Host cities for future World Athletics Series events named

The World Athletics Council on Monday confirmed the host cities for three future World Athletics Series events at its meeting in Budapest, ahead of the World Athletics Championships starting on Saturday 19 August in the Hungarian capital.

At the 231st Council meeting, the World Athletics Road Running Championships was awarded to San Diego, USA, for 2025 and to Copenhagen, Denmark, for 2026.

At the same time, the 2026 World Athletics U20 Championships will be held in Eugene, Oregon, with Lima, Peru, confirmed as the host of the World U20 Championships in 2024.

“We are grateful that so many great cities around the world are interested in hosting our events and we’re delighted with the quality of the candidates we have had to choose from to host these World Athletics Series events over the next three years,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said. “The standard of bids is so high that we would like to encourage those who were not successful today to continue talking to us about staging future events.”

The inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships, which will include championship distances of one mile, 5km and half marathon, will be held in Riga, Latvia, on 1 October this year.

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This championships will become an annual event from 2025 and is proving to be a popular property for prospective host cities.

In a competitive process, San Diego and Copenhagen were selected to host the second and third editions of the championships.

“I’m proud San Diego is the first US city to have the opportunity to host the World Athletics Road Running Championships – another success that showcases our city as a premier global destination for sports tourism,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. "My thanks goes out to the team at Sports San Diego and our local running community for all they did to bring this major event to our city, and I’m excited to welcome runners from around the world for a memorable weekend.”

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Copenhagen returns as a host city after successfully staging the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in 2014.

“With a strong city brand, a leading position in the green transition, and extensive expertise in utilizing urban spaces for hosting events, Copenhagen stands as one of the foremost event cities worldwide. And now we are very excited to welcome athletes and their friends and families to the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in 2026,” says Mikkel Aaro-Hansen, CEO at Wonderful Copenhagen.

Danish Athletics Federation President Simone Frandsen added: “We are both thrilled and honoured to be chosen to host the World Road Running Championships. Following our successful introduction of recreational runners in the World Half Marathon Championships 2014 and the acclaimed World Cross Country Championships 2019, we once again pledge our dedication to design a spectacular experience. We couldn't be more excited to stage the WRRC 2026 as we continue to contribute moving the sport forward.”

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Among other decisions, the Council approved the dates for the World Athletics Relays Guangzhou 25, which will be held on 10-11 May 2025.

© World Athletics