Track and field officials awarded the 2025 world championships to Tokyo on Thursday, bringing runners, jumpers and throwers back to the home of last year's Olympics, where they competed in front of mostly empty stands. The World Athletics Council awarded the championships in a bidding contest that also included Nairobi, Kenya; Silesia, Poland; and Singapore.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said it was a close vote, but Japan won on the strength of, among other things, human resource available in Tokyo to put on the event and strong commercial partnerships. He did not rule out the possibility of track's marquee event someday making it to Kenya or another country in Africa a continent that has never held the event.