London and Doha Officially Final Two in the Running for 2017 World Championships

The IAAF council, at a meeting held Sunday afternoon on the sidelines of the final day of the 13th edition of the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, announced that London and Doha were in the race to host the 2017 event.

The announcement follows the submission of letters of intent, the deadline for which was 1 September with regard to bids to organise the 2014 World Half Marathon, Continental Cup, World Indoor Championships and World Junior Championships, and the 2017 World Championships.

This comes after reports that Barcelona had dropped out leaving London and Doha to have a head to head battle. But this was yet to be confirmed until today.

It is understood that Real Federación Española de Atletismo (RFEA), athletics’ governing body in Spain, dropped their bid because of lack of financial guarantees from the Government and the city.

London have been touted as favourites to eventually host the Championships but they will need to resolve the issues surroundings the future of the Olympic Stadium.