INDIANAPOLIS – USA Track & Field and TrackTown USA this week officially submitted a bid for the 2019 IAAF World Outdoor Track & Field Championships, proposing Eugene, Oregon, as the host for the sport’s largest and most prestigious stand-alone event.

The IAAF World Championships – a biennial nine-day competition featuring the world’s finest track and field athletes – will be the largest sporting event in the world in 2019, with nearly 2,000 participants representing more than 200 countries. The IAAF’s crown jewel has never been held in the U.S., dating back to the inaugural meet contested in Helsinki, Finland in 1983. The 2015 IAAF World Championships will be held in Beijing, and the 2017 edition is set for London.

The bid is the next step in an active two years for USATF and TrackTown USA on the international level.  On the competitions front, TrackTown USA served as local organizing committee (LOC) for the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships at historic Hayward Field last summer, the first time ever on U.S. soil, and will be the LOC for the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Oregon. Away from the track, USATF in June hosted the IAAF Council meeting and earlier this year hosted the North American, Central American and Caribbean Women’s Conference in Miami.

“As one of the most successful federations on the track, USATF considers it a duty and an honor to be active in hosting the IAAF, its competitions, and fellow federations,” USATF CEO Max Siegel said. “We have worked actively with the IAAF and TrackTown USA for nearly two years to ensure we are able to put forth a bid that will elevate the profile of track & field internationally as well as in the United States. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with TrackTown USA to present this bid.”

Also bidding for the 2019 World Championships are Barcelona, Spain, and Doha, Qatar.  The IAAF Evaluation Commission will make site visits to each city in late October to verify their bid proposals. The final decision on the host city will be made by the IAAF Council in Monaco on November 18, after presentations from each candidate city.

The host of countless NCAA championships as well as World Juniors and World Indoors, TrackTown USA also has hosted the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Hayward Field, and will do so again in 2016.

“After the exceptional success of the IAAF World Junior Championships last summer, we believe we are better positioned than ever to make a run for the World Championship,” said TrackTown USA President Vin Lananna. “The state of Oregon’s unrivaled fan base creates a special atmosphere when they fill the grandstands for the great competitions hosted on the beautiful University of Oregon campus. The rich tradition and history of TrackTown USA and Hayward Field make for an ideal and authentic global platform to stage this fantastic event.”

Since the founding of IAAF World Championships in 1983, the United States has won 275 medals – 132 gold, 74 silver and 69 bronze. Germany is next with 180 medals (54 gold), Russia third with 150 (45 gold) and Kenya fourth with 100 (38 gold). At the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Team USA led all participating countries with a total of 25 medals, including six gold, 14 silver and five bronze.