A General View of the Stade Louis II in Monaco (© Getty Images)
The Principality of Monaco, where stars always sparkle and the sun always shines, will add the very first IAAF World Athletics Final to its list of “places to be seen at” on 13 and 14 September.
Yet although this brand new two-day competition is something new in athletics, it is also a challenge that the Principality of Monaco should tackle with ease.
Indeed, there is hardly any international sport that hasn’t made Monaco its temporary home over recent years. The Principality’s modest 195 hectares contains the three-story high Louis II stadium - which comprises an athletics track, a football pitch, an Olympic swimming pool and all other sporting facilities - and various other sporting venues. Monaco is truly a nation of sport.
Who hasn’t heard of the Formula 1 motor racing Grand Prix which has been pinpointed by experts as the toughest race of the circuit, which totally transforms the city every end of May?
Monaco also plays host to the annual Tennis Master Series Tournament (April), an International Swimming meeting (June) and an International Show Jumping event (April).
Football also takes pride of place in the Principality, with ASM Monaco excelling in the French Championships and, next year, taking part in the UEFA Champions League. Monaco has also been host in recent years to the UEFA Super Cup match, which matched the Champions League Cup winner against the winner of the UEFA Cup at the end of August.
You name a sport and Monaco has hosted it. From Judo to Sailing, from Bobsleigh to Fencing, from Triathlon to Beach soccer, Monaco has seen them all.
It was a natural choice for the IAAF, whose headquarters are located in Monaco, to choose the Principality as host to its second most important competition of the year – the World Athletics Final.
A mere two weeks after the closing of the IAAF World Championships in Paris, the best athletes in the world – and only the very best because they are selected from their placings in the IAAF World Rankings – will all gather in Monaco to either confirm their world titles or avenge their defeats.
Monaco’s athletics history goes back to 1987 when the Herculis meeting was first created. Since then two world records have been broken on the Monaco track (men 4x100m in 1991 and men 3000m in 1994) and two Grand Prix Finals (1989 and 1995) have taken place in Monaco.