DAEGU, South Korea, (Reuters) – Budapest has withdrawn its candidacy for the 2017 world athletics championships, leaving a three-way fight between London, Barcelona and Doha.
The governing International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), in a statement after a council meeting in Daegu on Monday, did not say why the Hungarian capital had pulled out of the running.
Spain had previously expressed an interest without deciding which city would be the country’s candidate.
The hosts will be selected by the IAAF Council at a meeting in Monaco in November after the final list of official candidates is announced on Sept. 1.
Daegu is hosting the championships this month with Moscow and Beijing following in 2013 and 2015.
London’s bid has been clouded by a row over the 2012 Olympic Stadium, with Premier League soccer club Tottenham Hotspur seeking a judicial review over the decision to allow West Ham United to take over the facility after next year’s Games.
However, London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe, an IAAF vice-president who is in Daegu, indicated this month that the bid will go ahead with full support from the British government and London mayor Boris Johnson.