Why 2027 Beijing World Championships are crucial for Nairobi

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In September next year, when track, marathon and field superstars converge at China’s Bird’s Nest for the 2027 Beijing World Athletics Championships glory, Kenya will be watching every move.

Kenya will have a keen interest in the proceedings at Bird’s Nest (Beijing National Stadium) because Nairobi will be hosting the next World Championships in 2029 and will be hoping to pull all the stops since the premier show will be coming to the African continent for the first time since its inaugural edition in Helsinki, Finland, in 1983.

Observers say Beijing will be a perfect benchmark for Kenya because it hosted the 2015 edition and has had the rights to stage other World Athletics events, including the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.

China has also been staging the Shanghai/Keqiao and Xiamen Diamond League meets, the premier one-day events since 2005 and 2023, respectively. That solid experience gives the Asian country an edge.

But Kenya prides itself on the annual Kipkeino Classic Continental Tour, which has been staged in Nairobi since 2020, as well as hosting the World Athletics Under-18 Championships in 2017 and the 2021 World Under-20 Championships.

From the venue of the 2027 showpiece to the facilities and from atmosphere to planning and to competition, Nairobi29 organisers will be expected to be taking notes.

The Bird’s Nest, which will be the main arena for the 2027 event, was among 18 new venues built for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Eighteen years after hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, some of the facilities, such as the National Olympic Sport Centre Gymnasium and the Ying Tung Natatorium, are still in use even as they face competition from more modern venues.

For China, the Bird’s Nest Stadium – an architectural masterpiece which can hold up to 91,000 fans symbolised technological capability, cultural confidence, and participation in global architectural discourse.

Kenya, on the other hand, is preparing the 60,000-capacity Moi Sports Centre Kasarani for the 2029 World Championships, which already passed the first test during a visit by a bid evaluation team from World Athletics in May.

“We need to use the 2027 Beijing World Athletics Championships and 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as a test run for our 2029 talents,” Sports scientist and athletics coach Kipchumba Byron says.

Kenya has also made public its training venues in Nairobi, among them the Nyayo National Stadium and Ulinzi Sports Complex, with assurances of several stadiums outside the capital, located in the most famous high-altitude bases, including the Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, Kamariny in Iten, Kapsabet’s Kipchoge Stadium and other facilities in Kericho and Nakuru.

Beijing27 Local Organising Committee kicked off its planning with a marketing campaign launched at the Golden Hall of the National Stadium late last year, barely two years before the championships.

Zhou Ling, Member and Executive Deputy Secretary-General of the LOC, the Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau, said Beijing will adhere to the vision of an inclusive event in the world.

“The LOC will remain athlete-centred, continuously optimise facilities and services, and actively leverage technology to enhance the spectator experience,” the organisers said.

They added: “Building on the city’s legacy of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics, the event will promote the integrated development of culture, sports, commerce, tourism and exhibitions, building a “sport+” ecosystem to boost the sporting event economy and trade in sports services.”

Kenya is set to keenly observe how China will set the atmosphere for what is expected to be an electrifying Nairobi contest.

“The opening ceremonies have been significant in showcasing our culture and traditions, and many hosting nations have previously done it skillfully and creativity has been improving,” 1991 10,000m world champion Moses Tanui says.

According to Tanui, the Nairobi29 show will be an opportunity for Kenya to showcase to the world its legends, most of them Olympic and world medalists as well as world record holders.

For Kenya, the 2029 event means tremendous growth in tourism numbers.

“Kenya successfully bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships and had to work closely with the athletes to tap into the event. We want to grow our tourism numbers from the current 2.7 million annually to 5 million by 2029,” Tourism Principal Secretary Julius Bitok says.

srutto@standardmedia.co.ke