World Athletics Championships

For other WA-sanctioned championships, see World Athletics § Competitions.

The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Olympic Games, they represent the highest level championships of senior international outdoor athletics competition for track and field athletics globally, including marathon running and race walking. Separate World Championships are held by World Athletics for certain other outdoor events, including cross-country running and half-marathon, as well as indoor and age-group championships.

World Athletics Championships
Status	Active
Genre	World championships Athletics
Date(s)	varying
Frequency	biennial
Country	varying
Inaugurated	1983 (1983)
Previous event	2022
Next event	2023
Organised by	World Athletics
Website	worldathletics.org

The World Championships were started in 1976 in response to the International Olympic Committee dropping the men's 50 km walk from the Olympic programme for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, despite its constant presence at the games since 1932. The IAAF chose to host its own world championship event instead, a month and a half after the Olympics.^[1][2] It was the first World Championships that the IAAF had hosted separate from the Olympic Games (traditionally the main championship for the sport).

A second limited event was held in 1980, and the inaugural championships in 1983, with all the events, is considered the official start of the competition. Until 1980, the Olympic champions were also considered as reigning World champions.

At their debut, these championships were then held every four years, until 1991, when they switched to a two-year cycle.

History

The idea of having an Athletics World Championships was around well before the competition's first event in 1983. In 1913, the IAAF decided that the Olympic Games would serve as the World Championships for athletics. This was considered suitable for over 50 years until in the late 1960s the desire of many IAAF members to have their own World Championships began to grow. In 1976 at the IAAF Council Meeting in Puerto Rico an Athletics World Championships separate from the Olympic Games was approved.

Following bids from both Stuttgart, West Germany and Helsinki, Finland, the IAAF Council awarded the inaugural competition to Helsinki, to take place in 1983 and be held in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium (where the 1952 Summer Olympics had been held).

Two IAAF world championship events preceded the inaugural edition of the World Championships in Athletics in 1983. The 1976 World Championships had just one event – the men's 50 kilometres walk which was dropped from the Olympic programme for the 1976 Summer Olympics and the IAAF responded by setting up their own contest. Four years later, the 1980 World Championships contained only two newly approved women's events, (400 metres hurdles and 3000 metres), neither of which featured on the programme for the 1980 Summer Olympics.^[3][4]

Over the years the competition has grown in size. In 1983 1,333 athletes from 153 countries participated.^[5] By the 2003 competition, in Paris, it had grown to 1,679 athletes from 198 countries with coverage being transmitted to 179 countries.

There has also been a change in composition over the years, with several new events, all for women, being added. By 2005, the only differences were men's competition in the 50 km walk, and equivalent events in women's 100 m hurdles and heptathlon to men's 110 m hurdles and decathlon.

The following list shows when new events were added for the first time.

• 1987, women's 10,000 m and 10 km walk were added.
• 1993, women's triple jump was added.
• 1995, women's 3,000 m was replaced by the 5000 m.
• 1999, women's pole vault and hammer were added and the women's 20 km walk replaced the 10 km walk.
• 2005, women's 3000 m steeplechase was added.
• 2017, women's 50 km walk was added.
• 2019, mixed 4 × 400 m relay was added.
• 2022, men's and women's 35 km walk replaced the 50 km walk.

Championships

Further information: World Championship records, Men's medalists, and Women's medalists

