Nairobi has hosted both the world under-18 and under-20
world championships in the last four years but faces a string of high-profile
rivals including Tokyo, which staged the Olympic Games in July.
“We formally confirmed our bid to host the global
championships on Friday, October 1 which was the deadline set by World
Athletics,” Athletics Kenya chief Jackson Tuwei told AFP.
“We organised two very successful world junior championships
at the Kasarani stadium in 2017 and in August 2021, where a number of world
records and personal bests were realised,” he said.
“We learnt a lot of lessons in staging both events, and
realistically it is our time to bring the biggest event.”
Africa has never hosted the World Athletics (WA) premier
showpiece, which was first contested in Helsinki, Finland in 1983.
Kenyan sports minister Amina Mohammed first announced the
country’s bid for the 2025 world championships in Doha in September 2019, after
WA said the global event would be held on a rotational basis across continents.