It is third time lucky for London officials after the city yesterday staved off a strong challenge from Doha, Qatar, to land the right to host the 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships.

London managed 16 votes compared to Doha's 10 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Monaco yesterday; a result that in the end turned out to be a bit more comfortable than most observers were expecting.

This will be London's first time hosting what is considered the third-largest sporting event in the world and will follow instalments in Moscow (2013) and Beijing (2015).

This triumph comes after failed attempts in 2001 and 2015 to host the event and there were real doubts over whether or not the 2012 Olympic Games host would have better luck this time around after Doha dangled a massive US$236-million funding carrot at the IAAF decision-makers.

London's 45-minute presentation was led by IAAF vice-president Lord Sebastian Coe and included speeches from sports minister Hugh Robertson and London mayor Boris Johnson as well as a video message from Prime Minister David Cameron.

victory

Coe, who is also the chairman of the London 2012 team, while speaking at yesterday's post-announcement press conference, described the decision as a victory for track and field and was explicitly thankful that the Olympic legacy would be protected, as the country gets set to stage two of the three biggest sporting events in a five-year span.

"The maintenance of the track and field legacy was absolutely crucial."

"It's a great, great result and it's down to the clarity of the message that [UK Athletics chairman] Ed Warner and the team have been working on," Coe added.