London has missed out to Nairobi in the bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
The decision was confirmed at a World Athletics council meeting in Budapest, and it will be the first time that an African city has hosted the event, with World Athletics president Sebastian Coe saying Nairobi presented “a compelling and emotional bid”.
“We were fortunate to have four outstanding bids for 2029 and 2031, and this was not an easy decision for the council,” said Coe.
“With this decision today, we continue to fulfil our mission of growing athletics worldwide with the hosting of our World Athletics Championships in Asia, Africa and Europe over its next three editions.
“Nairobi presented a compelling and emotional bid, and taking the World Athletics Championships to Africa for the first time will be historic.
“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.”
The London Stadium, home of Championship club West Ham United, was the proposed host venue for the UK bid.
The stadium was also used for the 2012 Olympic Games and the yearly London Diamond League, and also when the city last hosted the Worlds in 2017.
The UK’s bid was led by Athletic Ventures, which consisted of UK Athletics, London Marathon Events and the Great Run Company.
Jack Buckner, CEO of UK Athletics and co-founder of Athletic Ventures, said: “We are deeply disappointed that the 2029 World Athletics Championships will not be held in London. We believed we had an outstanding bid which would genuinely take the sport to new levels.
“We would like to thank the Government, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Mayor of London and UK Sport for their fantastic support for our bid. Our thanks also to the London Stadium, West Ham United and our many stakeholders for their commitment and hard work to put the bid together.
“Our congratulations go to Nairobi and we wish the organising committee all the best for a great event in 2029.”
Rome was the other city to miss out, as World Athletics also confirmed that Munich would host the 2031 event for the first time.
Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, submitted a bid for the 2025 championships but missed out to Tokyo.
The city’s Kasarani Stadium is being renovated before the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in 2027, which strengthened its case as a host venue.
Kenya finished second in the medal table at the 2025 edition, winning seven gold medals and 11 in total.