I am just booking tickets for my first trip to a World Championships and was wondering what people thought on how to spend money for a multi-day pass.
Do you position yourself near the 100m start and get the exit of the corner in the 200m/400m/relays, or spend twice the money to be near (re: past) the finish line?
how bout at the 50m mark or near there? and how much money are tickets? jw
Ill be there in either section 8 or E, becuase those are the ones that are closest to the finish line that you can purchase anyways
http://www.berlin2009.org/129-1-ticket-prices.html
those are the prices for the tickets
Prices were over 500euro near the 100m start line and over 1,000euro just past the finish. Those are both for the entire Championships so in that respect the prices aren’t too bad.
I opted for the seats near the 100m start after trying to imagine what I might see after looking at shots of the stadium. The biggest downside to those seats will be not having a relatively close look at the women’s pole vault. I just couldn’t resist being near the exit to the 200m curve and imagining Tyson Gay and Usain bolt storming off turn (please be healthy, please be healthy, please be healthy…).
Berlin’ stands are huge but you can have a very good view from virtually everywhere, unlike Paris.
PJ,
Nice to know that I can’t really go wrong. It kind of gives me a little confidence having already pressed the PURCHASE button.
Anybody have any data on how many world class events like this that would have to be attended to get the most out of the spectating experience? I hope it’s not as high as Asafa’s ideal number of races before the big event.
Any tips on getting the most out of the experience would be appreciated. Canada is a long way to travel from to turn in a bad spectating performance.
A large section either side of the finish line is always allocated to world media (print, radio, tv) with a section for the athletes also usually allocated just past the end of the media area, beyond the finish line.
It doesn’t matter where you sit, just being there will be thrilling. In Tokyo '91 I sat along the home-straight which was awesome because we saw Lewis storm to the world 100m record, etc. But the folks on the backstraight over near the 200 start got a close-up of the men’s long jump which I still consider the best sports competition ever - Mike Powell and Lewis both jumped further than Beamon’s unbreakable record, Lewis wind-aided and Powell’s 8.95 wind-legal.
It’s a shame that a multi-day pass gives you only a certain seat in (all?) WCs (that was my experience, too). But this doesn’t seem to happen in the Olympics (I’ve been once), which was great, since you had the chance to see the ‘best’ event of the day or a certain final from real close.
A Very Good WCs experience for me back then was the morning tickets, which didn’t have any seat restrictions! I spent most of my time around the start line of the sprints, getting the chance to see all the stars of the day. Even for the rest of the distances mornings proved to be great, as I got to see athletes that later withdrew, e.g., Masterkova in the 1500 m and Sally Gunnell in the 400mH -probably her last race- if memory serves me right.
So, if you have this chance for the morning events, don’t miss it! Tiring, but it’s worth it! 
My first Worlds…Edmonton '01…got a great deal on tix and the best seats in the house…around the 1500m line…could see every race and was high enough not to look at the back of other people’s heads and not so high that every athlete looked like ants…
And in the morning, you could sit anywhere…I even saw a 315lb sprinter…awesome!
Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and experiences about this. I will definitely put in the seat hours to see as much as I can…and if I am lucky there will be a few magical moments like KK mentioned.
I noticed from Google Earth that there is another track outside of the stadium that I presume gets used for warm-ups (unless there are indoor tunnels under the stadium seating). Does anyone know if the public has access (re: standing on the fence line) to this area for viewing?
Depending the venue and lay-out around the stadia, but if you just hang out between morning and evening sessions you can often bump into some significant athletes and coaches. At Gothenburg I bumped into the Jamaican women’s sprinters and they were really playful, cracking jokes on the walkby.
I also saw Bertland Cameron out on the street and was trying to catch up to them, saying he had the best job in the world now as masseur for Merlene. lol. He said it with such a goofy look on his happy face I’m still laughing now when I recall.
One other thing worth doing is to case the periphery of the stadium and find some little bar and restaurant slightly out of the way where you can chill between sessions if going back to your hotel for a rest is too inconvenient. Make friends with the people who work there, give them a souveneer from your country of whatever and they might be happy for you to use their toilet even when you’re not dining there. Finding a little place for respite can be valuable. You do need to eat something healthy occasionally if only to keep your strength up and you may find prices inside the “official area” somewhat rich.
Ottey…mmm! Definitely smile inducing. I knew I picked the wrong career.
Thanks for the pro tips KK. I am really looking forward to this, and to visiting a stadium with such raw history…
Definitely worth a thorough history review before going, just to bring some perspective to the event. I imagine it has to be emotional for some, visitors and competitors alike.
Off topic on an emotional tangent, I remember visiting Delphi in Greece and being unprepared at finding the ruins of an ancient athletics stadium nestled high in the mountains at the site of the Oracle. It simply hadn’t occurred to me that athletics in ancient times was more than the Games at Olympia. What a rich history this sport has.
Be sure to ‘report’ your experiences here first! Enjoy!
Is there a full warm-up track there now? There used to be the grass fields up top behind the start area and some strips in the Marathon tunnel behind the start area.
There was an old pool complex outside the stadium on the opposite side from the sprint straight, left over from the 1936 Olympics. It’s been a long time! It really is a fantastic stadium with a ton of history.
I cant wait to be there and see all the history, the events and the times.
How many cf.com members will be there?
There’s an indoor hall inside the stadium, you take the lifts to go to the main field. There’s an outdoor warm-up track but we’ve never been there, maybe it will be the one used during the WC. The stadium is huge, i got lost everytime. After the race, athlete pass the mixte zone and take the stairs to go to the changing rooms, it’s very long and it’s a killer for the legs.
Why am I not surprised with this, Pierre-Jean? 
OK, i have some orientation issue… but in Berlin, that’s because of the Stadium 
OK then, I’ll give you that one! 
(I am not much better at this either…)