World Athletics announced today (Tuesday) that Nairobi will be the host city for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, ahead of London, Munich will host 2031.

London’s bid, supported by the UK Government and the GLA, was led by Athletic Ventures, the joint venture between 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. 

“The UK is an incredible host for major sports events and the British public loves athletics. Athletic Ventures has the ambition to bring those events here and, although today’s announcement hasn’t gone our way, we will review and regroup. We know the world’s athletes love competing here and we’ll continue to explore further opportunities to make that happen.

“Our congratulations go to Nairobi and we wish the organising committee all the best for a great event in 2029.”