Nairobi was selected by the World Athletics Council on Tuesday, September 15, after a two-day meeting in Budapest. Munich will host the championships two years later, beating bids from London and Rome.
The 2029 event will be held at Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium, which has a renovated capacity of 48,000 and previously hosted the 2017 World U18 Championships and the 2021 World U20 Championships.
“Nairobi presented a compelling and emotional bid, and taking the World Athletics Championships to Africa for the first time will be historic,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.
Kenya is the second-most successful nation in World Athletics Championships history. It finished second in the medal table at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, winning seven gold medals and 11 medals overall.
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The country has also hosted major international athletics events, including the 2017 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, the 2017 World U18 Championships and the 2021 World U20 Championships in Nairobi. Gaborone, Botswana, hosted the World Athletics Relays in 2026, the first edition of that event to be held in Africa.
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports Salim Mvurya said the country would welcome athletes and fans from around the world.
“We accept this honour and want to promise the global community that Kenya will continue to be a home of champions in matters of athletics,” Mvurya said.
The championships will head to Germany in 2031, with Munich becoming the third German host city after Stuttgart in 1993 and Berlin in 2009. The event will be staged at Munich’s Olympic Stadium.
The next World Athletics Championships will take place in Beijing from September 10-19, 2027. The competition will then move to Nairobi in 2029 before returning to Europe for Munich in 2031.
