Gunnell - set world record in 1993 (Getty Images).

The 10th staging of the World Athletics Championships will be marked by a return to its first host city, Helsinki.

The first global competition was held in the Finnish capital in 1983 and it has grown to become one of the largest sporting events in the world.

In terms of a worldwide television audience, the championships rank behind only the football World Cup and the Olympics.

Helsinki stepped in to stage this year's event after London withdrew in 2001 when the Government shelved plans to build a new stadium at Pickett's Lock. It means a return to the same 40,000-seater 1952 Olympic stadium that hosted the inaugural competition 22 years ago.

Although the idea of a separate global athletics event had been mooted since the first set of rules drafted by the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), in 1913, it had been decided the Olympics served as the world championships.

It was not until the 1960s that a proposal for a separate event gathered pace before being ratified in 1978 and two years later Helsinki was given the nod over Stuttgart.

A sprinter by the name of Carl Lewis first came to prominence in Helsinki where the American claimed his first major titles in the 100 metres, the long jump and the 4x100m relay.

Drama was provided when Great Britain's Fatima Whitbread led the javelin with just one throw remaining but was overhauled by Finland's Tiina Lillak with a final effort.

It was the turn of Rome four years later and an eagerly-awaited showdown between Lewis and Ben Johnson, won by the latter in world-record time.

The following year, however, saw the Canadian admit to using steroids in Rome resulting in the stripping of both medal and record.

Tokyo were the 1991 hosts and the scene of a great sporting duel, again involving Lewis.

This time the action centred on the long jump with Lewis hot favourite on the back of a 10-year, 86-meet winning streak.

Despite a series of huge jumps by Lewis, including a new world-record mark deemed illegal because of the wind speed, fellow American Mike Powell sailed out to 8.95m to surpass Bob Beamon's 23-year-old world record and one that still stands today.

Linford Christie was fourth despite setting a new European record of 9.92secs as six men broke the 10-second barrier for the 100m as Lewis set a new mark of 9.86secs.

Following Tokyo, the event became biennial with Stuttgart hosting the 1993 version and a high point in British fortunes.

Colin Jackson and Sally Gunnell set new world records in the 110m and 400m hurdles respectively, while Christie followed up his Olympic success by clinching the sprint title.

Jonathan Edwards became the first man to exceed the 18-metre barrier with a new world record of 18.29m in Gothenburg two years later.

Maurice Greene won his first world title in Athens in 1997 before becoming the first man to complete the sprint double in Seville in 1999 and it was also the scene of Michael Johnson's new 400m world record of 43.18secs.

It also meant the American was the only man to win a title at every world championship in the 1990s.

2001 saw the event travel to north America for the first time as Edmonton played host.

The presence of Olga Yegorova caused a furore, however, as the Russian had tested positive for the endurance-boosting EPO shortly before the championships but was allowed to compete on a technicality. Yegorova went on to win the 1500m only to be jeered by the crowd both after the race and at the medal ceremony.

Paris were the most recent hosts which saw a further dip for British athletics.

After claiming seven medals in the first World Championships the team hit a high in 1993 with Jackson's and Gunnell's world records and Christie claiming the prestigious sprint title.

However, 2003 saw a haul of only one silver and two bronze and for only the second occasion, no British athlete claimed a title.

To compound that, the men's 4x100m relay squad had to return their silver medals after Dwain Chambers tested positive for the designer drug THG.