Tokyo was named the host for the 2025 world athletics championships by the World Athletics Council on Thursday, beating out competition from Singapore, Nairobi and the Polish city of Silesia.
The competition will be held at the National Stadium, the main venue for last summer's Tokyo Olympics as Japan hosts the worlds for the third time, following Tokyo in 1991 and Osaka in 2007.
"Tokyo offered a compelling bid," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said after the governing body rated Japan highly for the way it ran past tournaments.
Coe raised the idea of Tokyo hosting the worlds during the Olympics, something that would require keeping the athletics track instead of removing it as planned to create a more financially viable soccer and rugby venue.
Japan's Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Shinsuke Suematsu said after a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he was now considering keeping the track where it is.
"(This news) is significant from the perspective of developing the legacy of the Tokyo Games," Suematsu said, without reference to questions of the stadium's use after the worlds.
"We are immensely proud that World Athletics has demonstrated its confidence and trust in Japan," said Mitsugi Ogata, the president of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations, which celebrates its centenary in 2025.
"We promise that the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo will be full of fans so it will become an unforgettable experience for the athletes and everyone involved."
Fans were denied entry to the National Stadium during the postponed Tokyo Games last summer due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The JAAF is hoping the event will be held in mid-September, while World Athletics is looking at late August.
