Kenya is to bid to host the 2023 World Athletic Championships, sports minister Hassan Wario announced yesterday. No other African nation has ever staged the the premier athletics event. Wario was speaking at a reception for Team Kenya who came second at the World Championships held in London.

Only a month ago Kenya successfully hosted the World Under-18 Championships at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.

Hassan Wario said: “We are more than capable of hosting a world event and we are looking to bid for the 2023 World Championships.

“We have shown that we are capable to host smaller events, and it has now reached a time when we should host big competitions”.

“Kenya became the first African nation to win the world championships in Beijing in 2015, it is only fitting that we should be the first country to bring the championships to Africa”.

AFRICAN NATION BID GETS SUPPORT

The president of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, recently called for an African nation to be awarDed the World Championships by 2025.

Sebastian Coe, the president of the IAAF, has also stated that he would support a bid by an African country to host the World Championships.

“We had a meeting with him”, Wario said, “and he said the IAAF were impressed with the outcome of the World Under-18 event”.

If Kenya is successful in a bid to hold the World Championships, Wario said it will build three new stadiums in Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret, and seven other new stadiums in other parts of Kenya.