Edition	Year	City	Country	Date	Venue	Capacity	Events	Nations	Athletes	Top of the medal table, World Team since 2022
–	1976	Malmö	Sweden	18 Sep	Malmö Stadion	30,000	1	20	42	Soviet Union
–	1980	Sittard	Netherlands	14 – 16 Aug	De Baandert	22,000	2	22	42	East Germany
1st	1983	Helsinki	Finland	7 – 14 Aug	Olympiastadion	50,000	41	153	1,333	East Germany
2nd	1987	Rome	Italy	28 Aug – 6 Sep	Stadio Olimpico	60,000	43	156	1,419	East Germany
3rd	1991	Tokyo	Japan	23 Aug – 1 Sep	National Stadium	48,000	43	162	1,491	United States
4th	1993	Stuttgart	Germany	13 – 22 Aug	Neckarstadion	70,000	44	187	1,630	United States
5th	1995	Gothenburg	Sweden	5 – 13 Aug	Ullevi	42,000	44	190	1,755	United States
6th	1997	Athens	Greece	1 – 10 Aug	Olympiako Stadio	75,000	44	197	1,785	United States
7th	1999	Seville	Spain	20 – 29 Aug	Estadio de La Cartuja	70,000	46	200	1,750	United States
8th	2001	Edmonton	Canada	3 – 12 Aug	Commonwealth Stadium	60,000	46	189	1,602	Russia
9th	2003	Paris	France	23 – 31 Aug	Stade de France	78,000	46	198	1,679	United States
10th	2005	Helsinki	Finland	6 – 14 Aug	Olympiastadion	45,000	47	191	1,687	United States
11th	2007	Osaka	Japan	24 Aug – 2 Sep	Yanmar Stadium Nagai	45,000	47	197	1,800	United States
12th	2009	Berlin	Germany	15 – 23 Aug	Olympiastadion	74,000	47	200	1,895	United States
13th	2011	Daegu	South Korea	27 Aug – 4 Sep	Daegu Stadium	65,000	47	199	1,742	United States
14th	2013	Moscow	Russia	10 – 18 Aug	Luzhniki Stadium	78,000	47	203	1,784	United States
15th	2015	Beijing	China	22 – 30 Aug	Beijing National Stadium	80,000	47	205	1,761	Kenya
16th	2017	London	Great Britain	4 – 13 Aug	London Stadium	60,000	48	199	1,857	United States
17th	2019	Doha	Qatar	27 Sep – 6 Oct	Khalifa International Stadium	48,000	49	206	1,775	United States
18th	2022	Eugene	United States	15 – 24 Jul	Hayward Field	25,000	49	180	1,700+	United States
19th	2023	Budapest	Hungary	19 – 27 Aug	National Athletics Centre	34,000
20th	2025	Tokyo	Japan		National Stadium	68,000

All-time medal table

Updated after the 2022 World Athletics Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	183	126	105	414
2	Kenya	62	55	44	161
3	Russia	42	52	48	142
4	Germany	39	36	48	123
5	Jamaica	37	56	44	137
6	Ethiopia	33	34	28	95
7	Great Britain & Northern Ireland	31	37	43	111
8	Soviet Union	23	27	28	78
9	China	22	26	25	73
10	Cuba	22	24	14	60
11	East Germany	21	19	16	56
12	Poland	20	18	25	63
13	Czech Republic	15	5	6	26
14	France	14	18	23	55
15	Australia	14	14	11	39
16	Italy	12	16	19	47
17	South Africa	12	7	8	27
18	Ukraine	11	14	16	41
19	Morocco	11	12	8	31
20	Belarus	10	11	12	33
21	Sweden	10	6	8	24
22	Norway	10	5	5	20
23	Bahamas	9	9	8	26
24	Spain	7	18	16	41
25	Canada	7	16	17	40
26	Japan	7	9	17	33
27	Finland	7	8	7	22
28	Portugal	7	7	9	23
29	Bahrain	7	3	3	13
30	Algeria	6	2	3	11
31	New Zealand	6	1	1	8
32	Romania	5	8	11	24
33	Netherlands	5	8	10	23
34	Greece	5	7	11	23
35	Bulgaria	5	3	8	16
36	Uganda	5	2	4	11
37	Qatar	5	2	3	10
38	Czechoslovakia	4	4	3	11
39	Croatia	4	4	2	10
40	Colombia	4	2	2	8
41	Ireland	4	2	0	6
42	Switzerland	4	0	5	9
–	Authorised Neutral Athletes^[1]	3	8	1	12
43	West Germany	3	6	3	12
44	Trinidad and Tobago	3	5	7	15
45	Mexico	3	4	7	14
46	Lithuania	3	3	2	8
47	Dominican Republic	3	2	1	6
48	Ecuador	3	1	1	5
	Grenada	3	1	1	5
	Mozambique	3	1	1	5
51	Denmark	3	0	1	4
	Venezuela	3	0	1	4
53	Brazil	2	6	7	15
54	Estonia	2	6	2	10
55	Belgium	2	2	7	11
56	Slovenia	2	1	3	6
57	Tajikistan	2	1	0	3
58	Peru	2	0	0	2
59	Nigeria	1	5	5	11
60	Namibia	1	4	1	6
61	Kazakhstan	1	3	5	9
62	Turkey	1	3	0	4
63	Zambia	1	2	0	3
64	Tunisia	1	1	1	3
65	Botswana	1	1	0	2
	Eritrea	1	1	0	2
	Panama	1	1	0	2
68	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0	4	5
69	Slovakia	1	0	3	4
70	Syria	1	0	2	3
71	Barbados	1	0	1	2
	Senegal	1	0	1	2
	Somalia	1	0	1	2
74	North Korea	1	0	0	1
75	Hungary	0	7	7	14
76	Ivory Coast	0	4	1	5
77	Israel	0	2	2	4
78	Burundi	0	2	1	3
	Djibouti	0	2	1	3
	Puerto Rico	0	2	1	3
81	Cameroon	0	2	0	2
82	Austria	0	1	3	4
83	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	1	2
	Burkina Faso	0	1	1	2
	Cyprus	0	1	1	2
	Ghana	0	1	1	2
	India	0	1	1	2
	Latvia	0	1	1	2
	South Korea	0	1	1	2
	Sri Lanka	0	1	1	2
	Suriname	0	1	1	2
	Tanzania	0	1	1	2
93	Bermuda	0	1	0	1
	Egypt	0	1	0	1
	Sudan	0	1	0	1
96	Serbia	0	0	3	3
97	American Samoa	0	0	1	1
	Cayman Islands	0	0	1	1
	Dominica	0	0	1	1
	Haiti	0	0	1	1
	Iran	0	0	1	1
	Philippines	0	0	1	1
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
	Zimbabwe	0	0	1	1
Totals (104 entries)		828	836	830	2494

