The World Athletics (WA) governing body has announced that the Chinese capital of Beijing will host the 2027 edition of its flagship World Athletics Championships.
WA announced the decision after a meeting of its council in Scotland, ahead of the upcoming World Athletics Indoor Championships, which Glasgow will host from March 1-3.
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2027 will mark the second time that China has hosted the World Athletics Championships, having done so in 2015, also in Beijing.
Beijing was also prominently the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games, from which much of its athletics infrastructure stems.
Indeed the main venue for the 2027 event will be the country’s Olympic Stadium, an 80,000-seater venue that was built ahead of Beijing 2008.
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Speaking about the decision, WA president Sebastian Coe stated: “With a population of more than 1.4 billion, China is one of the biggest sports markets in the world. It was the top performer for Wanda Diamond League broadcast consumption in 2023 with a cumulative audience of 368.9 million. This poses a massive opportunity to grow our sport and fan base in one of the biggest commercial markets in the world.”
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By GlobalDataHe added that Beijing’s hosting of the tournament means that the four countries to host the event between 2022 and 2027 will be situated in the world’s four largest economies, namely the US (Oregon 2022), the EU (Budapest in Hungary, 2023), Japan (Tokyo 2025), and China in 2027.
Beijing’s hosting of the games in three years will also mark the first time that two consecutive editions of the championships will be hosted in Asia, and the first time since 2003-05 that two countries on the same continent will host consecutively, a testament to the growth of athletics in that region.
Wang Nan, vice president of the Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) and a WA council member, added: “The CAA will work together with the Beijing organizing committee to make every effort to prepare for the championships, ensure that the championships will be held to the highest quality standard, and strive to present a wonderful World Athletics Championships to make more contributions to the development of athletics across the world.”
Ahead of the biennial tournament, China will also host the 2025 edition of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in the city of Nanjing.
Late last month, WA announced a new three-year sponsorship agreement with Japanese technology and media conglomerate Sony.
