Bidding

The original winning bid for the competition was for London but the cost to build the required stadium at Picketts Lock and host the event was deemed too expensive by the government. UK Athletics suggested to move the host city to Sheffield (using Don Valley Stadium), but the IAAF stated that having London as the host city was central to their winning the bid. The championships bidding process was reopened as a result. The United Kingdom's withdrawal as host was the first case for a major sporting event in a developed country since Denver's withdrawal as host of the 1976 Winter Olympics.^[1]

Helsinki was considered by many to be the outsider in the race to host the games with rival bids being presented by Berlin in Germany; Brussels in Belgium, Budapest in Hungary, Moscow in Russia and Rome in Italy.

Opening ceremony

Apocalyptica and Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the event over a heavy rainfall. Geir Rönning, Finland's Eurovision Song Contest 2005 entrant, sang "Victory" the official song of the 2005 IAAF World Championships.

Events

With the addition of the women's 3000 metres steeplechase to the schedule, that year's program of events was closer to parity for women and men. With the exception of the 50 km walk the women competed in practically the same events as the men. Two differences remaining from before, though, were the short hurdles race (100 metres for women vs. 110 metres for men), and the multi-event competition (heptathlon for women vs. decathlon for men).

Since the first World Championships in Helsinki 1983, seven new events have been added for women:

• 10000 metres, introduced in 1987
• 5000 metres, replaced 3000 metres in 1995
• triple jump, introduced in 1993
• 20 km walk introduced in 1999, replaced 10 km walk that first appeared in 1987
• pole vault, introduced in 1999
• hammer throw, introduced in 1999
• 3000 metres steeplechase, introduced in 2005

Track

2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009

More information Event, Gold ...