Source: World Athletics Championships Oregon 22 – Statistics Handbook 2022 Medal Table

Notes

^[1]   ANA is the name under which Russian athletes competed in the 2017 and 2019 Championships. Their medals were not included in the official medal table.^[6][7]

All-time placing table

In the IAAF placing table the total score is obtained from assigning eight points to the first place and so on to one point for the eight placed finalists. Points are shared in situations where a tie occurs. However, the IAAF site shows all points rounded to the nearest integer.

Updated after the 2019 Championships^[8]

Rank	Country				4	5	6	7	8	Medals	Points
1	United States	170	116+1=	92+2=	72+5=	84+3=	71+3=	74+2=	72+4=	381	3911.5
2	Germany^[a]	62	61	64+2=	77+2=	65+1=	60+2=	52+5=	45+1=	189	2316
3	Russia^[b]	45	54+6=	47+2=	56+2=	41+3=	44+2=	35+1=	40+1=	154	1782.5
4	Kenya	60	50	41	45	38	26	45	19	151	1640
5	Great Britain & N.I.	30	36	38	42+2=	47+1=	33+1=	30+1=	20	104	1313
6	Jamaica	35	49	42+1=	32	28	26	27	24	127	1308.5
7	Ethiopia	29	30	26	23	19	16	19	17	85	892
8	China	20	24+1=	22	19	32	20+1=	20	22+1=	67	814.5
9	Soviet Union	23	25+2=	28	21+1=	17	12	11	17+1=	78	793
10	France	13	18	21+2=	25	27+1=	30+1=	23+1=	31+1=	54	772.6
11	Poland	19	14+1=	21+4=	20+1=	23	22+2=	27	20+2=	59	745.8
12	Cuba	22	23+1=	13+1=	31	10+2=	17	22	19	60	743
13	Italy	11	15+1=	18	12	16+2=	24+1=	30+2=	28+2=	45	603.5
14	Spain	7	17+1=	13+1	18	18	23	17	19	39	549
15	Ukraine	11	11+2=	15	18	21	16+1=	19+1=	8	39	538.6

Notes

• ^[a] including points earned by athletes from East Germany (510 pts) and West Germany (191.5 pts) at the 1976, 1980, 1983 and 1987 Championships.
• ^[b] including points earned by Authorised Neutral Athletes (103.5 pts) at the 2017 and 2019 Championships.

