World Athletics President Sebastian Coe disclosed the reason that made Kenya lose the bid to host the 2025 senior World Athletics Championships on Monday July 25 after the conclusion of the Oregon edition.
Japan won the hosting rights on July 15, 2022, beating the other three nations. Apart from Kenya, Singapore and Silesia were also in contention to host the event. The championship will be held in Tokyo - the city which hosted the 2020 Olympic Games
Coe revealed that the East African nation passed all the other tests, but the lack of a quality stadium made them lose the bid, when Ghanian reporter Nabila Abdulai asked him how close Kenya was to hosting the championship.
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“These were four really spectacular cities, they all had very different contributions to make and they had very different assets. Clearly one unquestioned asset in Kenya is the love of athletics, the passion for it and the extraordinary quality of the athletes,”
“There were challenges around the stadium, which could have needed a great deal of refurbishment, and there was concern expressed by the council about the time frame and the quantum of resources that will be needed in order to refurbish that,” stated Coe.
The Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani and Nyayo National Stadium are the only arenas that had the potential of hosting the global showpiece, but they are all in poor state, despite the government’s efforts to renovate them to international status a few years ago.
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Coe ended the interview by stating that he is committed to helping Kenya host a world championship in future.
“I’ve spoken to the Kenyan federation, they know that I am fully committed to helping them or any other African country stage a world championship in the foreseeable future,” he added.
Kenya has previously hosted both the World Athletics Under 18 and Under 20 championships. The successful events were staged at the Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani in July 2017 and August 2021 respectively.
Kenya did not perform as expected in the 2022 World Athletics Championships that was recently held in Eugene, United States. The athletic powerhouse which was ranked fourth globally only managed 2 gold medals, the lowest in decades.
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