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Liverpool, Birmingham should use London Stadium for Commonwealth Games – UK Athletics chief

Ed Warner, the chairman of the UK Athletics governing body, feels London Stadium should host athletics competitions during the 2022 Commonwealth Games should Liverpool or Birmingham be successful in their bids for the multi-sport event.

Both Liverpool and Birmingham are interested in bidding for the Games after the event was stripped from the South African city of Durban earlier this year amid long-running financial concerns. The Commonwealth Games Federation is also fielding interest from Australia, Canada and Malaysia.

The Liverpool and Birmingham bid teams have put forward detailed plans for a proposed Games in their respective cities. Warner, however, has urged the bid teams to pursue the option of staging athletics competitions in the south of the country at the showpiece London Stadium.

The venue was built for the 2012 Olympic Games and has just successfully hosted the World Athletics Championships. Warner feels the facility would be suited for hosting events during the 2022 Games – should Liverpool or Birmingham be successful in bidding.

“The first one to make the call has the knockout bid,” Warner told BBC Radio Five Live. “If I was leader of the Liverpool or Birmingham bid I would be ringing (London Mayor) Sadiq Khan and say ‘you know what, can we have the athletics in London and we will do everything else?’”

He added: “I spoke to a civil servant, who is heavily involved in the Commonwealth Games bid, he said he was going to be ‘be rinsing the treasury for half a billion pounds to put on an English Commonwealth Games.’

“My answer is, save a load of money, use this amazing facility, which is the best in the world and make it an English bid.”

Liverpool’s bid includes plans to stage athletics events at the future home stadium of Premier League football club Everton. The 12,700-seat Alexander Stadium in Birmingham would stage athletics competitions if the West Midlands city were to be successful.

A formal decision on a UK bid will be made in September.

Image: Gerard McGovern