Posted: March 29, 2006

Athletics: IAAF Announces Upcoming Championships Venues

By Bob Ramsak
© 2006 TRACK PROFILE Report, all rights reserved

Four host sites for upcoming championships were announced today at the IAAF Council meeting in Fukuoka, Japan.

After a tie in the first round of voting with Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, Bydgoszcz, Poland was awarded the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships. Known as the "Polish capital of athletics," the city had previously hosted the first IAAF World Youth Championships, the European Cup and the European U23 Championships.

Moncton was later awarded the 2010 edition of the global junior championships. The city promised to construct a brand new athletics facility, the first of its kind in New Brunswick.

Council also awarded the 2008 edition of the IAAF World Road Running Championships to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The proposed date is 5 October. The Brazilian metropolis will also play host to the Pan-American Games in July 2007.

Debrecen, Hungary, will host the inaugural edition of the championships later this year, on October 8. In 2007, the northeast Italian city of Udine will host the championships on October 14. Both were previously announced.

The Croatian city of Split, situated on the country's Dalmatian coast, was awarded the right to host the 2010 IAAF World Cup. Split, pronounced 'Spleet', hosted the 1979 Mediterranean Games and the 1990 European Athletics Championships.

At its opening session on Tuesday, the Council announced that six countries had officially expressed interest to host the 2011 World Championships in Athletics: Morocco, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Russia and Australia. Proposed host cities were not specified.

The 2009 championships will be held in Berlin, Germany.

Copyright © Bob Ramsak and Track Profile. All rights reserved TrackProfile.com

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