Haile Gebrselassie in the 1998 Memorial Van Damme (© Getty Images)
Haile Gebrselassie ran a 5000m world record in Helsinki’s Olympic stadium last summer at this meeting and in 1999 he will attempt the 3000m world mark.
Of the other highlights, Ato Boldon will take on Frankie Fredericks in the 200m.
At this Grand Prix II meeting, the 1998 world number one, Finland’s Aki Parviainen - who twice threw over 90 metres (the world’s two longest throws) - will face triple European Champion Steve Backley of Great Britain.
At the 1998 meeting, Parviainen (1st with 87.91m) got the better of Backley (2nd with 87.48m). However, subsequently in the year, the tables were turned and the Englishman won both the European Championships (in which Parviainen was a disappointing 9th) and the IAAF World Cup titles.
Interestingly though, while Parviainen finished 1998 ranked as world number one with Backley second, on a head to head basis the two throwers ended the season equal, with four victories against each other.
In 1999, while Backley has yet to enter competition, Parviainen has already signalled his readiness for this World Championship year with an impressive opening 87.55m throw in Joensuu last Sunday. So the competition between these two javelin masters in Helsinki’s Olympic stadium on June 10th looks set to be an interesting pointer to the coming season.
As well as Parviainen and Backley, the rest of the field assembled for the men’s javelin is also of the highest quality, with the European silver medallist Mick Hill (GBR) and the 4th, 5th & 6th placers from Budapest, Makarov (RUS) Laukkanen (FIN) and Roberson (GBR) among those due to compete.
