London 'deeply disappointed' to lose out to Nairobi in World Athletics Championship bid
World Athletics has announced that the Kenyan capital will become the first African hosts of the competition
London has lost its bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships to Nairobi, which will become the first African city to host the event.
Listen to this article
Proponents for London have said they are "deeply disappointed" to have missed out to the Kenyan capital, having struck a deal with West Ham over the use of the London Stadium, which hosted the championships in 2017.
Lord Coe had played down the impact that images of empty seats at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham last month could have on the bid.
Munich was also elected to host the 2031 World Championships at the World Athletics Council meeting in Budapest.
Read more: What is Ultimate Athletics? Sport set for shake-up at new championships for 2026
Jack Buckner, chief executive of UK Athletics and co-founder of Athletic Ventures, said: “We are deeply disappointed that the 2029 World Athletics Championships will not be held in London.
"We believed we had an outstanding bid which would genuinely take the sport to new levels."
He added: “The UK is an incredible host for major sports events and the British public loves athletics.
"Athletics Ventures has the ambition to bring those events here and, although today’s announcement hasn’t gone our way, we will review and regroup.
“We know the world’s athletes love competing here and we’ll continue to explore further opportunities to make that happen.”
The World Athletics Council made the decision in Budapest, where the World Ultimate Championships were held last weekend.
Lord Coe was adamant that the Nairobi decision was made “not simply on the clear historic ground-breaking nature (but also) some really serious analysis”.
While he didn't directly name cities, Lord Coe also said he would be “surprised” if some of the 2029 bidders did not take an interest in hosting the next edition of the World Ultimate Championships.
London hosted a successful World Championships at the Olympic Stadium back in 2017, and the city's bid was backed by approximately £45million in guaranteed public-sector investment.