Multiple medalists

Men Sixteen male athletes have won at least six medals.^[8] Athlete Country Events Gold Silver Bronze Total Usain Bolt   Jamaica 3 11 2 1 14 LaShawn Merritt   United States 2 8 3 0 11 Carl Lewis   United States 4 8 1 1 10 Justin Gatlin   United States 3 4 6 0 10 Michael Johnson   United States 3 8 0 0 8 Mo Farah   Great Britain & N.I. 2 6 2 0 8 Ezekiel Kemboi   Kenya 1 4 3 0 7 Haile Gebrselassie   Ethiopia 2 4 2 1 7 Sergey Bubka   Soviet Union /   Ukraine 1 6 0 0 6 Jeremy Wariner   United States 2 5 1 0 6 Kenenisa Bekele   Ethiopia 2 5 0 1 6 Lars Riedel   Germany 1 5 0 1 6 Hicham El Guerrouj   Morocco 2 4 2 0 6 Butch Reynolds   United States 2 3 2 1 6 Bernard Lagat   Kenya /   United States 2 2 3 1 6 Greg Haughton   Jamaica 2 0 4 2 6 Women Twenty four female athletes have won at least six medals.^[8] Athlete Country Events Gold Silver Bronze Total Allyson Felix   United States 5 14 3 3 20 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce   Jamaica 3 10 4 0 14 Merlene Ottey   Jamaica 3 3 4 7 14 Veronica Campbell Brown   Jamaica 3 3 7 1 11 Jearl Miles Clark   United States 2 4 3 2 9 Gail Devers   United States 3 5 3 0 8 Gwen Torrence   United States 4 3 4 1 8 Shericka Jackson   Jamaica 5 3 2 3 8 Christine Ohuruogu   Great Britain & N.I. 2 2 1 5 8 Sanya Richards-Ross   United States 2 5 2 0 7 Carmelita Jeter   United States 3 3 1 3 7 Yuliya Pechonkina (Nosova)   Russia 2 2 3 2 7 Gong Lijiao   China 1 2 2 3 7 Beverly McDonald   Jamaica 2 1 4 2 7 Lorraine Fenton (Graham)   Jamaica 2 1 3 3 7 Jessica Beard   United States 2 5 1 0 6 Tirunesh Dibaba   Ethiopia 2 5 1 0 6 Natasha Hastings   United States 1 5 1 0 6 Kerron Stewart   Jamaica 2 3 3 0 6 Heike Drechsler (Daute)   East Germany /   Germany 3 2 2 2 6 Novlene Williams-Mills   Jamaica 2 1 4 1 6 Dina Asher-Smith   Great Britain & N.I. 3 1 3 2 6 Irina Privalova   Soviet Union /   Russia 4 1 3 2 6 Grit Breuer   Germany 3 1 2 3 6

Multiple winners

Boldface denotes active athletes and highest medal count among all athletes (including these who not included in these tables) per type.

Men

All events

Rank	Athlete	Country	Events	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	100 m / 200 m / 4 × 100 m relay	2007	2017	11	2	1	14
2	LaShawn Merritt	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	2005	2015	* 8 *	3	–	* 11 *
3	Carl Lewis	United States	100 m / 200 m / 4 × 100 m relay / Long jump	1983	1993	8	1	1	10
4	Michael Johnson	United States	200 m / 400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	1991	1999	8	–	–	8
5	Mo Farah	Great Britain & N.I.	5000 m / 10,000 m	2011	2017	6	2	–	8
6	Sergey Bubka	Soviet Union   Ukraine	Pole vault	1983	1997	6	–	–	6
7	Jeremy Wariner	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	2005	2009	5	1	–	6
8	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	2003	2009	5	–	1	6
	Lars Riedel	Germany	Discus throw	1991	2001	5	–	1	6
10	Paweł Fajdek	Poland	Hammer throw	2013	2022	5	–	–	5
	Maurice Greene	United States	100 m / 200 m / 4 × 100 m relay	1997	2001	5	–	–	5

* including one medal in the relay event in which he participated in the heats only

Individual events

Rank	Athlete	Country	Events	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Usain Bolt	Jamaica	100 m / 200 m	2007	2017	7	1	1	9
2	Mo Farah	Great Britain & N.I.	5000 m / 10,000 m	2011	2017	6	2	–	8
3	Sergey Bubka	Soviet Union   Ukraine	Pole vault	1983	1997	6	–	–	6
	Michael Johnson	United States	200 m / 400 m	1991	1999	6	–	–	6
5	Carl Lewis	United States	100 m / 200 m / Long jump	1983	1993	5	1	1	7
6	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	2003	2009	5	–	1	6
	Lars Riedel	Germany	Discus throw	1991	2001	5	–	1	6
8	Paweł Fajdek	Poland	Hammer throw	2013	2022	5	–	–	5
9	Ezekiel Kemboi	Kenya	3000 m steeplechase	2003	2015	4	3	–	7
10	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	1993	2003	4	2	1	7

