Sebastian Lord Coe, President of World Athletics, has revealed why Nairobi missed out on hosting the 2025 World Athletics Championships.

The World Athletics Council awarded Tokyo, which held the postponed 2020 Olympic Games last year, the rights to host the 2025 World Athletics Championships last week.

In an interview with Ghanaian journalist Muftawu Nabila Abdulai at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Coe stated that Nairobi had a good chance of hosting the global track and field event due to the enormous love for athletics in Kenya, but the council was concerned about the stadium to be used.

"Kenya has a stadium that needs to be refurbished or built, and the council was concerned because of the time frame and resources that would be required, and so Tokyo was given since they have ready facilities," Coe explained in an interview.

He stated that all of the bid cities were amazing and had every cause to bid, but Tokyo emerged as the winner of the competitive process.

Kenya has two international stadiums: Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, and Nyayo Stadium. Both are in Nairobi, the capital.

Silesia and Singapore were the other applicants for the event, and they were all regarded as strong and experienced enough to host it. It implies that Africa will have to wait longer to host the world's most prestigious sporting event.

The Council meeting in Oregon also awarded the 2024 World Cross Country Championships to Pula and Medulin in Croatia, as well as the 2026 World Cross Country Championships to Florida.

Budapest, Hungary, will host the World Athletics Championships in 2023.

Tokyo earned the highest of the four contenders in the bid examination across four key areas: the potential for a compelling narrative, revenue-generating opportunities for World Athletics, the capacity of the site to raise the sport's international reputation, and a suitable environment.

Kenya has successfully hosted significant athletics events in recent years, including the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa in 2007, the World Athletics Under-18 Championships in Nairobi in 2017, and the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Nairobi in 2021.

Kenya has also hosted the Kip Keino Classic, a World Athletics Continental Gold Tour event, for three years in a row, as well as the Memorial Agnes Tirop World Cross Country Tour, which took place in Eldoret this February.