IAAF Confirm Five Countries Table Bids for ’17 WAC

It has been revealed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that if London is to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium, they will have to beat offer the challenge of four other bidding nations/cities.

The IAAF released a press statement revealing that Berlin – German, Budapest – Hungary and an as-yet-unnamed Spanish city had entered the race for the Championships after it was confirmed earlier in the week that both London and Doha already tabled bids for the event.

“With the deadline now closed, letters of intent from Member Federations interested in hosting the 2017 edition of the IAAF World Championships have now been received from five countries,” stated the IAAF.

The IAAF will confirm the candidate cities for the Championships on September 1 and then select the host city at a Council meeting in November. The next edition of the Championships will be staged in Daegu, South Korea, later this year.

The biennial event will take part in Moscow – Russian and Beijing – China in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

One issue for Doha is the extreme heat in the summer, but the country’s National Olympic Committee is in talks with the IAAF over possibly moving the event to later in the year. A Qatar Olympic Committee spokesperson told the Press Association: “We are presently considering the potential dates, and we will enter discussions with the IAAF over dates at the appropriate time during the bidding process.”

The spokesperson added: “Should Qatar’s bid for the championships be successful, the proposed stadium would be Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium which will be fully equipped with the latest environmentally friendly air-cooling technology.”