The two candidates go head-to-head in Monte Carlo on Friday (November 11) and Warner says he is as confident as he can be that London will secure sufficient votes among members of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council, who will make the decision..

"When I look at the commercial appeal of London it stands head and shoulders above any other city," said Warner.

"If I was Doha I'd worry about London.

"Morning sessions and evening sessions in London will be full.

"If we win, we will be bringing the Championships back to Western Europe, the bread basket of the sport."

Warner conceded that the emerging territory ticket could play heavily in Doha's favour as it did with Qatar's victorious 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.

But, he said, perhaps not enough to swing the vote the Gulf state's way, especially given the heat problems.

"The Doha bid will be technically excellent," Warner told BBC Radio's Sportsweek programme.

"They put on a really good World Indoor Championships a couple of years ago and have a very powerful argument of taking the sport into virgin territories.

"We saw in Daegu at the World Championships effectively a new territory and it was deemed by the IAAF to be a big success."

"I think Doha will stand there and say 'we can bring the sport to North Africa, the Middle East and that it will be very appealing.

"[But] they have said they want to host the Championships later than usual, in September or October.

"They are going to air-condition the main stadium and I'm sure that will be an exciting innovation with the IAAF.

"But they'll struggle in some of the outer stadia events like the marathon.

"We have climate very much on our side. It will be in August in London, the heart of the athletics season."


Warner insists the chaos surrounding the future of the Olympic Stadium will have no adverse bearing on the finale vote.

"We have had intimate and lengthy discussions with the Council and management of the IAAF about the Stadium, including only this week sending them correspondence confirming the Government's commitment," he said.

"They've been hugely impressed by that.

"We've had overwhelming positive response.

"One of the arguments we've made is that all around the world at the moment there are not Governments in the current economic climate investing in sporting facilities, particularly athletics, on this scale.

"I hope that will be one of the key planks that brings it home on Friday.

"There is a big wedge of swing votes in the middle that won't have been decided yet.

"It could go either way but I'm very optimistic."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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