London World Championship Bid 2029: Comments from the athletes

Global News: London World Championship bid, 2029, by Stuart Weir

London World Championship bid  2029.  

The news that British Athletics is bidding to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships in London has created a lot of excitement. The final piece of the jigsaw was the decision of the UK government to underwrite the necessary funding. 

At the London Diamond League, earlier this month, a number of athletes were asked for their opinion.  At the event Press Conference, convenor, Geoff Wightman, asked athletes to complete the sentence: “London will be a great host city for the 2029 World Championships because…”. 

Answers from Noah Lyles, Julien Alfred, Femke Bol, Josh Kerr and Dina Asher-Smith: 

The answers were interesting: “Because it’s such a great crowd. At the championship you want the crowd to be engaged. It would be great in London because the fans love athletics” – Noah Lyles.

“Last year was my first time competing in London and the crowd was great. But also for me there are so many Saint lucians in London, so it would be great for me competing in front of them” – Julien Alfred.

“Look at the stadium, I think it speaks for itself. It is an amazing place and I’d love to race World Championships here because I would get to race multiple times in a week and it would be sold out for every session. London is something amazing, even walking into the stadium when it’s empty. When it is full, there is nothing is like it” – Femke Bol.

“London is the most magical stadium in the world. Anyone standing on the track tomorrow will realise the energy that a British crowd can bring. Some of us were able to experience that In 2017 and I would love to cap my career doing that again. “I mean, look around. This stadium was the epicentre for London 2012 and then it inspired a second generation at London 2017. It’s time to do that again. It’s time for the UK to step up and realise that the reason we’re sitting here now, and a big reason why the next crop of athletes are competitive in the UK, is because of the inspiration of those championships.  “It was my first ever championships at London 2017 and it was like ‘I’m not where I want to be but I can’t wait to get there’. Without that championships, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here today as a multiple Olympic medallist or world champion. It takes that kind of effort from a country to produce that calibre of crop of athletes” – Josh Kerr.

“Because of the fans and the noise that they make. The stadium on supports our athletes. Every time I’m in the stadium I’m excited to be part of it. It’s a very special stadium and a very special place and I’ve got really fond memories of competing here. The two championships that I competed in were highlights for me” – Katarina Johnson-Thompson. “There is honestly no Diamond League like this one and as a Londoner obviously I am chuffed we are bidding for the Worlds again. But not just Brits all other athletes love it here as we cheer for good performances not just Brits” – Dina Asher-Smith.

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