Nairobi’s dream of hosting the 2025 World Athletics Championships was on Friday, shattered as the country lost its bid to Tokyo.
This was confirmed during the council’s meeting in Eugene on Friday, where officials converged to prepare ahead of the 18th edition of the World Championships.
Reacting to the development, World Athletics President Lord Coe in a statement, said the decision was tough as all candidates vying to host were strong, however, they were more satisfied with Tokyo’s bid which he described as “compelling.”
“Within an extremely strong field of candidates to host the World Athletics Championships 2025, Tokyo offered a compelling bid.
“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,” he said.
However, Coe did not dispute the possibility of the event someday making it to Kenya or another country in Africa, since the continent has never held the event before.
“It is really important that we work together with Africans to make sure that their time comes, and their time comes when it’s right,” he said.
Following Kenya’s successful hosting of the World Athletics Under 18 and Under 20 Championships in 2017 and as well as in 2021, the Athletics Kenya (AK) and Government of Kenya worked together to prepare the Nairobi bid with hopes of getting endorsed.
Countries that participated in the bidding contest which was awarded to Tokyo included Nairobi, Kenya; Silesia, Poland; and Singapore.