The President of World Athletics (WA), Sebastien Coe, has explained why Kenya missed out on a ticket to host the 2025 World Championships.

“There were challenges around the stadium which would have needed a great deal of refurbishment,” Coe told Joy Sports.

Kenya went into a contest with the 2020 Olympics host, Tokyo, Silesia, and Singapore in a bid to host the rest of the world in Nairobi.

However, the WA ruling Council selected Tokyo as the host city to succeed, Budapest, 2023 championships host, a decision which coincides with Japan’s Athletics Federation’s 100th anniversary.

Many had said Africa deserved an opportunity to welcome the best of athletes to the continent and were disappointed Nairobi missed out. Claims are that the Confederation of Africa Athletics president, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, General Director, Lamine Faty, Vice President and President of Kenya Athletics, Jackson Tuwei, were all absent from the Oregon championships because Nairobi lost the bid.

But, Coe says the Council had reservations about Nairobi’s readiness for the global events.

“The four spectacular cities all had different contributions to make and they had very different assets,” Coe continued

“In Kenya,” he began “one thing that is unquestionable is the love for athletics, the passion for it, and the extraordinary quality of the athletes, but there were challenges around the stadium which would have needed a great deal of refurbishment and that was a concern expressed by [the] council,” he revealed.

The Moi International Stadium in Kasarani, known as the ‘Home of Heroes,’ has hosted major junior championships, including the recent continental gold tour in May 2022.

Its current state, however, is not suitable for the world’s biggest athletics events, and the renovation window is quite short to build it into a fit-for-purpose facility.

“The time frame and the quantum of resources which would be needed to refurbish that, we really were not sure.”

When will Africa ever host the world championships?

“I have spoken to the Kenyan federation and they know that I am committed to helping them or any other African country stage a world championship in the foreseeable future,” he said.