Women

All events

Rank	Athlete	Country	Events	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Allyson Felix	United States	200 m / 400 m / 4 × 100 m relay / 4 × 400 m relay / 4 × 400 m mixed relay	2005	2022	** 14 **	3	3	** 20 **
2	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	100 m / 200 m / 4 × 100 m relay	2007	2022	10	* 4 *	–	* 14 *
3	Gail Devers	United States	100 m / 100 m hurdles / 4 × 100 m relay	1991	2001	5	3	–	8
4	Sanya Richards-Ross	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	2003	2015	5	2	–	7
5	Jessica Beard	United States	4 × 400 m relay / 4 × 400 m mixed relay	2009	2019	*** 5 ***	* 1 *	–	**** 6 ****
	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	2003	2017	5	1	–	6
	Natasha Hastings	United States	4 × 400 m relay	2007	2017	**** 5 ****	1	–	**** 6 ****
8	Jearl Miles Clark	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	1993	2003	4	3	2	9
9	Valerie Adams (Vili)	New Zealand	Shot put	2005	2013	4	1	–	5
	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya	5000 m / 10,000 m	2007	2015	4	1	–	5
	Liu Hong	China	20 km walk	2009	2019	4	1	–	5

* including one medal in the relay event in which she participated in the heats only
** including two medals in the relay events in which she participated in the heats only
*** including three medals in the relay events in which she participated in the heats only
**** including four medals in the relay events in which she participated in the heats only

Individual events

Rank	Athlete	Country	Events	From	To	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	100 m / 200 m	2009	2022	6	1	–	7
2	Tirunesh Dibaba	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	2003	2017	5	1	–	6
3	Gail Devers	United States	100 m / 100 m hurdles	1991	2001	4	2	–	6
4	Allyson Felix	United States	200 m / 400 m	2005	2017	4	1	2	7
5	Valerie Adams (Vili)	New Zealand	Shot put	2005	2013	4	1	–	5
	Vivian Cheruiyot	Kenya	5000 m / 10,000 m	2007	2015	4	1	–	5
	Liu Hong	China	20 km walk	2009	2019	4	1	–	5
8	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States	Heptathlon / Long jump	1987	1993	4	–	–	4
	Brittney Reese	United States	Long jump	2009	2017	4	–	–	4
	Anita Włodarczyk	Poland	Hammer throw	2009	2017	4	–	–	4

Athletes with most appearances

There are 64 athletes (35 men and 29 women) that have competed in at least eight editions.^[8]

