Dear athletes, dear participants and friends,
The Croatian Athletic Federation and the City of Split wish you a warm welcome to this great spectacle of sports, which is the more special, because the best athletes from Africa, America, Asia and Oceania and Europe will compete in the beautiful environment of the Poljud stadium. We all still remember the European championship that we hosted in this same stadium and must express our gratitude for the positive effects that Championship had in popularization of athletics in Croatia.
As organizers we are aware of the great responsibility that we have accepted, because we will host the leading athletes of the „Queen of sports“ in our city. We are sure they will award us with great results in the individual competitions they compete in.
We also use this opportunity to thank the IAAF, that recognized the abilities of sport's officials of Croatia and Split, who already have organized several successful international sports events.
Not only Split, but all of Croatia is known for the beauty of its landscape and very open hearted people of great Mediterranean spirit that developed through the long and turbulent history. We hope that the friendships that you will establish here and the experiences you will gather, will permanently remain embedded in your memory and that you will find some time in future to come back here and visit us as a friend of this city and unique country.
Finally, we want to welcome all participants and wish you all to achieve the best possible results in the competitions, so that all fans of athletics and sport in general will enjoy unique excitement such a Championship offers. This will also make us, the organizers proud that we had the honor to be part of creation of athletic history.