Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson has taken a playful dig at West Ham with the Premier League strugglers threatening to scupper London’s bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships.
West Ham’s London Stadium has been earmarked to stage the event in three and a half years’ time given its success in hosting the 2012 Olympics.
But with World Athletics president Seb Coe insisting it is scheduled for September, at the end of the outdoor athletics season, it clashes with the Hammers’ fixtures for the 2029/30 campaign and the club is not keen to give up its home ground for three weeks.
Hodgkinson, the 24-year-old who won gold in the 800 metres at the Paris Olympics in 2024, appears unimpressed.
Responding to a tweet that read “London’s bid for the 2029 World Athletics Championships is in jeopardy,” she replied: “The GB team will bring back more medals to that stadium than West Ham have seen in their entire history.”
Coe frustrated by West Ham stance
The tweet was accompanied by a series of laughing and heart emojis but there is no doubt Hodgkinson’s view would be shared among the athletics community.
London is not the only bid under consideration with Rome, Munich and Nairobi all interested.
Coe said yesterday: “All I would say is that I would hope that there is a recognition that outside the Olympic Games and the World Cup, this is the third-largest sporting gathering in a four-year cycle. I do ask cities to try to accommodate us. There has to be a recognition that it’s a big global sport. This is not a gimme to anyone.”
West Ham are enduring a difficult season and remain in the heart of the battle to remain in the top flight.
They have won six major trophies in their history with the most recent coming in 2023 when they clinched the Conference League.
