Kenya’s chances of hosting the senior World Athletics Championships for the first time ever, has been quashed after World Athletics announced that Tokyo will host the 2025 edition.
Kenya had placed a bid to host the 2025 tournament, but World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe in a statement announced Tokyo have been handed the hosting rights for the third time.
“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,” Coe said in a statement.
JAAF President Mitsugi Ogata expressing his delight added, “We are immensely proud that World Athletics has demonstrated its confidence and trust in Japan to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Together with World Athletics as one team, we will capitalize on this opportunity to showcase the best possible global event for growing our sport to a higher level.”
Kenya had hopes of hosting the showpiece after the successful hosting of the World Under-18 Championships in 2017, the World Under-20 last year as well as three editions of the Kip Keino Classic, a leg of the World Athletics Continental Gold Tour.
President Uhuru Kenyatta was on the forefront on championing Kenya’s bid to host the event, which would make Kenya be the first African country to host the event.
The Polish city of Silesia and Singapore had also placed bids to host the 2025 editions but Tokyo, hosts to last year’s Olympic Games won the bid.
