Houston picked to host World Masters Athletics Championships in 2030 for athletes 35 and older

World Masters Athletics has picked Houston to be the host of its 2030 outdoor world championships.

The World Masters Athletics Championships, which is the top athletics events competition for athletes ages 35 and older, is scheduled for June 8-20, 2030.

This is the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority’s first major event bid following this summer’s World Cup, which local leaders have highlighted as a major success.

“It definitely caps quite the epic summer to be able to say that we’ve got another major international sporting event in Houston in the coming years,” said Ryan Walsh, CEO of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.

A delegation from the sports authority presented its bid Wednesday to the World Masters Athletics General Assembly in Daegu, South Korea. Chief operating officer Holly De Beer and director of event services James Megna led the bid presentation.

The process to that point had lasted more than a year with the organization making multiple visits to Houston, including one in June.

A confirmed full list of venues hasn’t been finalized but the primary locations will be the University of Houston’s Carl Lewis International Complex and Rice’s Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field.

“I felt really good going into the bid,” Walsh said. “I thought we had a really competitive edge on a lot of the areas so obviously cautiously optimistic at the beginning. And now I think it just shows that our hard work, our dedication and our team really made the difference.”

The championships, which are taking place right now in Daegu, regularly draw more than 8,000 athletes from more than 100 countries, according to the sports authority.

The championships feature track, field and road events. Each of those disciplines has different competitions based on the age of the competitor.

Three different U.S. cities have hosted previous the organization’s outdoor championships: Eugene, Ore., in 1989; Buffalo, N.Y., in 1995; and Sacramento, Calif., in 2011. Gainesville, Fla., hosted the indoor championships in 2025 and will do so again next year.

“Houston’s experience in delivering major international sporting events, together with the enthusiasm and commitment demonstrated throughout the bid process, gives us great confidence in what lies ahead,” World Masters Athletics president Margit Jungmann said in a statement. ‘We look forward to welcoming thousands of Masters athletes from around the world to Houston for an outstanding celebration of competition, friendship and lifelong sport.’

The 2030 World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships is the latest global event that the sports authority has landed.

In addition to co-hosting the World Baseball Classic and FIFA World Cup earlier this year, Houston is scheduled to host the UCI BMX Racing World Championships in 2028.

The city also is actively bidding on the 2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup and planning to bid on the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

“We have the capability, we have the experience, we have the team, we have the resources and we have the spirit,” Walsh said. “The World Cup demonstrated that very clearly.”

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This article originally published at Houston picked to host World Masters Athletics Championships in 2030 for athletes 35 and older.

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