Posted: July 7, 2005

Athletics: Two Months To Go To Monaco 2005 - World Athletics Final

Monte-Carlo - Outside of the World Championships and Olympic Games, the IAAF World Athletics Final is the most star-studded fixture on the global athletics calendar.

The start-list of the World Athletics Final is decided according to the IAAF World Ranking in each event, and with athletes who are in the top 7 positions (11 positions for the races of 1500m and over) in each event automatically qualifying, the third edition of the IAAF World Athletics Final will be filled by the very best practitioners of our sport.

Due to stadium restrictions in Monaco, the Hammer Throw competitions will take place in Szombathely, Hungary, on 3 September, while the remaining programme of events are held in Monaco on Friday 9 and Saturday 10 September 2004.

The first two years of the IAAF World Athletics Final have emphatically borne witness to the quality of the competition, as across the 35 events (18 men’s events / 17 women’s events – there was no women’s 3000m Steeplechase; the event will appear for the first time this summer) the Final attracted in 2003, 30 individual Paris World Champions, and in 2004, 21 individual Athens Olympic gold medallists.

The World Athletics Final is the pinnacle of not just the TDK Golden League and Grand Prix season but of the entire Athletics year, and in September 2005 it will be the showcase for many newly crowned World Champions from Helsinki.

As was the case in the last two summers, the conclusion of the final day’s competition in Monaco will also be topped-out in appropriate style with the staging of the prestigious International Athletics Foundation Gala in Monaco, where the Athlete of the Year awards will be announced.

Last year, the titles went to Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) and Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), the Olympic champions and World record holders for respectively, the women’s Pole Vault and men’s 10,000m. Quite appropriately, both athletes were also the Overall IAAF World Ranked athletes.

 IAAF World Athletics Final
Szombathely, HUN, 3 September 2005 (Hammer competitions)
Monaco, MON, 9 and 10 September 2005