2005 World Championships in Athletics

Helsinki Olympic Stadium at the opening day of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.

Contestants of the men's 20 km race walking event, seen in Helsinki's Mannerheimintie road.

The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland (August 6, 2005 – August 14, 2005), the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of which were included as exhibition events.

Background

With the addition of the women's 3000 metres steeplechase to the schedule, this 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 1991
• 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

The games were originally set to be staged in London, England but wrangling within the government saw them unable to agree to build the required stadium and they therefore forfeited their chance of being hosts.

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.

Men's results

Track

2001 |2003 |2005 |2007 |2009 |

Event:	Gold:		Silver:		Bronze:
100 m	Justin Gatlin United States	9.88 SB	Michael Frater Jamaica	10.05	Kim Collins Saint Kitts and Nevis	10.05
	This year's favourite, Justin Gatlin takes home a clear victory.
200 m	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	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	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 too late to mount an effective challenge to Rashid Ramzi, who wins his second gold in the championships.
1500 m	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 Rome Olympics in 1964. Ramzi, near the front at the ball, kicked with 300 metres to go and made another decisive move with 200 to go.
5000 m	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	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	Jaouad Gharib Morocco	2:10:10	Christopher Isegwe 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 H	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 H	Bershawn Jackson United States	47.30 (PB)	James Carter United States	47.43 (PB)	Dai Tamesue Japan	48.10 (PB)
	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 SC	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	Jefferson Pérez Ecuador	1:18:35 SB	Francisco Javier Fernandez Spain	1:19:36	Juan Manuel Molina Spain	1:19:44 PB
	insert write up:
50 km Walk	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 X 100 m	France Ladji Doucouré Ronald Pognon Eddy De Lépine Lueyi Dovy	38.08 (WL)	Trinidad and Tobago Kevon Pierre Marc Burns Jacey Harper Darrel Brown	38.10 (NR)	United Kingdom Jason Gardener Marlon Devonish Christian Malcolm Mark Lewis-Francis	38.27 (SB)
	The United Kingdom 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 X 400 m	United States Andrew Rock Derrick Brew Darold Williamson Jeremy Wariner	2:56.91 (WL)	Bahamas Nathaniel McKinney Avard Moncur Andrae Williams Christopher Brown	2:57.32 (NR)	Jamaica Sanjay Ayre Brandon Simpson Lansford Spence Davian Clarke	2:58.07 (SB)
	insert write up:
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)

Field

2001 |2003 |2005 |2007 |2009 |

Event:	Gold:		Silver:		Bronze:
High Jump	Yuriy Krymarenko Ukraine	2.32	Víctor Moya Cuba Yaroslav Rybakov Russia	2.29 (PB) 2.29	-	-
	Surprise winner, also seven athletes achieved 2.29m.
Pole Vault	Rens Blom Netherlands	5.80m (SB)	Brad Walker United States	5.75m	Pavel Gerasimov Russia	5.65m (SB)
	In rain and heavy wind, Rens Blom wins the first Dutch gold medal at a World Championship.
Long Jump	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 Finland's only medal of the championships, just beating Salim Sdiri of France and Joan Lino Martínez of Spain to third place.
Triple Jump	Walter Davis United States	17.57 (SB)	Yoandri Betanzos Cuba	17.42 (SB)	Marian Oprea Romania	17.40
	Leevan Sands, of the Bahamas, in bronze medal position for a long time, is pipped to fourth by Marian Oprea's last jump.
Shot Put	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 takes his first gold at the international level.
Discus	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.
Javelin	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).
Hammer	Ivan Tikhon Belarus	83.89 CR	Vadim Devyatovskiy Belarus	82.60	Szymon Ziółkowski Poland	79.35 (SB)
	Tikhon had no marking until after his second throw.
Decathlon	Bryan Clay United States	8732 WL	Roman Šebrle Czech Republic	8521	Attila Zsivóczky 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)

Women's results

Track

2001 |2003 |2005 |2007 |2009 |

Event:	Gold:		Silver:		Bronze:
100 m	Lauryn Williams United States	10.93	Veronica Campbell Jamaica	10.95 (SB)	Christine Arron France	10.98
	insert write up:
200 m	Allyson Felix United States	22.16	Rachelle Boone-Smith United States	22.31	Christine Arron France	22.31 (SB)
	Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, runs a terrible bend (she runs out of her lane) and finished fourth.
400 m	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	Zulia Calatayud Cuba	1:58.82	Hasna Benhassi Morocco	1:59.42	Tatyana Andrianova Russia	1:59.60
	Former world champion Maria Mutola comes fourth.
1500 m	Tatyana Tomashova Russia	4:00.35 (SB)	Olga Yegorova Russia	4:01.46	Bouchra Ghezielle France	4:02.45
	Yuliya Chizhenko, who finished in Silver medal position (4:00.93), is disqualified (for obstructing Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain), therefore Olga Yegorova gets the silver and Bouchra Ghezielle of France gets the bronze.
5000 m	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	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	Paula Radcliffe United Kingdom	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 H	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 loses her balance after the second last hurdle, runs into the last hurdle, and comes last.
400 m H	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 St.	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	Olimpiada Ivanova Russia	1:25:41 WR	Ryta Turava Belarus	1:27:05 NR	Susana Feitor Portugal	1:28:44 SB
	insert write up:
4 X 100 m	United States Angela Daigle Muna Lee Me'Lisa Barber Lauryn Williams	41.78 (WL)	Jamaica Daniele Browning Sherone Simpson Aleen Bailey Veronica Campbell	41.99 (SB)	Belarus Yuliya Nesterenko Natalya Sologub Alena Nevmerzhitskaya Oksana Dragun	42.56 (NR)
	insert write up:
4 X 400 m	Russia Yuliya Pechonkina Olesya Krasnomovets Natalya Antyukh Svetlana Pospelova	3:20.95	Jamaica Shericka Williams Novlene Williams Ronetta Smith Lorraine Fenton	3:23.29 (SB)	United Kingdom Lee McConnell Donna Fraser Nicola Sanders Christine Ohuruogu	3:24.44 (SB)
	insert write up:
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)

