Barcelona, Doha and Eugene launch bids to host 2019 world athletics championships

IAAF council, meeting in Dakar, confirm intent from the three cities.

One of Spain, Qatar and the United States could host the World Athletics Championships. Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

LONDON // Barcelona, Doha and Eugene, Oregon have all thrown their hats in the ring to host the 2019 world athletics championships, the sport’s world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), said on Tuesday.

The IAAF council, meeting in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, said in a statement that the three cities had lodged letters of intent to join the bidding process as candidates for the event.

The statement said the council would announce the winning city at its meeting in Monaco in November.

Before then, the potential hosts must present detailed bid dossiers and will receive feedback from an IAAF evaluation team to help them deliver the best case for their cities.

USA Track and Field spokeswoman Jill Geer confirmed Eugene’s interest, telling Reuters: “USATF has sent an initial letter of potential interest to the IAAF.

“The next step is to receive more information from the IAAF about requirements for a bid, in the full bid packet.”

Beijing will host the next world championships in 2015 with London staging the event in 2017.

The IAAF said the world championships, first staged in 1983, are the third largest global sporting after the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup based on competing nations (over 200), athletes (over 2000) and global TV audience (six billion).

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