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m details	Justin Gatlin  United States	9.88 SB	Michael Frater  Jamaica	10.05	Kim Collins  Saint Kitts and Nevis	10.05
200 m details	Justin Gatlin  United States	20.04	Wallace Spearmon  United States	20.20	John Capel  United States	20.31 SB
	Justin Gatlin wins the 200 metres, becoming the second athlete to win a sprint double in a single World Championships (Maurice Greene was the first, in 1999). Tyson Gay finishes fourth (20.34) to complete an American 1-2-3-4, the first time any nation has achieved this in a world championship athletics event. Usain Bolt of Jamaica pulls a muscle at about 150 m into the race and finishes last.
400 m details	Jeremy Wariner  United States	43.93 WL	Andrew Rock  United States	44.35 PB	Tyler Christopher  Canada	44.44 NR
	Olympic champion Wariner wins easily, with his first time under 44 seconds.
800 m details	Rashid Ramzi  Bahrain	1:44.24 PB	Yuriy Borzakovskiy  Russia	1:44.51	William Yiampoy  Kenya	1:44.55
	Yuriy Borzakovskiy starts his trademark sprint finish at 200m to go, but was boxed in behind Mehdi Baala of France which allowed Rashid Ramzi to win his second gold in the championships.
1500 m details	Rashid Ramzi  Bahrain	3:37.88	Adil Kaouch  Morocco	3:38.00 SB	Rui Silva  Portugal	3:38.02
	This was the first 800–1500 m double in open global championship since New Zealand's Peter Snell achieved it at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Ramzi, near the front at the bell, kicked with 300 metres to go and made another decisive move with 200 to go.
5000 m details	Benjamin Limo  Kenya	13:32.55	Sileshi Sihine  Ethiopia	13:32.81	Craig Mottram  Australia	13:32.96
	A slow pace race, ending in a sprint for the line in the last lap. Defending champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya just misses out of the bronze. (13:33.04)
10,000 m details	Kenenisa Bekele  Ethiopia	27:08.33	Sileshi Sihine  Ethiopia	27:08.87	Moses Mosop  Kenya	27:08.96 PB
	The pace was slow for the first sixteen laps until Bekele surged to the front with a 62-second seventeenth lap, whittling the pack down to nine men. The pace would dawdle again, the ninth kilometre was the slowest since the first in 2:48, though the last one was run in a furious 2:29. The pack of nine was still together at the bell, although somewhat strung out. Bekele ran the last lap in 54 seconds, holding off the challenge of Mosop thanks to help from Sihine and Dinkessa, who boxed him on the penultimate straight. Bekele would then hold off a charge from Sihine, while Dinkessa faded to seventh due to his exertions.
Marathon details	Jaouad Gharib  Morocco	2:10:10	Christopher Isengwe  Tanzania	2:10:21 PB	Tsuyoshi Ogata  Japan	2:11:16 SB
	Gharib attacked just before 30 km mark, getting Italian Olympic champion Stefano Baldini with him. Baldini had cramps few kilometres later and he retired after 35 kilometres.
110 m hurdles details	Ladji Doucouré  France	13.07	Liu Xiang  China	13.08	Allen Johnson  United States	13.10
	In a very tight race, Frenchman Ladji Doucouré wins the 110 m hurdles, battling with Allen Johnson in the middle lanes and just crossing the line ahead of the fast finishing Liu Xiang.
400 m hurdles details	Bershawn Jackson  United States	47.30 PB	James Carter  United States	47.43 PB	Dai Tamesue  Japan	48.10 SB
	In driving rain, Dai Tamesue starts fast to take the early lead before being overtaken on the final bend. Bershawn Jackson shows better form in the final straight to stretch away from James Carter. Tamesue dives over the line for a bronze to edge out Kerron Clement of the USA who jogs over the line.
3000 m s'chase details	Saif Saaeed Shaheen  Qatar	8:13.31	Ezekiel Kemboi  Kenya	8:14.95	Brimin Kipruto  Kenya	8:15.30
	A comfortable race for Said Saaeed Shaheen as Ezekiel Kemboi fails to mount a serious challenge. Brimin Kipruto finishes fast to edge Brahim Boulami into fourth place by two hundredths of a second.
20 km walk details	Jefferson Pérez  Ecuador	1:18:35 SB	Paquillo Fernández  Spain	1:19:36	Juan Manuel Molina  Spain	1:19:44 PB
50 km walk details	Sergey Kirdyapkin  Russia	3:38:08 PB	Aleksey Voyevodin  Russia	3:41:25	Alex Schwazer  Italy	3:41:54 NR
	Sergey Kirdyapkin, the former junior world champion led from early on and secures the global title in a personal best time. At around the 20 km mark he was caught by Aleksey Voyevodin, but by 40 km Kirdyapkin had shaken off his fellow Russian, who went on to earn silver in 3:41.25. Italian Alex Schwazer powers through late on to claim the bronze in a national record 3:41.54. There were fourteen disqualifications, and seven athletes did not finish.
4 × 100 m details	France Ladji Doucouré Ronald Pognon Eddy De Lépine Lueyi Dovy Oudéré Kankarafou*	38.08 WL	Trinidad and Tobago Kevon Pierre Marc Burns Jacey Harper Darrel Brown	38.10 NR	Great Britain Jason Gardener Marlon Devonish Christian Malcolm Mark Lewis-Francis	38.27 SB
	The Great Britain team just beat Jamaica (38.28, SB) and Australia (38.32, SB) to bronze medal position. The United States' team does not participate, having bungled their first relay stick handoff in their qualification heat the previous day.
4 × 400 m details	United States Andrew Rock Derrick Brew Darold Williamson Jeremy Wariner Miles Smith* LaShawn Merritt*	2:56.91 WL	Bahamas Nathaniel McKinney Avard Moncur Andrae Williams Chris Brown Troy McIntosh*	2:57.32 NR	Jamaica Sanjay Ayre Brandon Simpson Lansford Spence Davian Clarke Michael Blackwood*	2:58.07 SB
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

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Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009

More information Event, Gold ...

