Ruto to Coe in Eldoret: "All of the required obligations will be met"
The President promised more work on Kasarani after its AFCON 2027 upgrade, as Coe asked for a full stadium every night of the 2029 World Championships.
In short: President William Ruto met World Athletics president Sebastian Coe at State Lodge, Eldoret on 14 October 2026 and promised that Kenya will meet all its obligations for the 2029 World Athletics Championships, including further upgrades to Kasarani, Citizen Digital and Capital FM reported.
President William Ruto hosted Sebastian Coe at State Lodge, Eldoret on Wednesday 14 October, Citizen Digital reports. It was their first official meeting since Nairobi won the right to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships, the first to be held in Africa.
Ruto said the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, is already being upgraded for AFCON 2027, which Kenya co-hosts with Uganda and Tanzania, and that "further upgrades will be done ahead of the 2029 event", Citizen Digital reports. "I give my personal commitment and that of the Government of Kenya to deploy all resources possible," he said, according to Capital FM. "All of the required obligations will be met."
According to Capital FM, the meeting covered funding, anti-doping and stadium preparations. Coe travelled with World Athletics CEO Jon Ridgeon, and they also met Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya, Athletics Kenya president and World Athletics vice president Jackson Tuwei, and Nairobi 29 bid committee chair Ibrahim Hussein.
Coe called the championships "a huge nine-day event, with 2,000 athletes and watched by a global audience of one billion", Citizen Digital reports. "I call upon Kenya to uphold its stellar reputation for turning out in large numbers for our sport," he said, Capital FM reports, adding that he wanted a full stadium every night.
At a press briefing in Nairobi on Wednesday morning, Coe said a full stadium was "probably in the top three things we want", The Star reports. He pointed to the 2017 World Under-18 Championships at Kasarani, where nearly 88,000 spectators attended across two sessions on day four. "If you can't fill a stadium, then people look at it and say maybe this is not as strong a sport as we say it is," he said. More on Coe's visit.