World Athletics pulls the plug on 2025 Road Running Championships host

With only just over 200 days from the start of the 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships in San Diego, the governing body announced Wednesday they are now searching for a new host city.

Following detailed discussions between World Athletics and the Local Organising Committee of the World Athletics Road Running Championships San Diego 25, it has been agreed that the #WorldRunningChamps will no longer be held in San Diego in September as planned.

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) March 5, 2025

According to a press release, detailed discussions took place between World Athletics and the local organizing committee of San Diego 2025, resulting in the decision that the championships will no longer be held in San Diego in September as planned.

An industry source told Canadian Running that the organizing committee planned to rely on three mass races to fund a portion of the event. Their initial target was around 10,000 and 15,000 runners to sign up and run on the same course as the pros, yet fewer than 1,000 people registered.

In a statement, World Athletics said they are working with other potential hosts and expect to announce a new location shortly. “We would like to thank the San Diego team for their work over the last few months and hope we are able to find another opportunity to host a World Athletics event in San Diego in the future.”

Commenting on the decision, Tracy Sundlun, CEO of San Diego 2025, said: “We really looked forward to welcoming the running world to San Diego this September, but sadly, it is not to be at this time. For now, all of us here on Team San Diego will do everything we can to assist World Athletics in the seamless transition of the 2025 championships to a new venue.”

World Athletics staged the inaugural World Road Running Championships in 2023 in Riga, Latvia, and San Diego was supposed to be the successor, bringing the global event to North America. This year’s event was scheduled to be held between Sept. 26-28, a week after the conclusion of the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.

With the tight turnaround to find a new host, the governing body says the event will now be pushed back to late November, with the new host to be announced in the coming weeks.