Nairobi and Munich will host the 2029 and 2031 World Athletics Championships
World Athletics has reached a historic milestone for global sport by announcing that Nairobi, Kenya, will be the host city for the World Athletics Championships in 2029. This choice represents the first time that the African continent will host the most important sporting event in this discipline, consolidating a strategic commitment to the international expansion of athletics.
Likewise, the international body confirmed that Munich, Germany, will take over for the 2031 edition, thus guaranteeing a high-level calendar for the upcoming world championship events following the celebration in Beijing during the year 2027.
A strategic decision for athletics
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, highlighted the difficulty of choosing between the submitted bids, stressing that the Council’s goal is to bring athletics to different corners of the world. “Nairobi and Munich presented two very attractive proposals. They offer very different but equally exciting opportunities for our sport,” Coe stated after the meeting held in Budapest.
We were fortunate to have four exceptional bids for 2029 and 2031 and this was not an easy decision for the Council, which continues to fulfill its mission of driving athletics globally by hosting our World Athletics Championships in Asia, Africa and Europe during their next three editions.
Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics
Kenya: The heart of African athletics
The choice of Nairobi is not accidental. The Kenyan capital has demonstrated its organizational capacity in previous events, such as the U-18 and U-20 World Championships, in addition to having an unprecedented fan base. According to World Athletics data, 68% of Kenyans express a high interest in athletics, far exceeding the global average of 39%.
- Kenya ranks fourth globally in followers of World Athletics digital channels.
- Athletics is the second most followed sport in the African country, surpassed only by football.
- Nairobi presented a superior technical proposal compared to its previous bid, consolidating itself as a highly prestigious host city.
Munich and the gold standard in Germany
For its part, Munich was selected for its proven track record in managing mass events. The German city’s Olympic Stadium witnessed the success of the 2022 multi-sport European Championships, where nearly 267,000 spectators gathered. The focus on sustainability at the Olympiapark was a key factor for the federation to award the 2031 host city to the German city.
With these designations, the World Athletics Championships calendar is defined until the beginning of the next decade, maintaining the month of September as the stellar date to crown the best athletes on the planet at the end of each season.
