Kenya will host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, delivering a first for the continent and handing Nairobi the task of staging the senior global meet. The event will be held at Kasarani Stadium, a 48,000-capacity venue that organisers say is being upgraded ahead of the tournament.
The bid for 2029 succeeded over rival proposals from London and Rome, while Munich was awarded hosting rights for 2031. Kenya emphasised its deep track record in distance running as a central argument, noting a national haul of 72 World Championship and 38 Olympic gold medals largely earned in middle- and long-distance events.
High-profile figures backed Nairobi’s case during the bidding process. Two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge, who also won 5,000m gold at the 2003 World Championships, was among those who put the country’s credentials forward. World Athletics president Sebastian Coe described the submission as “compelling and emotional.” He added, “Kenya is one of the great athletics nations,” and said, “The sport is woven into the fabric of the country.” Coe continued that it was important the championships reach Africa when “we had the right host, the right bid and the right circumstances,” and that “Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment.”
The decision ends a long absence of the senior World Championships from Africa despite the continent’s production of many of the sport’s biggest names. Kenya pointed to its experience hosting junior and cross-country world events as evidence of readiness, citing the 2017 World Under-18 and the 2021 World U20 Championships in Nairobi, and the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa.
Kenya previously sought the 2025 championships but lost to Tokyo after infrastructure was flagged as a weakness. For 2029 the country highlighted planned upgrades, and the government has been renovating stadiums as it prepares to co-host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations with Tanzania and Uganda. Kasarani Stadium is undergoing a structural overhaul as part of that work, a move organisers present as preparation for hosting global athletics in 2029.