The decision was largely expected as Beijing was the sole candidate after London withdrew its bid earlier this month because of uncertainty over the future of the 2012 Olympic Stadium.

“To help build up our sport and the culture of athletics in a country of 1.6 billion inhabitants is a great opportunity,” said IAAF President Lamine Diack. “As we sometimes say, China is not a country, it’s a continent. So this is a fantastic opportunity for our sport and for the sport in China.” Beijing will hold the 2015 event at the Bird’s Nest, the main stadium for the 2008 Olympics.

Beijing will be the fourth Asian city to host the world athletics championships after Tokyo in 1991, Osaka in 2007 and Daegu, South Korea, the venue for 2011.

Moscow will hold the 14th edition of the world’s third largest sporting event in 2013.

“Beijing hosted a very successful World Junior Championships for us in 2006 and then of course a very memorable Olympic Games in 2008,” Diack said. “So this provides a great opportunity to showcase the championships in the best possible light in China.” Liu Jingmin, Beijing’s vice mayor said the world championships will be the most important sporting competition in China since the Olympics and promised to deliver a state-of-the-art event “which will open a new chapter in championships’ standards.” Beijing organized numerous IAAF events in the past years including the world junior championships four years ago.

The city also hosts the Beijing marathon.

“We believe that our bid to host the highest profile athletics competition in the world will serve to further promote the development of athletic sports across the world,” said Chinese athletics federation chairman Duan Shijie.

Uncertainty over whether the track will be retained at the London stadium after the Olympics led the British government and UK Athletics to withdraw London’s bid to host the 2015 worlds.

Premier League clubs Tottenham and West Ham are the two final bidders to take over the stadium after the Games.

Tottenham’s application with American sports and entertainment giant AEG involves removing the track from the stadium while West Ham’s joint bid with local borough Newham will keep it in place.

London Olympic organizers had promised to keep athletics as a primary legacy of the stadium when they successfully bid for the games in 2005.