The World Athletics Championships are heading to Africa for the first time as Kenya's capital Nairobi was confirmed Tuesday as host of the 2029 edition of track and field's premier event.
Kenya has long been a superpower in distance running and is second on the all-time worlds medal table behind only the United States. The championships return to Germany in 2031 after a 22-year wait, with Munich hosting.
“Taking our championships to Africa for the first time will be historic,” World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said as he announced the decision following the Ultimate Championship in Hungary. “Athletics is woven into the fabric of Kenya.”
Salim Mvurya, the Kenyan government minister responsible for sports, said “the world will come to a country where running is more than competition, it is our national story.”
Coe added World Athletics research had shown Kenya was the most passionate market for track and field among those surveyed. The championships will use a stadium that's already being upgraded for Kenya co-hosting soccer's Africa Cup of Nations next year.
“It was important that the World Athletics Championships should come to Africa when we had the right host, the right bid and the right circumstances. Nairobi has demonstrated emphatically that this is their moment,” Coe said.
The decision brings recognition of Kenya's status as a track nation, but is likely to bring extra scrutiny of the East African nation's history of top runners being busted for doping.
Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepng'etich is serving a three-year doping ban after joining the many elite-level Kenyan runners suspended over the past decade.
The 2031 championships could be a boost for Munich's campaign to host the Olympics in future. It's never hosted track worlds before, though Germany's capital Berlin did in 2009 and Stuttgart hosted in 1993.
London was unsuccessful with a bid for 2029 after last hosting in 2017, while Rome was the other losing candidate.
After the new Ultimate Championship brought big cash prizes instead of medals for an invitation-only field of track's biggest names, it's back to the traditional worlds format next year in Beijing.
Next year's world championships run for 10 days, against three for the new Ultimate Championship, with a full slate of events. That means including competitions like the men's triple jump, shot put, walks and marathon which weren't on the schedule in Budapest last week.
The Ultimate Championship doesn't yet have a host confirmed for its next edition in 2028, but Coe said there was “a lot of interest” following the inaugural event.
“I think the proof of concept worked pretty well. There are things that we will obviously look at and adjust,” Coe said. “There’s already heightened interest in wanting to stage those championships.”
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe speaks during a news conference marking the formal opening of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO fighter jets shot down a drone that entered Lithuanian airspace overnight, officials said Tuesday, less than a day after NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that strikes close to the alliance's territory would drive the trans-Atlantic organization to increase its support for Kyiv.
The drone was downed near the village of Pratkūnai in the Kaišiadorys district, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of the country's capital, Vilnius, and near the Kaunas Reservoir, Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center said Tuesday.
Lithuania’s military said that the incident marked the first time that a drone had been shot down in the country’s airspace. Authorities didn’t comment on the drone’s origin or purpose, saying the incident needed further investigation.
The incursion follows a speech by Rutte on Monday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he said that strikes “close to NATO territory” showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “desperation and also his desire to sow fear and terror.”
“Russia is growing increasingly reckless as it continues its terrible war against Ukraine,” Rutte said. He also pledged to bolster the 32-nation alliance's own defenses along its long eastern border with Russia.
The menace of drones has repeatedly loomed over the skies of Lithuania, which shares borders with Belarus, a key ally of Moscow, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Antanas Matutis, commander of the Lithuanian air force, said that the wreckage had been found, and the drone was “likely” carrying explosives.
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the crisis center, told Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT that the drone most likely entered from Belarus. It remained in Lithuanian airspace for about 30 minutes and flew along the outskirts of populated areas before being intercepted, he said.
In a separate encounter between Russian and NATO forces Tuesday, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said that a Danish air force helicopter had been fired upon with flares in connection with “routine photographic coverage” of a Russian frigate in waters off the port of Gedser in the Baltic Sea.
“This is completely unacceptable,” the ministry wrote on X, saying that the Russian ambassador was summoned over the incident.
Meanwhile, Russian drone strikes continued across Ukraine following a social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure.
Trump didn't offer further details on the purported agreement, and Russia didn't immediately comment on Trump’s post. Previous efforts to broker even a partial ceasefire have repeatedly fallen apart within hours, with both sides accusing each other of violations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Kyiv was “ready to support de-escalation” if the United States could ensure “Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war.”
But Zelenskyy said in a statement on Tuesday that Moscow had continued to attack Ukraine's energy sector, logistics and critical infrastructure, and that Kyiv had responded by striking an oil refinery in Syzran, a city in western Russia.
“There is no alternative to ending this war. And all forms of pressure on Russia must create the right diplomatic conditions,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Tuesday that Russian strikes on Kyiv had killed one person and wounded seven other people since the start of the day, with attacks carried out on the capital's gas stations.
Another two people were killed in separate Russian strikes in the Ukrainian cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
Elsewhere, Russian forces shot down 222 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack sparked several fires in the Russian city of Taganrog, regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said. He said on Telegram that two apartment buildings and three private homes had been damaged, as well as an educational institution, agricultural warehouses and a site belonging to Russian e-retailer Ozon.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv's forces had targeted a drone production facility in the city.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) corrects and removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo) CAPTION CORRECTION: corrects removes byline attribution
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Monaco's Foreign Minister Isabelle Berro-Amadei walks past the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Lithuanian soldiers are securing the area where Italian fighter jets during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission shot down a drone early this morning near Pratkunai village, Kaisiadorys district some 90km (55,9 miles) northwest of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
