15 November 2013

The UK is set to host more IAAF global athletics championships after Cardiff and Birmingham were awarded the 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and 2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships respectively.

It marks a golden four year period of major world championships for the sport, with the IAAF and IPC World Championships already scheduled for London in 2017 and preceded by the World Mountain Running Championships scheduled for Conwy, North Wales in 2015.

The awarding of the events came following detailed submissions and presentations on day two of the 187th IAAF Council Meeting taking place in Monaco – ahead of this weekend’s World Athletics Gala.

Cardiff will be the third UK host for the IAAF World Half marathon championships in recent years, with both Bristol and Birmingham staging it successfully in 2001 and 2009.

Birmingham will look forward to welcoming the World Indoors back to the National Indoor Arena in 2018 following a £26 million refurbishment, having staged a successful event in 2003, and also playing host to its European equivalent in 2007.

UK Athletics CEO Niels de Vos said:

“This is a fantastic day for British Athletics and represents the best possible outcome.

“To have secured world championships in 2015, 16, 17 and 18 represents a golden four year period for athletics.

“We are all very proud of what ourselves and the cities of Cardiff and Birmingham have achieved today – it is unprecedented and is fabulously exciting.”

IAAF vice president Lord Sebastian Coe said:

“The IAAF recognised that the Birmingham bid was a winner and the Council were delighted that the city was happy to be awarded the World Champs in 2018.

“For athletics in the UK it makes great strategic sense, giving us an amazing opportunity to maintain the incredible momentum athletics has built up in the UK.

“Ed (Warner) and Niels deserve huge credit for persuading the IAAF to return again so soon as do the cities of Cardiff and Birmingham for preparing such compelling presentations.”

Welsh Athletics CEO Matt Newman said:

"This is a coup for Cardiff and Wales.

"It is a huge endorsement of the excellent work that has been put into the Cardiff Half Marathon over the past decade.

"It is a major achievement for a small nation like Wales to be able to win an IAAF major championship event and our successful bid proved the power of the partnerships we have been able to build in recent years with the Welsh Government and Cardiff Council.

Councillor Ian Ward, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, said: "I am delighted that we have been successful in securing the 2018 World Indoor Athletics Championships, in partnership with British Athletics, at superb facilities in the newly modernised National Indoor Arena.

"During our bid presentation the president of the IAAF confirmed that Birmingham’s staging of the World Indoor Athletics in 2003 was the best ever and expressed his confidence that in 2018 Birmingham will be better still.

"Winning these Championships seals Birmingham’s reputation as the pre-eminent athletics city, and gives us the opportunity to showcase the city to a global audience. It will also create a fantastic legacy to inspire everyone in the city to get involved in sport and give an estimated economic boost of more than £20 million."