The 2008 IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final was awarded to Stuttgart (GER) by the IAAF Council at its meeting in August 2005 in Helsinki (FIN). The Final was also been held in Stuttgart in 2006 and 2007.
History
Click here to access the previous World Athletics Final competition websites: 2003 to 2007
General Information
Stuttgart has 600,000 inhabitants and is the capital of Baden-Württemberg district (Bundersland). It is located 510 km from Berlin, 150 from Frankfurt and 190 from Munich. The altitude is 260m above sea level. Baden-Württemberg is economically speaking one of the strongest regions of the Federal Republic of Germany. Stuttgart is firstly known as the automobile city, with the 2 cars engineers Daimler and Benz who were both the inventors of the modern automobile industry (in 1886). Another internationally very well known brand of Stuttgart is Porsche, which was founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche.
Venue
The venue for competition is the renovated Gottlieb Daimler Stadium. The track has 9 lanes, the surface brand is Rekortan and was laid down in 1992. A re-toping of the track in green took place once the Soccer World Cup ended, end July 2006, as an IAAF Class 1 Certificate was needed for the WAF.
The area for spectators contains 54,000 seats.
Qualification
The World Athletics Final is closely linked to the IAAF World Athletics Tour, because athletes qualify for the Final by scoring points on the Tour throughout the year. The World Athletics Tour (WAT) is composed of 25 Permit Meetings, divided into two levels. The first comprises the IAAF Golden League and Super Grand Prix, and the second level, the Grand Prix meetings, with each IAAF Continental Association represented by at least one WAT meeting.
Important Note - the meeting in Shanghai, China which took place on 28 September 2007, was added to the World Athletics Tour, and for qualification purposes is part of the 2008 World Athletics Tour.
After the last World Athletics Tour meeting of the season (Zagreb, CRO, 9 Sep 2008), the 7 top Athletes per each event (11 athletes for races of 1500m and over) who have the highest number of points from their best 5 results (4 for throws) - will qualify automatically for the World Athletics Final. The IAAF reserves the right to invite a maximum of 1 wild-card Athlete per event.
It is a condition that athletes have scored points in at least 3 meetings, and in case of a tie the athlete with best seasonal best qualify for the Final. There are also a number of Area Permit Meetings at which points can be scored for the World Athletics Final.
IAAF World Athletics Final – Qualification Points Scoring System
At each WAT meeting, points are allocated to the best 8 athletes in each event (12 for middle distances):
IAAF Golden League & Super Grand Prix
1. 20 pts
2. 16 pts
3. 14 pts
4. 12 pts
5. 10 pts
6. 8 pts
7. 6 pts
8. 4 pts
IAAF Grand Prix
1. 10 pts
2. 8 pts
3. 7 pts
4. 6 pts
5. 5 pts
6. 4 pts
7. 3 pts
8. 2 pts
For middle distances (1500m and above), the athletes finishing 9th to 12th will also score points:
IAAF Golden League & Super Grand Prix: 3 pts
IAAF Grand Prix: 1 pt
If an athlete equals a World record, he/she will be awarded a bonus of 3 points; if he/she improves the World record, the bonus will be 6 points.
In addition to the WAT meetings, athletes can also score qualifying points for the World Athletics Final in a number of Area Permit Meetings (APM-Q):
These points are:
1. 6 pts
2. 4 pts
3. 2 pts
4. 1 pts
NOTE - Throwing events: As agreed by IAAF Council in December 2007: at Area Permit Meetings (APM-Q) the throwing events will now have the same qualifying points as at IAAF Grand Prix meets.
Events
36 events are staged: 18 Men and 18 Women:
Men: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 3000mSC, 110mH, 400mH, HJ, PV, LJ, TJ, SP, DT, HT, JT.
Women: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 3000mSC, 100mH, 400mH, HJ, PV, LJ, TJ, SP, DT, HT, JT.
Timetable
to be advised
Prize Money paid by IAAF
1st US$30,000, 2nd US$20,000, 3rd US$12,000; 4th US$7000; 5th US$5000; 6th US$4000; 7th US$3000; 8th US$2000.
Athletes competing in 1500m, 5000m, 3000m, 3000m SC who finish from 9th to 12th place will receive US $1000 each.
Any athlete who surpasses a World Record in the World Athletics Final will be awarded US$100,000.
Organising Member Federation
Deutscher Leichtathletik Verband (DLV)
Alsfelder Strasse 27
64289 Darmstadt
Tel.: + 49 6151 770830
Fax: + 49 6151 770811
email: Frank.Hensel@leichtathletik.de
web: www.leichtathletik.de
President: Clemens Prokop
General Secretary: Frank Hensel
Local Organising Committee
in.Stuttgart Veranstaltungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
Am Kochenhof 16 Tel.: + 49 711 2589 130
70192 Stuttgart Fax: + 49 711 2589 133
email: Rolf.Schneider@in.stuttgart.de
Chairman: Clemens Prokop
Vice Chairman: Andreas Kroll
Vice Chairman: Jürgen Scholz
General Secretary: Rolf Schneider