After staging one of the best and most-talked about Paralympic Games in history this summer, London was announced as the host city of the 2017 IPC Athletics World Championships.
The Championships will be held in July 2017 at the Olympic Stadium, just a month before the same venue plays host to the IAAF World Athletics Championships. London will become the first city to host the two Championships side-by-side, recreating the summer of sport which transformed the British capital in the summer of 2012.
The Greater London Authority will organise the Championships, partnering with UK Athletics, ParalympicsGB, the London Borough of Newham, the London Legacy Development Corporation and the University of East London.
During the bid process, London Mayor Boris Johnson used the success of London 2012 to argue for the return of international Paralympic competition to the British capital, which receives 26 million overnight visitors annually.
London’s international accessibility, infrastructure, logistics, expertise and enthusiasm to host global events was honed during the 2012 Games. The city hosted the first-ever sold out Paralympics this summer, staging one of the most accessible Paralympic events ever and establishing the foundation of a legacy for years to come after what IPC President Sir Philip Craven hailed the “best Games” in history.
In total 1,134 athletes took part in track and field events in London this past summer, setting 102 world and 139 Paralympic records. Of the 141 countries that participated in athletics, 75 won at least one medal. The athletics competition at the Paralympics drew sold-out crowds of 80,000 for every session and attracted more than a billion cumulated television viewers worldwide at what is now one of the world’s most well-known stadiums.
The IPC Athletics World Championships are the largest single-sport competition for athletes with an impairment in the world and take place on a bi-annual basis.
The 2011 edition of the Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand, and welcomed 1,151 athletes from more than 70 countries, generating a national economic impact of approximately $19.6 million, including spending outside Christchurch.
The next edition of the event will take place in from 19-28 July 2013 in Lyon, France, where nearly 1,300 athletes from 90 countries are expected to take part, including a majority of the medal winners from London 2012
