British capital has tremendous track record of staging global athletics events but isn't a shoo-in when it comes to hosting 2029 event

One of British athletics’ most underrated skills in recent years is winning bids to stage major events. Twenty years ago London spectacularly overturned the odds to beat favourites Paris for the right to stage the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Since then there have been multiple successful bids such as the World Championships in London 2017 and next year’s European Championships in Birmingham.

It wasn’t always the case. There were failed Olympic bids from Birmingham and Manchester in the 1990s. Next year’s European Champs is also the first time Britain has staged the event in its 91-year history.

Lately, though, British sport’s administrators have the Midas touch when it comes to bidding battles for major events and there are grounds for optimism that London will win the right to stage the 2029 World Championships.

An estimated 60,400 attended the Diamond League meeting in London this summer. Despite grey skies overhead and some absentees like Keely Hodgkinson and Jakob Ingebrigtsen, it was a tremendous success.

“We are starting the process now. It is officially open,” said World Athletics president Seb Coe when asked about the 2029 bidding battle. “It will be competitive. There are a lot of good cities out there.”

He added: “I’m not going to be choosing winners or losers now but London has some very clear and obvious assets. We are an athletics-loving nation and people turn up.”

One hurdle to overcome is a potential clash with West Ham United matches at the start of the 2029-2030 season. With World Athletics now requiring their big event of the season to fall at the end of the summer, it means the dates for the World Championships are likely to be in September.

“We will be in discussions with them (West Ham),” said UKA chief executive Jack Buckner. “There’s a ton of work. But to get to the start line, it feels great. And that level of backing and support is massive really," he added on the support from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the UK Government.

West Ham's home games draw a similar crowd to the Diamond League, but the World Championships in 2029 would be likely held over nine days.

A London Stadium spokesperson said: “The 2017 Championships we hosted to sold out crowds were a huge success bringing investment and more than £100m in economic benefits to London.

“It is early days in the process for 2029 and full details of any bid are to be developed, including potential dates for the event.”