London has officially submitted its final bid to stage the 2029 World Athletics Championships after an agreement was reached with West Ham United for the London Stadium, where the English soccer club plays its home games, to be included as a host venue.
The final bid documents to bring the biennial event to the capital were submitted to the World Athletics governing body by Athletic Ventures – an entity made up of UK Athletics, London Marathon Events, and the Great Run Company.
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London Stadium was built for the 2012 Olympics and used for the London Diamond League meeting for the past four years. West Ham have been anchor tenants of the venue since 2016.
UK Athletics are the other tenants in the stadium and host the Diamond League annually. The London leg typically takes place in July outside the domestic soccer season, but the World Athletics Championships are held in September.
London previously hosted the World Championships in 2017, while Birmingham will host the European Championships this August.
The host city for both the 2029 and 2031 editions will be confirmed in September.
The bidding process opened in June 2025 with an initial deadline of October 1 set for interested parties to submit a pre-qualification form. August 5 was the deadline for final bids.
Plans for London to bid for the event were laid out in April 2025, with government backing.
A feasibility study conducted before then outlined how the competition could bring a £400 million benefit to the economy, with the UK Government confirming its support for the bid in July 2025.
UK Athletics CEO Jack Buckner said: “Bidding to hold the World Athletics Championships in the London Stadium, the showpiece of London 2012, was always at the centre of the UK's Olympic legacy plans.
“We are very grateful to the government, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Mayor of London, and UK sport for their fantastic support for this bid.
“We're delighted that we have reached agreement with the London Stadium and West Ham United for the use of the London Stadium and our sincere thanks for their commitment in making this happen.”
In a statement, West Ham confirmed they are working with London Stadium LLP and Athletics Ventures to support the delivery of the championships, with a “number of new initiatives that will enhance the stadium and matchday experience for supporters” forming part of the agreement.
West Ham had threatened to thwart London’s bid, arguing they had priority for the stadium during the soccer season.
However, the impasse has been broken after lengthy discussions with the London mayor’s office, Athletics Ventures, and the DCMS.
If London is successful in its bid, West Ham will play no more than two consecutive away games in the 2029-30 season.
World Athletics is yet to announce the other candidate cities, but Rome, Munich, and Nairobi have also submitted applications for 2029.
Tokyo hosted the last World Athletics Championships in 2025, while the prior edition took place in in Budapest in 2023.
The 2027 event is set to take place in Beijing, China, having been confirmed in February 2024.
Beijing’s hosting of the games will mark the first time that two consecutive editions of the championships will be held in Asia, and the first time since 2003-05 that two countries on the same continent will host consecutively.
