Barcelona, Doha and Eugene Set to Bid for 2019 IAAF World Championships

Published by Inside the Games on April 13, 2014

Barcelona, Doha and Eugene are all set to bid for the 2019 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships.  

Applications from the three cities are expected to be confirmed at a two-day meeting of the IAAF's ruling Council, due to start in Senegalese capital Dakar tomorrow.

It will be a second consecutive bid from Doha, the Qatari capital, which lost out to London in November 2011 in its campaign to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships.

They will probably start as favourites, due to its financial strength, but there will be strong pressure from within the IAAF Council to take their flagship event to the United States for the first time since it was launched in 1983.

The US is the most successful country in the history of the Championships, having won a total of 300 medals, including 138 gold, ten of them won by Carl Lewis, whose total included eight titles. 

Eugene is due to host this year's IAAF World Junior Championships and will be hoping to use the event to impress international officials.