Haymarket's Spikes prepares swoops on Stuttgart

The athletes include Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic, who went into the Beijing Olympics with a 34-event winning streak but had to settle for silver when she was beaten by Belgium's Tia Hellebaut.

David Hall, Spikes' editor, said: "It's the last chance athletes have to right wrongs and finish off the season well."

Spikes magazine and website was launched in July, and is produced by customer publisher Haymarket Network for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Subscribers should expect the second issue soon, but Stuttgart will be first to see copies this weekend.

Autumn 2008's cover star is Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who broke both the men's 100m and 200m world records in Beijing.

The magazine also looks to London 2012 with a six-page feature on how British athletes are preparing for the next Olympic Games, and courts controversy by drawing athletes, journalists and sporting officials into a debate on whether athletes should be allowed to switch nationality.

While Spikes wraps up the athletics year in print, its website at spikesmag.com still shows strong post-Olympics growth.

It has now drawn more than 50,000 unique visitors, who have viewed more than 258,000 pages.

Videos on the site have been watched more than 145,000 times and news and sports sites including Fox News and ChinaDaily.com have followed its stories.

The magazine will come out three times in 2009.

Athletics fans can register for the free magazine online and should expect a pre-season issue in the European spring.