Six months to go until China's first World Athletics Indoor Championships

Exactly half a year from last Saturday and five years after the first cancellation due to COVID in 2020, the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 2025 will get underway from 21-23 March, marking the first ever edition of the event to be held in China.

China has already hosted almost every type of World Athletics Series event, including the World Championships, the World Cross Country Championships, the World U20 Championships, the World Half Marathon Championships and the World Race Walking Team Championships. In 2025, the world's most populous nation will also add the World Athletics Relays to its collection. 

Nanjing, a city of 9.3 million people, hosted the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games and was originally scheduled to host the World Indoor Championships in 2020, but the event was postponed several times due to the swine flu pandemic. 

The Jiangsu provincial capital was originally scheduled to host the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2020, 2021 and 2023, but they were all postponed due to China's COVID-19 pandemic regulations. The 2022 edition was eventually held in Belgrade, Serbia, and the last in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, in 2024. Torun, Poland, will organise the following edition in 2026.

"We have offered Nanjing the 2025 edition because we are mindful of the extensive preparations made by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and we want to avoid potential financial losses for all parties. I would like to thank the Chinese Athletics Association and the LOC for their cooperation," said World Athletics President Sebastian Coe four years ago. This time he has put this words into action. 

The purpose-built facility, a gymnasium in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Sports Park known as Nanjing's Cube, is the first ever venue in China to meet all the requirements for hosting the World Indoor Championships and will be the centrepiece. 

Nanjing has established itself as a sporting city in recent years, hosting a number of international, national and provincial events. The National Indoor Athletics Grand Prix, the China Athletics Street Circuit, and the Nanjing Marathon have all boosted the interest in athletics in the city. 

More than 500 athletes from around 120 nations are expected to compete for medals in 26 events over the three days. The qualifying period began on 1 September and will run until 9 March 2025. The entry standards were published at the end of July, a few days before the start of the Paris 2024 athletics competition. 

China has won 18 medals in the history of the World Athletics Indoor Championships and has only three champions: Dong Bin in the men's triple jump at Portland 2016, former Olympic champion Liu Xiang in the men's 60m hurdles at Valencia 2008 and Sui Xinmei in the women's shot put at Seville 1991.