Disappointment for Kenya as 2025 Road Running Championships cancelled
Kenya finished overall top of the medal standings following the last event that took place in Riga, the Capital city of Latvia in 2023.
World Athletics announced on Friday that it had cancelled the 2025 Road Running Championships, a month after it was moved from the initial host city of San Diego.
Kenya finished overall top of the medal standings following the last event that took place in Riga, the Capital city of Latvia in 2023.
Kenya picked up five gold medals, three silver and four bronze medals to collect the most medals.
Beatrice Chebet (women's 5 Km), Sebastian Sawe (men's half marathon), and Peres Jepchirchir in the women's half marathon were the gold medal winners back in 2023.
Track and field's governing body said it had "held discussions with a number of alternative hosts, some with great potential" for the championships that had been scheduled for September 26-28.
"While some of these discussions will continue for other editions of the event, the World Athletics Council has decided not to award the Championships to an alternative host this year due to lack of essential planning and preparation time required to cater for both elite and mass participation race elements," it said.
Already 100,000 people have shown interest in the 35,000 spots available for the half marathon distance, World Athletics stated.
The next World Road Running Championships will now be held in Copenhagen on September 19-20, 2026.
The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010.
It was renamed the IAAF World Road Running Championships in 2006 and reduced in distance to a 20 km run, but reverted to the half-marathon distance the following year and to the original competition name the year after that.