Helsinki Grand Prix

The Helsinki Grand Prix (Maailmankisat, World Games in English) was an annual one-day outdoor track and field meeting held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland. Established in 1959, it was originally organised by a local athletics club, Helsingin Kisa-Veikot (HKV). It continued in this format, with Apu magazine a key sponsor, for nearly three decades. In 1987, HKV came to an agreement where the Finnish Amateur Athletic Association took on the operating costs of the competition. The Finnish Association ceased this arrangement in 1992, causing the cancellation of the 1993 meeting due to financial difficulties.

Following the successful hosting the 1994 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, the meeting was rebooted and incorporated into the annual IAAF Grand Prix series upon that competition's founding in 1998. It continued to be a high-level meeting for international athletes, and was again included the top bracket upon the creation of the IAAF World Athletics Tour in 2005. During this period it had title sponsors and was known as the Ericsson Grand Prix (1998–2000), Asics Grand Prix (2001–2004) and GE Money Grand Prix (2005–2006). However, the 2006 meeting proved to be its last and the meeting folded in 2007.

Best athlete prize
At each competition, the best athlete of the meet would be presented with a sculpted glass prize. • 1959 Gert Potgieter – 400 metres hurdles

• 1961 Jay Silvester – discus throw

• 1963 Pentti Eskola – long jump

• 1965 Ron Clarke – 5000 metres

• 1967 Judy Pollock – 800 metres

• 1969 Jorma Kinnunen – javelin

• 1971 Ralph Mann – 400 metres hurdles

• 1973 Ben Jipcho – 3000 metres steeplechase

• 1975 Bronisław Malinowski – 3000 metres steeplechase

• 1976 Seppo Hovinen – javelin

• 1977 Samson Kimobwa – 3000 metres steeplechase

• 1978 Henry Rono – 3000 metres steeplechase

• 1979 Renaldo Nehemiah – 110 metres hurdles

• 1980 Mac Wilkins – discus throw

• 1981 Brian Oldfield – shot put

• 1982 Tiina Lillak – javelin

• 1983 Arto Bryggare – 110 metres hurdles

• 1984 Igor Nikulin – hammer throw

• 1985 Willie Banks – triple jump

• 1986 Tom Petranoff – javelin

• 1987 Saïd Aouita – mile run

• 1988 Oleg Protsenko – triple jump

• 1989 Salvatore Antibo – 10 000 metres

• 1990 Hollis Conway – high jump

• 1991 Noureddine Morceli – 1 500 metres

• 1992 Seppo Räty – javelin

• 1994 Merlene Ottey – 100 metres

• 1995 Geir Moen – 200 metres

• 1996 Frankie Fredericks – 100 metres

• 1997 Trine Hattestad – javelin

• 1998 Haile Gebrselassie – 5000 metres

• 1999 Marion Jones – 200 metres