Field

2001 |2003 |2005 |2007 |2009 |

Event:	Gold:		Silver:		Bronze:
High Jump	Kajsa Bergqvist Sweden	2.02m (WL)	Chaunte Howard United States	2.00m (PB)	Emma Green Sweden	1.96m (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 as well, 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	Yelena Isinbayeva Russia	5.01m WR	Monika Pyrek Poland	4.60m	Pavla Hamáčková Czech Republic	4.50m
	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	Tianna Madison United States	6.89m (PB)	Tatyana Kotova Russia	6.79m	Eunice Barber France	6.76m
	An unexpected win for Tianna Madison, as Tatyana Kotova finishes second for the third World Outdoor Championships in a row.
Triple Jump	Trecia Smith Jamaica	15.11m WL	Yargelis Savigne Cuba	14.82m PB	Anna Pyatykh Russia	14.78m
	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	Nadezhda Ostapchuk Belarus	20.51	Olga Ryabinkina Russia	19.64	Valerie Vili New Zealand	19.62
	20 year old Valerie Vili earns a surprise bronze, as Nadezhda Ostapchuk wins her first Outdoor World Championships Gold.
Discus	Franka Dietzsch Germany	66.56m (SB)	Natalya Sadova Russia	64.33m	Věra Pospíšilová-Cechlová Czech Republic	63.19m
	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	Olga Kuzenkova Russia	75.10m (SB)	Yipsi Moreno Cuba	73.08m	Tatyana Lysenko Russia	72.46m
	Olga Kuzenkova added the world hammer title to the Olympic crown she had won in Athens the previous year. She achieved this after gaining the silver medal at the three previous championships.
Javelin	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	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 - 2.94 - 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 a 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)

Exhibition events

Paralympic exhibition events at the World Championships:

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
T54 Wheelchair racing 100 m men	David Weir United Kingdom	14.15 NR	Kenny van Weeghel Netherlands	14.19	Leo-Pekka Tähti Finland	14.22
	Paralympic champion Leo-Pekka Tähti got off to a good start, but a battle between Britain's David Weir and Dutchman Kenny van Weeghel pushed both of them forward in the latter stages. Weir eventually won out, breaking his own British record, which he set in the semifinal at the 2004 Paralympics, by 0.02 s.
T54 Wheelchair racing 200 m men	David Weir United Kingdom	25.47	Kenny van Weeghel Netherlands	25.80	Supachai Koysub Thailand	26.03
	insert write up:
F54 Wheelchair javelin men	Jacques Martin Canada	24.97	Markku Niinimäki Finland	23.82	Gerasimos Vrionis Greece	16.75
	insert write up:
T12 Visually impaired 200m women	Adria Santos Brazil	26.99	Purificacion Santamarta Spain	27.08	Paraskeví Kantza Greece	28.32 (PB)
	insert write up:
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)

Medals table

Position	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1.	United States	14	8	3	25
2.	Russia	7	8	5	20
3.	Ethiopia	3	4	2	9
4.	Cuba	2	4	0	6
5.	Belarus	2	2	1	5
6.	France	2	1	4	7
7.	Sweden	2	0	1	3
8.	Bahrain	2	0	0	2
9.	Jamaica	1	5	2	8
10.	Kenya	1	2	4	7
11.	Morocco	1	2	0	3
12.	Germany	1	1	3	5
13.	Bahamas	1	1	0	2
13.	Estonia	1	1	0	2
13.	Netherlands	1	1	0	2
16.	United Kingdom	1	0	2	3
17.	Ecuador	1	0	0	1
17.	Lithuania	1	0	0	1
17.	Qatar	1	0	0	1
17.	Uganda	1	0	0	1
17.	Ukraine	1	0	0	1
22.	Czech Republic	0	1	2	3
23.	Ghana	0	1	1	1
23.	Poland	0	1	1	2
23.	Spain	0	1	1	2
26.	Norway	0	1	0	1
26.	China	0	1	0	1
26.	Tanzania	0	1	0	1
26.	Trinidad and Tobago	0	1	0	1
30.	Japan	0	0	2	2
30.	Portugal	0	0	2	2
30.	Romania	0	0	2	2
33.	Australia	0	0	1	1
33.	Canada	0	0	1	1
33.	Finland	0	0	1	1
33.	Hungary	0	0	1	1
33.	Italy	0	0	1	1
33.	Mexico	0	0	1	1
33.	New Zealand	0	0	1	1
33.	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0	0	1	1

External links

• Results from the IAAF web site
• 10th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Helsinki Official Site