World Athletics president Sebastian Coe has played down fears low crowds at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham could mar London’s bid to host the 2029 World Championships.
Birmingham is the first UK host in 92 years of European Championships history, but early-week crowds at the 23,000-capacity Alexander Stadium were as low as 12,844.
London, who hosted the World Championships in 2017, is competing with Rome, Nairobi and Munich, and will learn their fate after the World Athletics Council meets on September 15.
Asked if pictures of empty seats in Birmingham might influence panel members looking at London’s presentation, Lord Coe said: “Look, it’s horses for courses. We had London (Olympics) in 2012, London in 2017, London will point to having sold out Diamond League five months before the event took place. So I think it was a challenge. It’s always a challenge starting a championship on a Monday morning.
“I think back to 2017, we started on a Friday night and we had the advantage of Mo Farah being the centrepiece, so I always sensed this was going to be… but local circumstances, middle of the summer, pretty hot out there, not a lot of covering in the stadium, I think there will be a whole series of things.
“But I’m guessing, I mean, last night (when 20,082 spectators watched Amy Hunt win 200-metre gold) felt a pretty buzzing championships, and my gut instinct… I’m a bit distant from the ticketing strategy here, it’s obviously not our event, but I don’t know.”
The British bid was boosted after an agreement was reached last week with West Ham over use of the London Stadium.
Two of the prospective hosts gave presentations on Thursday, and the other half on Friday. The evaluation panel will then present their recommendation to the council, who may or may not agree.
“They either accept it or they don’t,” said Coe, who as the presiding officer does not have a vote. “And if they don’t, then you open up the process. You don’t simply say, ‘Well it goes to (this city), you’ll have the next one’.
“It’s a pretty coherent (process), and it takes the beauty parade element out of it, but it still gives the council the opportunity to properly interrogate beyond the work of the evaluation.”
The successful 2029 bidder will also hand out the final marathon world gold medals before the marathon world championships become standalone from 2031.
London is staging a one-off two-day London Marathon in 2027, which received a record-breaking 1,338,544 entries for 100,000 places.
Asked about the London double, Coe, who added marathon and running are a “huge part” of World Athletics’ marketplace, said: “Again, it’s very much horses for courses. London can probably support that.”