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
High jump details	Yuriy Krymarenko  Ukraine	2.32	Víctor Moya  Cuba	2.29
			Yaroslav Rybakov  Russia
	Surprise winner. Eight athletes had cleared 2.29 m but on 2.32 m, 23 straight attempts were failed, until Krymarenko cleared with his last attempt.
Pole vault details	Rens Blom  Netherlands	5.80 SB	Brad Walker  United States	5.75	Pavel Gerasimov  Russia	5.65 SB
	In rain and heavy wind, Rens Blom wins the first Dutch gold medal at a World Championship.
Long jump details	Dwight Phillips  United States	8.60 WL	Ignisious Gaisah  Ghana	8.34 NR	Tommi Evilä  Finland	8.25
	Dwight Phillips takes the gold comfortably with his first jump, but the contest for the other medals is fierce. Tommi Evilä wins the host nation Finland's only medal of the championships, just beating Salim Sdiri of France and Joan Lino Martínez of Spain to third place.
Triple jump details	Walter Davis  United States	17.57 SB	Yoandri Betanzos  Cuba	17.42 SB	Marian Oprea  Romania	17.40
	Leevan Sands, of the Bahamas, is in bronze medal position for a long time, but is pipped to fourth by Marian Oprea's last jump.
Shot put details	Adam Nelson  United States	21.73 SB	Rutger Smith  Netherlands	21.29	Ralf Bartels  Germany	20.99
	After two Olympic and two World Championship silver medals, Adam Nelson finally took his first gold at the global level. Nelson would retroactively gain the 2004 Olympic gold after drug sample retesting disqualified the original gold medalist, but without a podium ceremony.
Discus throw details	Virgilijus Alekna  Lithuania	70.17 CR	Gerd Kanter  Estonia	68.57	Michael Möllenbeck  Germany	65.95
	Defending champion Virgilijus Alekna takes home the gold with the competition's only longer-than-70 m throw. Fellow Balt Gerd Kanter is the runner-up.
Hammer throw details	Vadim Devyatovskiy  Belarus	82.60	Szymon Ziółkowski  Poland	79.35 SB	Markus Esser  Germany	79.16
	Ivan Tsikhan (1st) was later disqualified for doping.
Javelin throw details	Andrus Värnik  Estonia	87.17	Andreas Thorkildsen  Norway	86.18	Sergey Makarov  Russia	83.54
	Surprise winner Andrus Värnik takes Estonia's first gold medal at the World Championships, beating the reigning Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen by 99 cm. Finland's young star Tero Pitkämäki throws below his usual level in the heavy rain, and finishes fourth (81.27 m).
Decathlon details	Bryan Clay  United States	8732 WL	Roman Šebrle  Czech Republic	8521	Attila Zsivoczky  Hungary	8385
	Aleksandr Pogorelov just loses the bronze after the 1500 m.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

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Track

2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009

More information Event, Gold ...

