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Expressions of Interest for 2029 and 2031 World Para Athletics Championships open
WPA has initiated the process to identify candidates to stage the 2029 and 2031 Worlds, marking the first step in selecting future host cities 05 May 2026
World Para Athletics (WPA) has launched the Expressions of Interest phase for the 2029 and 2031 World Para Athletics Championships.
The purpose of the Expression of Interest application is to identify suitable candidates to host future edition of the World Championships. The process is open to the WPA membership, National Paralympic Committees and other institutional stakeholders interested in staging the events.
The deadline for applications is 25 September and more information is available here.
Next steps and the World Para Athletics timeline aspiration can be found below:
| 30 October 2026 | Deadline for WPA to review 2029 World Championships submissions |
| 13 November 2026 | WPA to notify 2029 World Championships shortlisted candidates they are entered into the next stage of the process |
| 30 November 2026 | Deadline for WPA to review 2031 World Championships submissions |
| 7 December 2026 | Stage 2 of engagement with 2029 World Championship shortlisted candidates begins |
| 11 December 2026 | WPA to notify 2031 World Championships shortlisted candidates they are entered into the next stage of the process |
| 11 January 2027 | Stage 2 of engagement with 2031 World Championship shortlisted candidates begins |
| 15 March 2027 | WPA review of stage 2 for 2029 World Championships shortlisted candidates begins |
| 16 April 2027 | WPA to notify preferred host candidates for 2029 World Championship and to enter into exclusive Hosting Agreement negotiations |
| 3 May 2027 | WPA review of stage 2 for 2031 World Championships shortlisted candidates begins |
| 30 June 2027 | WPA to notify preferred host candidates for 2031 World Championship and to enter into exclusive Hosting Agreement negotiations |
The World Para Athletics Championships is the largest single Para sporting event on the planet, bringing together around 1,300 athletes from over 100 nations competing in more than 180 medal events. The next edition of the World Championships will take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2027.
Beyond the sporting and economic impacts, the World Para Athletics Championships serve as a powerful platform to promote tangible and intangible societal change, particularly in relation to opportunities and improved accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Cities like Kobe, host of the 2024 Worlds, introduced school spectator programmes that brought 28,249 children and young people from 129 schools to the Championships.
For cities that have hosted major sporting events in the past – or plan to host them in the future – the World Para Athletics Championships also offer an opportunity to build on and sustain the legacy of those events. In 2017, London hosted the World Championships and brought record crowds back to the Olympic Stadium five years after the Paralympics.
Paris became the first host to stage the World Para Athletics Championships in the same city that would welcome the Games one year later, adopting a new approach to maximising visibility and partnership activations ahead of a major global event.
Over its history, the World Para Athletics Championships has travelled across three continents and been hosted by 12 cities:
1994 – Berlin, Germany
1998 – Birmingham, Great Britain
2002 – Lille/Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
2006 – Assen, Netherlands
2011 – Christchurch, New Zealand
2013 – Lyon, France
2015 – Doha, Qatar
2017 – London, Great Britain
2019 – Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2023 – Paris, France
2024 – Kobe, Japan
2025 – New Delhi, India