App.	Name	Country	Years contested	Events
13	Jesús Ángel García Bragado	Spain	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 19	50 km walk
12	João Vieira	Portugal	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	20 km walk / 35 km walk / 50 km walk
11	Susana Feitor	Portugal	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	10 km walk / 20 km walk
10	Franka Dietzsch	Germany	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	Discus throw
	Nicoleta Grasu	Romania	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	Discus throw
	Virgilijus Alekna	Lithuania	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	Discus throw
	Kim Collins	Saint Kitts and Nevis	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 15	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Inês Henriques	Portugal	01, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	20 km walk / 35 km walk / 50 km walk
	Allyson Felix	United States	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	200 m / 400 m / 4x100 m / 4x400 m / 4x400 m Mixed
	Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od	Mongolia	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	Marathon
9	Laverne Eve	Bahamas	87, 91, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	Javelin throw
	Tim Berrett	Canada	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	20 km walk / 50 km walk
	Jackie Edwards	Bahamas	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	Long Jump / Triple Jump
	Maria Mutola	Mozambique	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	800 m
	Elisângela Adriano	Brazil	91, 93, 97, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Shot put / Discus throw
	Venelina Veneva-Mateeva	Bulgaria	91, 95, 99, 01, 03, 05, 09, 11, 15	High Jump
	Danny McFarlane	Jamaica	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	400 m / 400 m hurdles / 4x400 m
	Hatem Ghoula	Tunisia	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 13	20 km walk
	Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie	Bahamas	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 07, 09, 11, 13	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Nicola Vizzoni	Italy	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	Hammer throw
	Chris Brown	Bahamas	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15	400 m / 4x400 m
	Zhang Wenxiu	China	01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17	Hammer throw
	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	01, 03, 07, 09, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	Discus throw
8	Merlene Ottey	Jamaica /   Slovenia	83, 87, 91, 93, 95, 97, 03, 07	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Jan Železný	Czechoslovakia /   Czech Republic	87, 91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03	Javelin throw
	Yelena Nikolayeva	Soviet Union /   Russia	87, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05	10 km walk / 20 km walk
	Fiona May	Great Britain & N.I. /   Italy	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05	Long Jump
	Beverly McDonald	Jamaica	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Lars Riedel	Germany	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05	Discus throw
	Dragutin Topić	SFR Yugoslavia / IWP * /   FR Yugoslavia /   Serbia and Montenegro /   Serbia	91, 93, 95, 97, 99, 05, 07, 09	High Jump
	Iryna Yatchenko	Soviet Union /   Belarus	91, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 07, 09	Discus throw
	Eunice Barber	Sierra Leone /   France	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	Heptathlon / Long Jump / 100 m hurdles
	Kevin Sullivan	Canada	93, 95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07	1500 m
	Manuel Martínez	Spain	93, 95, 97, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	Shot put
	Steffi Nerius	Germany	93, 95, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	Javelin throw
	Amy Acuff	United States	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	High Jump
	Chandra Sturrup	Bahamas	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Aleksander Tammert	Estonia	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09	Discus throw
	María Vasco	Spain	95, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	10 km walk / 20 km walk
	Koji Murofushi	Japan	95, 97, 99, 01, 03, 07, 11, 13	Hammer throw
	Szymon Ziółkowski	Poland	95, 99, 01, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	Hammer throw
	Marlon Devonish	Great Britain & N.I.	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Nadine Kleinert	Germany	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Shot put
	Sergey Makarov	Russia	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Javelin throw
	Ēriks Rags	Latvia	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Javelin throw
	Roman Šebrle	Czech Republic	97, 99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11	Decathlon
	Omar Zepeda	Mexico	97, 01, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 17	20 km walk / 50 km walk
	Mario Pestano	Spain	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	Discus throw
	Félix Sánchez	Dominican Republic	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	400 m hurdles / 4x400 m
	Bouabdellah Tahri	France	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13	1500 m / 3000 m steeplechase
	Zoltán Kővágó	Hungary	01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 15, 17	Discus throw
	Ruth Beitia	Spain	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17	High Jump / 4x100 m
	Gerd Kanter	Estonia	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17	Discus throw
	Ezekiel Kemboi	Kenya	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17	3000 m steeplechase
	Churandy Martina	Netherlands Antilles /   Netherlands	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 19	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Zuzana Hejnová	Czech Republic	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	400 m hurdles / 4x400 m
	Horacio Nava	Mexico	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	20 km walk / 50 km walk
	Krisztián Pars	Hungary	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	Hammer throw
	Martyn Rooney	Great Britain & N.I.	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	400 m / 4x400 m / 4x400 m Mixed
	Levern Spencer	Saint Lucia	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	High Jump
	Dragana Tomašević	Serbia and Montenegro /   Serbia	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19	Discus throw
	Andrés Chocho	Ecuador	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	20 km walk / 35 km walk / 50 km walk
	Gong Lijiao	China	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	Shot put
	Donald Thomas	Bahamas	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22	High Jump

* At the 1993 World Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart, Germany, Dragutin Topić competed as an Individual World Championship Participant (IWP) as Athletic Federation of Yugoslavia was suspended by IAAF due to United Nations sanctions stemming from the Yugoslav wars.

World records

A total of 35 world records have been set or equalled at the competition: 18 by men, 15 by women, and 2 in the mixed relay.

The first world record to be set at the World Championships was by Jarmila Kratochvílová of Czechoslovakia, who ran 47.99 seconds to win the 1983 women's 400 m final.

A peak of five world records came at the 1993 Championships.

