The World Athletics Council handed Tokyo the rights to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships. The capital city of Japan also hosted the delayed 2020 Olympics. Nairobi, which was a contesting city for the 2025 World Athletics Championships event was not granted hosting rights and World Athletics President Sebastian Lord Coe has revealed why Nairobi missed a chance. Coe stated that the Kenyan capital stood a good chance of hosting the global track and field event as a result of the immense love of athletics in the country but the council was greatly concerned about the stadium to be used. “Kenya has a stadium which has to be refurbished, or a new one has to be constructed and the council was concerned due to the time frame, and the resources that would be needed and thus Tokyo was awarded because they have ready facilities,” said Coe. 

Kenya has got two international stadiums both located in Nairobi. The Kasarani Stadium also known as the Moi International Sports Centre is located in Kasarani, and the Nyayo stadium is located at the square of Mombasa Road, Langata Road, and the Aerodrome Road. Coe said all the bid cities were spectacular and had every reason to bid but Tokyo emerged the winner in the competitive process. The other candidate cities for the event were Silesia and Singapore; all of which were deemed strong enough and experienced enough to host the event. Nairobi missing out on the hosting rights means that Africa will have to wait longer to host the most prestigious athletics event in the world. 

The Council sitting in Oregon agreed that the 2023 World Athletics Championships shall be held in Budapest, Hungary. It also gave the hosting rights of the 2024 World Cross Country Championships to Pula and Medulin in Croatia while Florida in the U.S.A was handed the 2026 World Cross Country Championships. Kenya has, however, successfully hosted major athletics events in the past including; the 2007 World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, the 2017 World Athletics Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, and the 2021 World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi. The nation has also successfully hosted the Kip Keino Classic for three consecutive years which is a World Athletics Continental Gold Tour event. The Memorial Agnes Tirop World Cross Country Tour also took place in Eldoret in February this year.