Simone Biles of the United States performs on the beam during the apparatus finals at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, southern Germany, on Oct 13, 2019. (THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP)

TOKYO - The southern Japanese city of Kitakyushu will host the 2021 Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships, the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) announced on Sunday, the first time a city has hosted both in the same year.

The Artistic Gymnastics World Championships will take place from Oct 17 to 24, followed by the rhythmic competition starting two days later.

Kitakyushu will be the first city to host both the artistic and rhythmic gymnastic world championships in the same year

There have been questions over where next year's world championships were to be held, after Denmark withdrew from hosting the artistic competition in July.

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The championships take place annually, except during Olympic years.

The FIG made the announcement at a friendly gymnastics event in Tokyo, where athletes from Russia, China, Japan and the United States competed in what has been seen as a major trial run ahead of next year's postponed Olympics in the city.

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Japan has hosted gymnastics world championships on many occasions previously, most recently the 2011 artistic competition in Tokyo.