The World Athletics Council has announced the host cities for two future World Athletics Series events.
The Road Running Championships has been awarded to San Diego, Calif, for 2025, and the 2026 U20 Championships will be held in Eugene, Ore.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says, “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. 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 Road Running Championships, including one-mile, 5 km, and half-marathon races, will be held in Riga, Latvia, on Oct. 1, 2023.
In a competitive process, San Diego was selected to host the second edition of the championships.
“I’m proud San Diego is the first U.S. city to have the opportunity to host the World Athletics Road Running Championship–another success that showcases our city as a premier global destination for sports tourism,” says San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. “My thanks go 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.”
Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., will host the U20 Championships for the second time in 2026, hosting the event in 2014 and welcoming athletes for the World Athletics Championships in 2022.
“Hayward Magic inspires amazing performances on the track; generates meaningful collaborations in our research facilities and classrooms; and energizes fans, alumni, and friends the world over,” says University of Oregon president Karl Scholz. “We look forward to welcoming young athletes from around the globe to the University of Oregon.”
