The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held between 27 September and 6 October 2019 in Doha, Qatar, at the renovated multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium, but reduced to 21,000 available seats. 1,772 athletes from 206 teams competed in 49 athletics events over the ten-day competition, comprising 24 events each for men and women, plus a mixed relay. There were 43 track and field events, 4 racewalking events, and 2 marathon road running events. The racewalking and marathon events were held in Doha Corniche. It was the first edition of the competition under its modified name, having previously been known as the World Championships in Athletics, and the last held before the IAAF assumed its new identity as World Athletics. It was also the first time the competition was in the Middle East and also the first time it ended in October. Due to the hot climate, there were no morning sessions and events were held in the late afternoon onward. Long-distance road events were scheduled to start around midnight local time. For the first time, sponsors of national teams were permitted to appear on the kit that the athletes compete in. Some athletes competing in Doha criticised the lack of spectators, the flat atmosphere, the heat, and the timing of events, and also questioned why Doha was awarded the championships at all; despite this, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe described the 2019 Championships as the best in history, in terms of the quality of performances produced by the athletes. Three world records were set, and six championships records were broken. A total of 43 nations reached the medal table, and 68 nations had an athlete with a top eight finish. Based on the IAAF scoring tables, the best male and female performers were men's shot put gold medallist Joe Kovacs, and women's long jump gold medalist Malaika Mihambo. Organisation Host selection Three cities entered the bidding process to host the event. Assessment of the bids was carried out by the IAAF Evaluation Commission, which consisted of three IAAF Council Members (IAAF Vice President Sebastian Coe, Abby Hoffman and Katsuyuki Tanaka), three IAAF Office members (Essar Gabriel, Nick Davies and Paul Hardy), public relations staff from Dentsu (Ryo Wakabayashi) as well as marketing staff from Athletics