Athletics Kenya have confirmed that Kenya will be among countries bidding to host the 2025 World Athletics Championship.
AK president Jackson Tuwei said the federation is working hard to fulfil all the conditions required for a successful bid before September 1 this year.
"Absolutely, we are going to bid to host this global event. Remember we had expressed interest in hosting the event. We have already received the bidding documents and we are working towards submitting the bid before the deadline," he said.
Tuwei urged all athletics stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Sports, to come on board in order to make the bid and subsequent event a success.
"I am very happy that the Sports CS Amina Mohammed has been very keen on this event. She has not said it once but severally that the government will support the event so we have no option but to do our best," Tuwei said.
He was, however, non-committal whether the event would be held in Nairobi or Mombasa, instead insisting that AK would only work with the stadiums, which are currently available.
The president described the championship as monumental for Kenya and the continent at large considering the economic windfall, which will emanate from it.
"Africa has never hosted a world senior championship of this magnitude and so we have to put our best foot forward and go for it," he reiterated.
The official launch of the bidding process was in December last year during which WA shared the bid guidelines.
The successful host city — which will be announced by December this year — must be accessible to all athletes from the world whereas the stadium must have at least 30,000 seat capacity with a category 1 track.
Furthermore, hotels set aside for WA officials, athletes, congress delegates, partners and the media must be at least four-star and above.
If Kenya hosts the event, it will also host the WA congress, final party and opening dinner, which will be part of the championship.
WA estimates the host country will earn US$104 million in revenue during the 10-day event.
Kenya hosted the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold (Kip Keino Classic) last year and is set to welcome hundreds of athletes in July this year for the WA Under-20 Championships at Moi Stadium, Kasarani.
Apart from the World Athletics Championships, AK also plans to bid to host one of the Diamond League events in the next three years.
