World Athletics grants hosting rights to Turkey and Poland for upcoming events

The World Athletics Council has recently announced that the 2024 World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships will be hosted by Antalya, Turkey, while the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships will take place in Torun, Poland. Both countries have established themselves as reliable hosts of international athletics events, with Turkey having recently hosted the European Athletics Indoor Championships despite the challenges posed by an earthquake, and Poland having held several World Athletics Series events in recent years, including the World Athletics Relays in Silesia in 2021 and the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia in 2020.

Events which Antalya and Torun have hosted in the past

Antalya previously hosted the World Athletics Indoor Championships in 2012. It is expected that around 500 athletes from 50 countries will compete in next year’s event, which will serve as a qualifying event for the Paris Olympic Games. Fatih Cintimar, President of the Turkish Athletics Federation, expressed the hope that the event would help to raise awareness of athletics in Turkey, increase its popularity and gain new fans for the sport.

Meanwhile, Torun has become a familiar destination for leading international athletes, having hosted the Copernicus Cup and the European Athletics Indoor Championships in recent years. The city’s Arena Torun will also host the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships, which is expected to be a major event for the Kuyavian-Pomeranian region of Poland. Piotr Calbecki, the Marshall of the region, said that the event would be the highlight of the area’s long-term cooperation with Torun, Bydgoszcz and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Athletics Association. He also expressed the hope that the event would help to promote the region on an unprecedented scale.

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What the President of Polish Athletic Association Had to say

Henryk Olszewski, President of the Polish Athletic Association, welcomed the news that Poland had been awarded another major athletics event, and expressed confidence that the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Region would prove to be an exemplary host. He predicted that the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Championships would be the best in history. The announcement of the hosts for these events is good news for athletics fans and athletes, especially the ones living in Europe as it provides an opportunity to showcase the sport at the highest level in two different regions of Europe. 

In addition to the announcement of the hosts for these events, the World Athletics Council also got updates on the preparations for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest, which are due to take place in August. The Local Organizing Committee reported that their preparations were on track for the championships, which will bring together the world’s top athletes to compete for the prestigious title of world champion in their respective events.

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