cities capable of staging a World Championship and all cities that I hope will in a foreseeable future, be staging a World Championship. ”
In addition to Nairobi and Tokyo, Silesia in Poland and Singapore, were other candidates for the event. Tokyo scored the highest 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 Council sitting in Oregon, United States, also handed the 2024 World Cross Country Championships to Pula and Medulin, Croatia with Florida, United States getting to stage the 2026 World Cross Country Championships.
