Who wants to host 2018 worlds? WMA seeks bids by September
If India can sort out its dueling federation issues, might it host worlds in 2018?
About Ken Stone
Ken has followed track as an athlete, writer and web-master since the late 1960s, and saw most sessions of track and field at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. He also attended the 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Trials, the last three as a blogger and Patch correspondent. [More...]
Ken Stone
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16 Responses
I’ll take Stockholm, Sweden for July 2018. In 2013 the highs for July ranged from 62 to 83, and you might make some new friends among the Swedes during your visit in 2018.
Stockholm would be nice and spendy, but I would be perfectly happy with Riccione, Italy again, the second best attented WMA outdoor ever with 9000 entrants, if WMA cares about entrance money, Riccione makes perfectly sense!
Canada would be cool from a budget-friendly standpoint for Americans, especially after the sure-to-be costly trips to Perth in 2016 and/or Auckland, NZ in 2017 for WMG. By the way, I guess I missed the explanation for why the WMA decided to switch the Outdoor Worlds to even numbered years – is it to avoid WMG conflicts? Will Indoor Worlds continue on even years as well? Seems like that will make it really tough for many athletes to attend both WMA events.
Yes, Matt. Several years ago, WMA voted to avoid going head-to-head with WMG every four years. So the transition means back-to-back outdoor WMA worlds.
The Bahamas (site of the world relays championships this year) would be a favorite of mine along with possibly Toronto, Canada. Of course these sites are convenient for most of the Americas.
Japan would be interesting; the marathon would guarantee a new record attendance. Berlin, Germany would be my choice, I lived there in the 70’s and the Olympic Stadium is one of the best T & F venues in the world. I saw Harald Schmid & Edwin Moses dueling in Berlin; the most amazing race I’ve ever seen. “I would wake up at the morning, and in California we’re about nine hours ahead of Germany. I’d say to myself, ‘Harald has probably finished his workout by now, I need to get busy!’ Guys like him were my motivation.”-Edwin Moses
Berlin would be my motivation..
Stefan, I “second” Berlin. Our relay team ran at the ISTAF Invitational ,end of the 50th. What a stadium!
We did get about $ 10.- a day for food. Guess, what we bought: ugly, red nailpolish at Woolworth, a luxury at that time (Little money left for food, who cared_)
Has anybody read the “bid application”? Quite a demand to meet, incl. a a suite for the WMA president…
Stefan, thanks for handing me water in Boston!!!
I really enjoyed the 1999 Championships in Gateshead, I wouldn’t mind going back to somewhere in the U.K. for 2018.
Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Japan etc – all sound good to me. I am not suggesting the USA as Sacramento was a poor show and I am sure would put off many from voting for any USA entry for many years. With South Korea being the indoor location for the next indoor meet in 2 years – Japan would have a hard time getting votes if there was a European entry for 2018. Between Perth in 2016 and New Zealand for the WMG in 2017 and South Korea for the indoors in 2017 – the 2018 outdoor meet needs to be somewhere else than the Pacific area. But the real problem is getting a bid from responsible bidders who can afford to put on the meet in decent facilities. A suite for the WMA president – wow – really – airfare, meals, and a daily stipend too??? Riccione again – no thanks – once was fine but enough – those who thought Riccione was fine were not competing at the far distant venue out in the hinterland with inconvenient transportation that sometimes did not show up.
I think the 2018 should either be in North America or Europe. I think there are a few really nice cities in Canada that would do a good job. My vote in Europe would be England or Germany. The key is getting a city that really wants to do a good job of running a Masters track meet instead of just looking at the possibility of making a few bucks on hotel rooms, etc. With the bid amount and all the little perks for our royal servants, I am afraid that a lot of good groups are not going to bother.
I would agree with Berlin or anywhere Germany since they have not stepped up and hosted in a long time!
Would love to see it go to London. Germany would be good as well.
I’m suprised, and a little dissapointed, no one has mentioned Wichita, KS yet.
First dibs on Bob Lida’s couch!
or how about Clermont, Fl – they did such a bang -up job with the regional meet a few years ago – or for that matter Charlotte, NC – lots of places to ignore.
I agree with Bob L.- someplace close to home would be nice. Unfortunately, everyone can not afford to travel to those locations light-years away. Is every seven years too much to expect?
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