A setback for Italian track and field: Italian fans are disappointed
The announcement by World Athletics, the international track and field federation, on Tuesday dampened the enthusiasm that had been building around Italian track and field in recent months. While Italian athletics is currently enjoying a period of high visibility and the Foro Italico has undergone a makeover to position itself for a leading role, the international body’s decision took a completely different turn: the World Championships will not be held in Italy in 2029 or in the subsequent 2031 edition.
Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Munich, one of Germany’s largest cities, will host the two World Championships, in chronological order. This decision has left a sense of a missed opportunity within the Italian track and field community, partly because in recent months there had been growing talk of a grand finale for the careers of athletes like Gianmarco Tamberi and Marcell Jacobs, who could have used such a symbolic event to end their careers right here in Italy.
The choice of Nairobi nonetheless marks a historic moment: for the first time, in fact, the World Athletics Championships will be held in Africa. This is a milestone that World Athletics has been pursuing for years and for which Kenya presented a strong, ambitious bid, backed by a running tradition of immense stature.
Two years later, the baton will pass to Munich, which will bring the World Championships back to Germany more than twenty years after the 2009 Berlin edition—the one marked by Usain Bolt’s sensational records in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. The Olympiastadion, already the site of iconic events, will provide a world-class venue.
For Italy, this is a rather hard blow. Rome’s bid had been built on the legacy of the 2024 European Championships and on the presence, alongside the Olympic Stadium, of a historic venue like the Stadio dei Marmi, which had finally been renovated. The widespread feeling among fans is that Italian athletics deserved a chance, not least to build on the golden age the sport is currently experiencing. We will now have to wait until at least 2033 to see if another opportunity arises.
