How Kenya won its bid for 2029 World Athletics Championships

Kenya's President William Ruto says the World Athletics Championship will be "coming home", with Nairobi set to make history after being selected as the first African city to host the event in 2029.

Ruto hailed the winning bid as a "victory for generations of athletes" who have made the nation "synonymous with excellence" on the track and road.

Nairobi beat London and Rome to the hosting rights, with Munich selected to stage the 2031 edition.

After missing out on the 2025 World Championships to Tokyo, a series of factors helped Kenya see off its European rivals this time around.

A sport 'woven into the fabric' of the nation

When World Athletics president Lord Coe announced the decision in Budapest on Tuesday, he described Kenya's bid as "compelling and emotional".

The East African nation is the second-most successful nation in the history of the World Championships with 72 gold medals, placing it behind the United States.

The vast majority of those glories, alongside 38 Olympic gold medals, have come in middle- and long-distance running.

Lord Coe said that athletics is "woven into the fabric" of the nation and that Kenyans have helped "shape the history" of the sport.

He name-checked several runners including two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge - who was involved in the lobbying for Kenya's bid - men's 800m world record holder David Rudisha and multiple world and Olympic medallist Faith Kipyegon.

A passionate fanbase is also one of the country's great strengths.

Some 68% of Kenyans surveyed by World Athletics rated their interest in athletics as high, compared with a global average of 39%.

Athletics is the country's second-most followed sport, behind only football, and when World Athletics assessed its social media channels, Kenya was the fourth-highest nation in terms of followers.

Upgraded facilities

Kenya's previous bid for the 2025 edition fell down largely on the facilities which the country possessed.

This time around, the Kasarani Stadium will have gone through a complete structural upgrade well before the world's top athletes descend on Nairobi.

The 48,000-capacity venue will be used when Kenya co-hosts football's 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) next June and July alongside Tanzania and Uganda.

"We learned from the 2025 bid because there were areas that we did not score well," Barnaba Korir, who worked on the successful bid, told the BBC World Service.

"Because of that, we managed to improve on those areas.

"I'm happy that the infrastructure that we have already developed will also meet the standards that we have seen all over the world."

Hotel space is one area not expected to be a problem, with Nairobi a regular host for large conventions.

"Kenya is also known for its very dynamic hospitality, the tourism sector," Elijah Mwangi, principal secretary at the State Department for Sports, told the BBC.

"It has a game park within the city, so we are waiting to welcome everybody."

President Ruto made financial and security guarantees in order to secure the Championships.

"We thank World Athletics for the confidence it has placed in Kenya," Ruto said.

"We will honour that confidence by delivering an unforgettable championship worthy of our athletes, our country and our continent."

Expanding athletics

Lord Coe became president of World Athletics (then known as the IAAF) in 2015 and has pledged to grow the sport around the globe.

During his time in office the World Championships have been hosted in Qatar (2019), the United States (2022) and Tokyo, while China's capital Beijing will stage them in 2027.

Kenya has successfully hosted age-grade events in Nairobi and the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, while the World Athletics Relays were held in Botswana's capital Gaborone in May.

With Coe's third term in office coming to an end next year, one official involved in Kenya's bid, speaking before the host announcement, said it was "unthinkable" that Nairobi would not succeed.

"With this decision we continue to fulfil our mission of growing athletics worldwide," Coe said.

"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.

Coe hailed the "quality, ambition and commitment" of all four bidding cities.

London, Munich and Rome have all previously held the Olympics, with the World Championships in London as recently as 2017, but the chance to break new ground in Africa was clearly compelling.

UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner said his team was "deeply disappointed" to see London miss out.

What is needed next?

Kenya now faces logistical and organisational challenges over the next three years as it prepares to deliver Africa's first World Championships.

With the 2027 Afcon looming large on the horizon, Nairobi will have a chance to test-run getting fans in and out of the Kasarani Stadium, which lies about a half-hour drive from the city's central business district.

The venue does not have any rail connections but Korir says World Athletics officials were "very satisfied" by Kenya's transport plan.

There were instances of overcrowding when the stadium hosted Kenya games at football's African Nations Championships last year, which led to the capacity being reduced for some matches.

Delays in preparations for Afcon have raised concerns, and the funding for the World Championships will come entirely from the Kenyan government.

Mwangi revealed that $78m (£58.5m) is the current estimate for the government's contribution, with sponsorship deals also playing a role.

"We are prepared to ensure that whatever is expected to be paid, it is paid in the due time," he added.

Presidential elections are scheduled for next year, but Korir is confident organisers will secure the "huge" and "legally binding" figure earmarked even if there is a change in government.

"Whatever the government assigns now will be observed by the next government. It is an international agreement," he said.

Then comes ticketing, first to make sure the local population are not priced out and then to ensure the stands are filled.

The cheapest tickets for the Under-18 World Championships in 2017 were priced at 200 Kenyan shillings ($1.15, £1.14) but attendances were low until entry was made free.

World Athletics generated $522m in revenue from Tokyo 2025, with a total of 619,000 tickets sold over the nine days of competition, while London sold a record 705,000 tickets in 2017.

In passing up the opportunity of returning to the British capital, World Athletics has chosen expansion over guaranteed ticket sales, but attendances will be scrutinised - especially after the sparse numbers seen in the stands in Doha in 2019.

Korir, however, is confident the Kasarani Stadium "will be full" on "every day" of competition, including morning sessions, if sales begin early enough.

Meanwhile, Kenya has endured a spate of doping scandals in recent years, with 11 individuals banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit so far this year alone.

The pressure is now on the East African nation to deliver on its promises in the build-up to Nairobi 2029 and ensure the Championships pass off without any major issues.