New stadium for Juniors

PIX AND WORDS COURTESY IAAF WEBSITE www.iaaf.org

http://www.iaaf.org/WJC08/news/kind=100/newsid=45189.html

Monday, 09 June 2008 New stadium awaits World Junior Championships

Bydgoszcz’s stadium (BYDGOSZCZ LOC)
The 12th IAAF World Junior Championships which will be held from 8 to 13 July in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, located some 270km west of Warsaw, are expected to be the season highlight for 17-19 year-old athletes around the world.

Following a memorable edition held in Beijing, China in 2006, the Championships return to Europe for the sixth time in the history of this World Athletics Series event.

The family of athletics will also be making a comeback to Bydgoszcz as the city played host to the very first IAAF World Youth Championships held in 1999, an edition which will be remembered as the springboard to international fame of World champions Yelena Isinbayeva, Veronica Campbell, Jana Pittman and Ladji Doucouré to name but a few.

Although the settings will be the same as 9 years ago, the Zawisza stadium will have a whole different look as organizers have worked hard to improve the already excellent level of facilities.

The stadium design has changed completely; the most noticeable being the reconstruction of three tribunes. Only the “A” VIP spectators’ seats are the same as they used to be with the addition of a glass wall at its back to protect from the wind.

The completely new roof construction has been built over the tribune B. Under this tribune there will be some conference rooms, biological renewal rooms and warehouses. The stadium capacity will increase to 23,000.

A brand new nine-lane track has also been laid and an additional video screen has been located opposite the already existing one. The stadium will also be equipped with new sounding and monitoring systems.