- Kenya has been awarded the right to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
- Nairobi will become the first African city to stage the senior World Athletics Championships.
- The global showpiece will be staged in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, at the Moi International Stadium, Kasarani, in 2029.
Kenya has been awarded the hosting rights for the prestigious World Athletics Championships in 2029, World Athletics announced on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
The global showpiece will be hosted in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, at the Moi International Stadium, Kasarani, in 2029.
In that regard, Kenya has beaten major European powerhouses, including pre-race favourite London, as well as Rome and Munich, to be selected as the official host of the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
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This will be a historic milestone for the East African nation, as it will stage the first World Athletics Championships not only in the country but also on the African continent, before the championships return to Germany for a third time two years later, this time at Munich’s iconic Olympic Stadium.
“We were fortunate to have four outstanding bids for 2029 and 2031, and this was not an easy decision for the Council,” said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe. “The quality, ambition and commitment demonstrated by all four candidates underlines the strength and global appeal of the World Athletics Championships.
“Nairobi and Munich ultimately presented two compelling propositions. They offer very different but equally exciting opportunities for our sport, and I am delighted that we can now begin working with both cities to stage two world-class championships.”
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The championships in Kenya will build on a growing record of successful World Athletics events staged across Africa.
Kampala, Uganda, hosted the World Cross Country Championships in 2017, Nairobi staged the World U18 Championships later that year and the World U20 Championships in 2021, while Gaborone, Botswana, hosted the World Athletics Relays in 2026 – the first edition of that event to be held in Africa.
How Nairobi sealed the 2029 World Athletics Championships hosting rights
Having previously bid to host the 2025 championships, which were awarded to Tokyo, Nairobi returned with an even stronger proposition for 2029, drawing on almost a decade of experience in staging major international athletics events.
The 2017 World U18 Championships demonstrated the extraordinary appetite for athletics in Kenya, with huge crowds packing Kasarani Stadium throughout the competition.
Nairobi has since established the Kip Keino Classic as one of Africa’s leading one-day meetings, with the event forming part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold since the tour was launched in 2020.
That experience provided firm foundations for a 2029 bid that combined robust operational planning and financial guarantees with a renovated Kasarani Stadium, which is undergoing a complete structural overhaul of its facilities ahead of hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2027, two years before the World Athletics Championships, alongside a compelling vision for the first World Athletics Championships in Africa.
Kenya is the second-most-successful nation in World Athletics Championships history and finished second on the medal table at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, winning seven gold medals and 11 medals in total.
“Nairobi presented a compelling and emotional bid, and taking the World Athletics Championships to Africa for the first time will be historic,” said Coe. “Kenya is one of the great athletics nations.
“The sport is woven into the fabric of the country, and athletes such as world gold medallists Faith Kipyegon, Vivian Cheruiyot, Eliud Kipchoge, Hellen Obiri and David Rudisha, as well as two-time Olympic champion Kip Keino, multiple world cross-country champion Paul Tergat and multiple world half marathon champion Tegla Loroupe, have shaped the history of our sport.
“It was important that the World Athletics Championships should come to Africa when we had the right host, the right bid and the right circumstances. Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment.”