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IAAF praises air-conditioning tech for Doha’s World Championships

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has hailed the introduction of a world-first air conditioning system at the stadium which will host its 2019 World Championships.

The IAAF’s showpiece event will be held at Khalifa International Stadium (pictured) in Doha, Qatar from September 27 to October 6 next year.

Doha will become the first city in the Middle East to host the Championships and a team of IAAF event and technical experts on Monday concluded an extensive site visit with the Local Organising Committee.

The dates for the 2019 Worlds have been set to avoid the extreme heat of the Qatari summer. Doha traditionally hosts its round of the IAAF Diamond League in May and the 2019 Worlds will mark by far the latest time of year that any of its 16 editions will have been held.

Khalifa International Stadium has undergone a redevelopment project to make it the most state-of-the-art purpose-built athletics stadium in the world. This includes the introduction of an air-conditioning system which seeks to ensure the stadium environment is at a comfortable temperature for athletes, officials and fans.

A demonstration of the project was the highlight of the IAAF visit and Council member Geoff Gardner, who led the federation’s team, said the delegation was impressed by the effectiveness of the stadium cooling system.

“I don’t know if the rest of the world really believed this was possible but it’s an amazing system and it shows that our championships can be conducted here in a good environment for the athletes,” Gardner said.

“There are always challenges preparing for a major event like this but if the Doha LOC rises to all those challenges as it has to this one, then our event is in safe hands.”

On Thursday, the LOC will release details of the ticketing programme and launch the event logo and branding to celebrate the one-year countdown to the 2019 IAAF World Championships.

Image: Doha 2019