Kenya Submits Official Bid To Host the 2025 World Athletics Championships

• Ministry of Sports Principal Secretary Joe Okudo and Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei present the bid to World Athletics team who visited the country las week
• Kenya is looking to host its third World Athletics event at Kasarani Stadium after successful editions of the U-17 in 2017 and U-20 last year
• Paul Tergat, David Rudisha and Catherine Ndereba are among the high profile athletes who have backed Kenya's bid which could get resistance from the likes of Japan

Kenya has officially submitted a bid to host the World Athletics Championships of 2025. The Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Sports Joe Okudo wooed a team from World Athletics by assuring them that Kenya will make an ideal host for the championships.

Last week, World Athletics sent a Bid Evaluation team chaired by Anti Pihlakoski who is a World Athletics Council member, to assess Kenya’s readiness to host the competition.

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Other members of the panel include Ximena Restrepo and Nawal El Moutawakel who are both World Athletics Vice Presidents. Jakob Larsen, Mark Hurst, Nigel Swinscoe and Niels Lindholm were also part of the team that visited Kenya last week.

The team is understood to have visited Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani which could be a potential venue should Kenya win the hosting rights. The team also looked at the infrastructure, hotels and the traffic flow in Kenya’s capital.

In a communique by Athletics Kenya, Okudo assured the world governing body that the government was ready to put up the necessary measures required to host the elite event.

Kenya is in absolute agreement with what World Athletics requires to host the World Athletics Championships in Nairobi in 2025 as detailed in the bidding documents.

This is the third international event that Kenya is gunning to host after successfully organizing the World U-18 Championships in 2017 and the U-20 last year. Kenya is known for producing world-renown athletes, particularly in long and middle distance races.

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Ferdinand Omanyala has recently come up nicely in the 100 metres category. He is the reigning African record holder.

Different athletes support Kenya's bid

Athletics Kenya President Jack Tuwei reiterated Okudo’s sentiments saying that it would be ‘historic’ for Kenya to host the competitions. Kenya’s bid was fronted by Fatma Awale who is the Vice President of Athletics Kenya. She chaired the Bidding committee that expects to bag the hosting rights.

Athletes, both current and retired, were also present during the official presentation of the bid. They were led by Paul Tergat who is also the chairman of the National Olympic Committee, David Rudisha and Catherine Ndereba among others.

Kenya will square it off with Singapore, Japan and Poland. This year’s event will take place in Oregon USA while next year is slated for Budapest, Hungary.

Big athletics weekend in Kenya

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Kenya is set to host high-profile athletics events this weekend as top stars are expected in the country.

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The Kip Keino Classic will take centre stage on Saturday with athletes like Marcell Jacobs, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Fred Kerley expected in the country.

On Sunday, Nairobi will then host Africa’s largest-ever marathon when athletes compete at the Nairobi City marathon on the newly constructed Expressway. The course is internationally certified.