The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the IAAF World Athletics Series and was the seasonal culmination of the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series from 2003 to 2005, then the IAAF World Athletics Tour from 2006 to 2009. Due to changes in the one-day meeting system introduced by the IAAF, the World Athletics Final was discontinued after the 2009 season. History The competition was introduced as part of the overhaul of the IAAF Grand Prix, with the IAAF World Outdoor Meetings series replacing it as the IAAF's primary seasonal outdoor track and field series. The programme of the former IAAF Grand Prix Final competition varied from year to year and the IAAF World Athletics Final introduced a fixed programme of events. The new schedule comprised events which were largely similar to those held at the World Athletics Championships. The differences were that a 3000 metres race was included at the World Athletics Final, while the 10,000 metres, marathon, combined events (decathlon and heptathlon), race walks and relay races were omitted as these events generally did not feature at IAAF outdoor track and field meetings. The first three editions of the competition were held in Monaco. However, the competition's stadium in Fontvieille, the Stade Louis II, was not of an adequate size to hold the hammer throw competition. As a result, the men's and women's hammer events were generally held a week earlier than the competition itself, taking place in Szombathely, Hungary at the Stadion Rohonci Út. This situation was resolved in 2006 by a move to the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion (Mercedes-Benz Arena) in Stuttgart, which had previously held the 1993 World Championships in Athletics, and the 2007 and 2008 editions of the final were also held there. The IAAF World Athletics Final changed to an alternating host city format in 2009, beginning with Thessaloniki, because the 2009 World Championships in Athletics had also been held in Germany that year. However, although the IAAF agreed in 2008 that Rabat, Morocco would be the venue for the 2010 Final, general secretary Pierre Weiss confirmed that the last edition would the 2009 competition as a result of changes in the structure of the one-day outdoor meetings tour. Over its seven-year history, Asafa Powell and