Kenya wins the race against Rome, London and Munich, which will host the 2031 edition. For the first time in history, the world’s premier athletics championships will be held on African soil. Nairobi will host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.

Kenya has won the bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, beating Rome, London and Munich. It is not simply a sporting victory for Kenya, but a decision that is set to leave a lasting mark on the history of African sport.

For the first time, the World Athletics Championships will be held on the African continent.

The decision was announced yesterday in Budapest, where the World Athletics Council, meeting for its 242nd session, selected Nairobi from four high-profile bids. Munich was awarded the following edition, in 2031.

For Italy, it is a defeat that will sting. Rome had put forward the prestige of the Olympic Stadium, Italy's long tradition of hosting major sporting events and, above all, the extraordinary generation of athletes who have taken Italian athletics back to the highest international level in recent years.

Fidal president Stefano Mei accepted the decision with respect, but made no secret of his disappointment, particularly at the missed opportunity to give Italy's athletes the chance to compete at a World Championships on home soil.

Nairobi, however, had something on its side that went beyond the technical merits of its bid: the almost inseparable bond between Kenya and athletics.

“This is Kenya's moment, Africa's moment,” President William Ruto declared, celebrating the award as a victory for generations of athletes who have made the country one of the world's great running powers.

And perhaps that is precisely the point.

Bringing the World Championships to Nairobi is not simply about choosing a new geographical location. It means recognising that a fundamental part of the history of world athletics was born and continues to thrive here – in the Kenyan highlands, on the roads, on school tracks and across the country's cross-country courses.

Kenya is the second most successful nation in the history of the World Athletics Championships, behind only the United States. At the most recent championships, in Tokyo in 2025, Kenya won seven gold medals and eleven medals overall, finishing second in the medal table.

The list of athletes who have helped build this legacy includes names that need no introduction: from Kip Keino and Paul Tergat to David Rudisha and Eliud Kipchoge, from Hellen Obiri and Vivian Cheruiyot to Faith Kipyegon, a three-time Olympic champion and one of the greatest middle-distance runners of her generation.

It is therefore no coincidence that World Athletics president Sebastian Coe described Nairobi's bid as “convincing and compelling”, saying that the time had come to bring the championships to Africa.

“Kenya is one of the great athletics nations,” Coe said, stressing how deeply the sport is woven into the fabric of the country.

A BID WITH DEEP ROOTS

Nairobi did not arrive at the Budapest vote unprepared. The Kenyan capital had already bid for the 2025 World Championships, which were eventually awarded to Tokyo. Since then, it has built an increasingly strong track record in hosting major international athletics events.

Nairobi hosted the World Under-18 Championships in 2017 and the World Under-20 Championships in 2021. Since 2020, it has also hosted the Kip Keino Classic, part of the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold series.

Kasarani Stadium, which will be at the heart of the 2029 championships, is also undergoing a major renovation ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which Kenya will co-host with Uganda and Tanzania.

By 2029, therefore, the stadium should be fully upgraded and ready to host one of the biggest sporting events ever held on African soil.

There is another figure that helps explain why World Athletics ultimately looked towards Nairobi. According to research by the international governing body, 68% of Kenyans surveyed said they had a high level of interest in athletics, compared with a global average of 39%.

Kenya also records the highest net promoter score for the sport.

In other words, for once Nairobi will not have to persuade its public to fill the stadium.

ROME LEFT EMPTY-HANDED

Nairobi's victory leaves Rome empty-handed. Italy has hosted the World Athletics Championships only once, in 1987, and will have to wait longer to bring the world's biggest athletics event back to the capital.

For Italian athletics, it is a missed opportunity at a particularly bright moment for the sport. But World Athletics' decision also reflects something broader: the determination to make the World Championships a truly global event.

After Beijing in 2027, the championships will move to Nairobi in 2029 and then to Munich in 2031. Asia, Africa and Europe in three consecutive editions, following the path outlined by Sebastian Coe.

Rome may have reason to complain. Nairobi, meanwhile, has every reason to celebrate.

Because this time it has not simply won a bidding contest.

For the first time, with enormous responsibility but also with great expectations and hopes, Africa has won.