Barcelona, Doha, Eugene To Bid For 2019 IAAF World Championships

Barcelona, Doha and Eugene, U.S. "are all set to bid" for the 2019 Int'l Association of Athletics Federations World Championships, according to Duncan Mackay of INSIDE THE GAMES. Applications from the three cities "are expected to be confirmed at a two-day meeting of the IAAF's ruling Council, due to start in Senegalese capital Dakar." It "will be a second consecutive bid from Doha, the Qatari capital, which lost out to London in November 2011 in its campaign to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships." Doha will probably start as favorite, due to its financial strength, "but there will be strong pressure from within the IAAF Council" to take its flagship event to the U.S. for the first time since it was launched in '83 (INSIDE THE GAMES, 4/13).