Why Kenya missed out on hosting 2025 World Athletics Championships
World Athletics President Sebastian Lord Coe says Japan was much prepared to host the 2025 World Athletics championships than Kenya.
Despite hosting three Kip Keino classics and World Junior Athletics championships, Coe feels that the poor state of Kasarani Stadium was the main reason as to why Nairobi was snubbed for the event.
Coe who attended the May Kip Keino Classic has however not ruled out the country hosting another major championship in future.
Coe has told Ghanian journalist Muftawi Nabila Abdulai that Nairobi stands a chance of hosting the global track event because of “Kenya’s love for athletics”
“Kenya has a stadium which has to be refurbished, or a new one has to be constructed and the council was concerned due to the time frame, and the resources that would be needed and thus Tokyo was awarded because they have ready facilities,” Coe told Abdulahi.
Tokyo, the host city for the 2020 Olympics, beat Singapore, Silesa and Nairobi for the biennial event.
Abdulai is one of the journalists who attended the World Athletics Media Development Program held in May just a few days before the third edition of the Kip Keino Classic.
Coe said,” They all were very spectacular cities, they all had very different contributions to make and they had different aspects but clearly one unquestioned asset about Kenya is their love for athletics and the passion for it and the quality of the athletes, the challenge was around the stadium which needed a great deal of refurbishment.”
The World Athletics Council sitting in Oregon also named Pula and Medulin in Croatia as the 2024 World Cross Country hosts with Florida being awarded hosting rights for the 2026 World Cross Country Championships.
The 2023 World Athletics Championships will be held in Budapest, Hungary.
