Despite its air pollution issues, Beijing will remain a favorable contender for the 2022 Winter Olympics if it hosts the IAAF World Championships successfully next year, a top IAAF official said.

When the 2014 Beijing Marathon kicked off on Sunday in heavy haze, which had many runners wearing face masks, concerns over air pollution jeopardizing the Chinese capital's prospects for the 2022 bid were raised among the public, including Helmut Digel, council member of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

"That's certainly a problem. But pollution is a problem in all industrial societies, not only in China," Digel told China Daily during the IAAF Coordination Commission's visit to Beijing to examine the city's preparations for the 2015 IAAF World Championships.