Lagos confirmed as host of 22nd African Athletics Championships

Lagos will be hosting the 22nd edition of the African Senior Athletics Championships, the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) has confirmed.

The state, known as the economic capital of the most populous black nation, will host the games between June 23 and 27, 2021 at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Surulere.

Lagos will be hosting the event for the second time in history, having hosted it 32 years ago during the sixth edition of the Championships.

Originally the Championships were scheduled for June 24 to 28, 2020 in the city of Algiers in Algeria, but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision to host the event in Lagos was spelt out in a statement issued in Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday after a meeting between Kalkaba Malboum, the President of the CAA and Sunday Dare, the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development in Nigeria.

The championships will be serving as the last qualifying event for African athletes ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

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“Issues relating to the hosting of the 21st African Athletics Championships in [Asaba] Nigeria were fully deliberated upon and modalities for a successful hosting of the Championships [in Lagos] were carefully mapped out,” read the statement

“Nigeria is poised to host the Championships in the megacity of Lagos from 23 June to 27 June, 2021, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, with auxiliary support to be provided at the National Stadium, Surulere and the Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, both in Lagos.

“The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development and the Confederation of African Athletics, are fully committed and working in synergy towards the delivery of a world-class Championships.

“In the coming days, more comprehensive details regarding the successful hosting of the Championships in Lagos, Nigeria, will be made public,” it added.

This will be the third time Nigeria will be hosting the Championships after Lagos (1989) and Asaba (2018) hosted the sixth and the 21st editions respectively.

Nigeria has now tied with Egypt as the two African countries to host the championships three times since the inaugural edition in 1979 in Dakar, Senegal.

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