We’re now only three months away from the start of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo – and yet, already, many of Britain’s greatest-ever athletes are already looking ahead to the World Athletics Championships in 2029.
That’s because the venue for the 2029 competition is yet to be decided – and London wants in on the action. In fact, so strong is this desire that the UK’s top talents in track and field have banded together to write an open letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to back the bid to make London the host city for the 2029 competition.
In total, 108 star athletes of the past, present and future – all of whom ‘have had the honour of representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the world stage’ – signed the letter, including Olympic, European and Commonwealth champions, as well as winners at previous World Athletics Championships. Notable names include Olympic 800m champions Keely Hodgkinson and Dame Kelly Holmes, world-leading heptathletes Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, reigning 1500m world champion Josh Kerr and former European 5000m champion Brendan Foster, who also founded the Great North Run.
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‘We’ve stood on podiums with pride, but there is nothing like competing in front of a home crowd,’ the letter reads. ‘For many athletes, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.’
London last staged the World Athletics Championships in 2017, which saw Sir Mo Farah – who also signed the letter – score gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5000m for Great Britain, while other British athletes also excelled on home soil. With this in mind, the nation’s athletes feel strongly that the event should return to England’s capital 12 years on.
‘For our country, it’s an opportunity we must not let pass us by,’ write the athletes in their appeal to the UK Government.
‘We are known and respected across the world as great event organisers,’ they add. ‘As athletes, we compete on every continent. And wherever we go, one thing is clear: our fellow competitors talk about British events with admiration. They want to compete here. They trust the fairness, the atmosphere, the attention to detail and they know the fans will turn out in force.’
Should London succeed, the 2029 World Athletics Championships will take place in the iconic London Stadium, which was ‘the scene of unforgettable moments at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games’, as well as at the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
‘Britain knows how to put on global events,’ continues the letter. ‘We do it brilliantly. And when we host, the impact goes far beyond medals and headlines. It inspires a generation. It generates huge economic and community impact. It brings the country together in excitement and joy.’
The bid process for the 2029 World Athletics Championships will begin this summer – and here’s hoping that London will have a strong chance when it puts its name in the hat.
‘We’re ready. We hope you are, too.’