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m details	Lauryn Williams  United States	10.93	Veronica Campbell  Jamaica	10.95 SB	Christine Arron  France	10.98
	Lauryn Williams obtains a surprise victory beating the favourite Christine Arron that finished only third behind also Veronica Campbell.
200 m details	Allyson Felix  United States	22.16	Rachelle Boone-Smith  United States	22.31	Christine Arron  France	22.31 SB
	Veronica Campbell ran a terrible bend (she runs out of her lane) and finished fourth.
400 m details	Tonique Williams-Darling  Bahamas	49.55 SB	Sanya Richards  United States	49.74	Ana Guevara  Mexico	49.81
	In a high quality final (despite heavy rainfall), Tonique Williams-Darling overtakes Sanya Richards just before the finish.
800 m details	Zulia Calatayud  Cuba	1:58.82	Hasna Benhassi  Morocco	1:59.42	Tatyana Andrianova  Russia	1:59.60
	Former world champion Maria de Lurdes Mutola comes fourth.
1500 m details	Tatyana Tomashova  Russia	4:00.35 SB	Olga Yegorova  Russia	4:01.46	Bouchra Ghezielle  France	4:02.45
	Yuliya Chizhenko finished second in 4:00.93, but she was disqualified for obstructing Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain, therefore Olga Yegorova gets the silver and Bouchra Ghezielle of France gets the bronze.
5000 m details	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	14:38.59 CR	Meseret Defar  Ethiopia	14:39.54	Ejegayehu Dibaba  Ethiopia	14:42.47
	Tirunesh Dibaba becomes the first woman to win the 5000 m and 10000 m at the same championships. Also, as in the 10000 m race, the winner's elder sister Ejegayehu Dibaba takes the bronze, stepping onto an entirely Ethiopian podium. Ethiopia claim the first four places, the second time that a country has ever achieved this (after the USA Men's 200m above).
10,000 m details	Tirunesh Dibaba  Ethiopia	30:24.02	Berhane Adere  Ethiopia	30:25.41 SB	Ejegayehu Dibaba  Ethiopia	30:26.00
	Fascinating race with Paula Radcliffe, using the race as preparation for the marathon, setting most of the pace before her lack of competitive 10k races this season sees her drop back with three laps to go. The three medal winners shows amazing acceleration with one lap to go, Berhane Adere kicking first but quickly covered by Tirunesh Dibaba with elder sister Ejegayehu Dibaba unable to match their pace. Tirunesh kicks again and goes past Adere with 250 metres to go to claim the gold. Reigning Olympic champion Xing Huina cannot cope with the acceleration and finishes fourth.
Marathon details	Paula Radcliffe  Great Britain	2:20:57 CR	Catherine Ndereba  Kenya	2:22:01 SB	Constantina Tomescu  Romania	2:23:19
	Paula Radcliffe sets the pace of the race, leading all the way from start to finish. Constantina Tomescu is able to keep up with Radcliffe the longest, but begins to fall behind after the 25 km mark and at the end finds herself overtaken by the defending champion Catherine Ndereba. Derartu Tulu finishes fourth.
100 m hurdles details	Michelle Perry  United States	12.66	Delloreen Ennis-London  Jamaica	12.76	Brigitte Foster-Hylton  Jamaica	12.76
	A dramatic race, as Olympic champion Joanna Hayes leads but loses her balance after the second last hurdle, runs into the last hurdle, and comes last.
400 m hurdles details	Yuliya Pechonkina  Russia	52.90 WL	Lashinda Demus  United States	53.27 PB	Sandra Glover  United States	53.32 PB
	Yuliya Pechonkina wins the gold. The USA appeals after Pechonkina appears to have not jumped over the first hurdle correctly, but the appeal fails.
3000 m s'chase details	Dorcus Inzikuru  Uganda	9:18.24 CR	Yekaterina Volkova  Russia	9:20.49 PB	Jeruto Kiptum  Kenya	9:26.95 NR
	Dorcus Inzikuru wins Uganda's first ever gold medal in the World Championships
20 km walk details	Olimpiada Ivanova  Russia	1:25:41 WL	Ryta Turava  Belarus	1:27:05 NR	Susana Feitor  Portugal	1:28:44 SB
4 × 100 m relay details	United States Angela Daigle Muna Lee Me'Lisa Barber Lauryn Williams	41.78 WL	Jamaica Daniele Browning Sherone Simpson Aleen Bailey Veronica Campbell Beverly McDonald*	41.99 SB	Belarus Yulia Nestsiarenka Natalya Sologub Alena Nevmerzhitskaya Oksana Dragun	42.56 NR
4 × 400 m relay details	Russia Yuliya Pechonkina Olesya Krasnomovets Natalya Antyukh Svetlana Pospelova Tatyana Firova* Olesya Zykina*	3:20.95	Jamaica Shericka Williams Novlene Williams Ronetta Smith Lorraine Fenton	3:23.29 SB	Great Britain Lee McConnell Donna Fraser Nicola Sanders Christine Ohuruogu	3:24.44 SB
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

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Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

2001 | 2003 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009

More information Event, Gold ...

