Daegu City is hosting an international athletics championship.

The Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting 2008 opened in the southeastern city Thursday as part of preparations for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics.

One-hundred-25 athletes from 32 countries are taking part in 16 competitions, including eleven track events and five field events.

Some of the world-renowned stars that will compete in the Daegu event are Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva and Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei, who both won gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games. South Korea’s Lee Jung-joon, who holds the national record in the men's 110-meter hurdles, will also take part in the event.

Isinbayeva, who posted a world record in the women’s pole vault during the Beijing Olympics, told reporters ahead of the opening ceremony for the Daegu Pre-Championships that she hopes to achieve a world record that no one will break for a century.