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
High jump details	Kajsa Bergqvist  Sweden	2.02 WL	Chaunte Howard  United States	2.00 PB	Emma Green  Sweden	1.96 PB
	The weather conditions during final were not the best, and may well have hampered performances. Kajsa Bergqvist showed what willpower and dedication can achieve, as she claimed her first world championship gold medal after clearing 2.02m with only one foul in her entire series of jumps despite being having only recovered from injury within the past few months. Newcomer Chaunte Howard was the only real threat to Kajsa, and a big surprise, seemingly to herself as much as to the spectators. Her respectable jump technique and result make her someone to keep an eye on in the future. Swede Emma Green continued her quick rise to the elite level, taking the bronze in her first ever major championships.
Pole vault details	Yelena Isinbayeva  Russia	5.01 WR	Monika Pyrek  Poland	4.60	Pavla Hamáčková  Czech Republic	4.50
	Already having secured her victory by doing the competition's only 4.70 m jump, Yelena Isinbayeva breaks her own world record from three weeks ago by 1 centimetre.
Long jump details	Tianna Madison  United States	6.89 PB	Eunice Barber  France	6.76	Yargelis Savigne  Cuba	6.69
	An unexpected win for Tianna Madison, as Tatyana Kotova finishes second for the third World Outdoor Championships in a row. In 2013 Kotova's drug test sample from this event had been retested and found to be positive.[8]
Triple jump details	Trecia Smith  Jamaica	15.11 WL	Yargelis Savigne  Cuba	14.82 PB	Anna Pyatykh  Russia	14.78
	Trecia Smith makes the three longest jumps in the final to take the gold. Yargelis Savigne takes silver in her first international competition with Anna Pyatykh third. Pre-event favourite Tatyana Lebedeva from Russia, who would go on to be the sole winner of the 2005 Golden League jackpot, did not take part because of injury.
Shot put details	Olga Ryabinkina  Russia	19.64	Valerie Vili  New Zealand	19.62	Nadine Kleinert  Germany	19.07
	Twenty-year-old Valerie Vili earns a surprise bronze, as Nadzeya Ostapchuk wins her first Outdoor World Championships Gold. In March 2013 the IAAF reported that Ostapchuk's drug test sample from this event had been retested and found to be positive.[6] Her result was subsequently annulled.[9]
Discus throw details	Franka Dietzsch  Germany	66.56 SB	Natalya Sadova  Russia	64.33	Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová  Czech Republic	63.19
	Dominating the competition in her second podium performance over the course of eight World Championships, Franka Dietzsch gets the gold medal, as she did in Sevilla six years ago.
Hammer throw details	Yipsi Moreno  Cuba	73.08	Tatyana Lysenko  Russia	72.46	Manuela Montebrun  France	71.41
	The original winner, Olga Kuzenkova of Russia was stripped of the gold medal after failing drugs tests revision in 2013. The rest of the competitors were elevated by one position accordingly.
Javelin throw details	Osleidys Menéndez  Cuba	71.70 WR	Christina Obergföll  Germany	70.03 AR	Steffi Nerius  Germany	65.96
	A high-quality contest where Olympic champion Osleidys Menéndez sets a new world record whereas Christina Obergföll sets a new European record.
Heptathlon details	Carolina Klüft  Sweden	6887 SB	Eunice Barber  France	6824	Margaret Simpson  Ghana	6375
	(13.19 - 1.82 - 15.02 - 23.70 - 6.87 - 47.20 - 2:08.89)		(12.94 - 1.91 - 13.20 - 24.01 - 6.75 - 48.24 - 2:11.94)		(13.55 - 1.79 - 13.33 - 24.94 - 6.09 - 56.36 - 2:17.02)
	A close heptathlon saw Eunice Barber take the early lead after winning the 100 mH and HJ. A foot injury hampered Carolina Klüft who jumped 12 cm below her season best in the HJ, however, she struck back in the SP with a PB. After the first day, Barber had only a 2-point lead over Klüft. Day two started with the LJ, where Klüft was expected to jump poorly due to her injury. If she had problems she hid them well, winning with an SB. In the JT Margaret Simpson set a new PB with an impressive 56.36 m, this would propel her to Ghana's first ever world championship medal. Before the final event, Klüft's lead was 18 points and Barber needed to beat her by 1.5 sec in the 800 m to win the gold medal. Barber stuck to Kelly Sotherton, the eventual winner of the race, until the last 200 m but Klüft timed her race perfectly to beat Barber with another PB.
WR world record | AR area record | CR championship record | GR games record | NR national record | OR Olympic record | PB personal best | SB season best | WL world leading (in a given season)

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