The most recent world record was in the Men's Pole vault in 2022, when Armand Duplantis of Sweden cleared the new record height of 6.21 metres. World records have become less common as the history of the event has expanded, with no world records set in the 1997, 2001, 2007 or 2013 editions.

American athletes have been the most successful with fourteen world records, followed by Jamaica and Great Britain on four each. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has broken the most world records at the competition, at four, while American Carl Lewis set three. Jonathan Edwards holds the distinction of breaking the world record twice in one championships: improving upon his own newly-set world record in the 1995 men's triple jump final. The men's 4 × 100 metres relay has yielded the most world records, with five set between 1983 and 2011.

Ben Johnson's time of 9.83 seconds at the 1987 World Championships men's 100 m final was initially considered to be a world record, but this was rescinded in 1989 after Johnson admitted to steroid use between 1981 and 1988.

Also, the 2009 Jamaican men's 4 × 100 metres relay team time of 37.31 seconds was retrospectively recognised to as the world record after the team's time of 37.10 at the 2008 Olympics was rescinded after the disqualification of Nesta Carter (who was not present in the World Championships team).

Sex	Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Year
Men	4 × 100 metres relay	37.86	Emmit King Willie Gault Calvin Smith Carl Lewis	United States (USA)	10 August	1983
Women	400 metres	47.99	Jarmila Kratochvílová	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	10 August	1983
Women	High jump	2.09 m	Stefka Kostadinova	Bulgaria (BUL)	30 August	1987
Men	100 metres	9.86	Carl Lewis	United States (USA)	25 August	1991
Men	Long jump	8.95 m	Mike Powell	United States (USA)	30 August	1991
Men	4 × 100 metres relay	37.50	Andre Cason Leroy Burrell Dennis Mitchell Carl Lewis	United States (USA)	1 September	1991
Men	110 metres hurdles	12.91	Colin Jackson	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	20 August	1993
Men	4 × 100 metres relay	37.40	Jon Drummond Andre Cason Dennis Mitchell Leroy Burrell	United States (USA)	21 August	1993
Men	4 × 400 metres relay	2:54.29	Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Butch Reynolds Michael Johnson	United States (USA)	22 August	1993
Women	400 metres hurdles	52.74	Sally Gunnell	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	19 August	1993
Women	Triple jump	15.09 m	Anna Biryukova	Russia (RUS)	21 August	1993
Men	Triple jump	18.16 m	Jonathan Edwards	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	7 August	1995
Men	Triple jump	18.29 m	Jonathan Edwards	Great Britain & N.I. (GBR)	7 August	1995
Women	400 metres hurdles	52.61	Kim Batten	United States (USA)	11 August	1995
Women	Triple jump	15.50 m	Inessa Kravets	Ukraine (UKR)	10 August	1995
Men	400 metres	43.18	Michael Johnson	United States (USA)	26 August	1999
Women	Pole vault	4.60 m	Stacy Dragila	United States (USA)	21 August	1999
Men	20 kilometres race walk	1:17:21	Jefferson Pérez	Ecuador (ECU)	23 August	2003
Men	50 kilometres race walk	3:36:03	Robert Korzeniowski	Poland (POL)	27 August	2003
Women	Pole vault	5.01 m	Yelena Isinbaeva	Russia (RUS)	12 August	2005
Women	Javelin throw	71.70 m	Osleidys Menéndez	Cuba (CUB)	14 August	2005
Women	20 kilometres race walk	1:25:41	Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia (RUS)	7 August	2005
Men	100 metres	9.58	Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	16 August	2009
Men	200 metres	19.19	Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	20 August	2009
Men	4 × 100 metres relay	37.31	Steve Mullings Michael Frater Usain Bolt Asafa Powell	Jamaica (JAM)	22 August	2009
Women	Hammer throw	77.96 m	Anita Włodarczyk	Poland (POL)	22 August	2009
Men	4 × 100 metres relay	37.04	Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt	Jamaica (JAM)	4 September	2011
Men	Decathlon	9,045 pts	Ashton Eaton	United States (USA)	29 August	2015
Women	50 kilometres race walk	4:05:56	Inês Henriques	Portugal (POR)	13 August	2017
Mixed	4 × 400 metres relay	3:12.42	Tyrell Richard Jessica Beard Jasmine Blocker Obi Igbokwe	United States (USA)	28 September	2019
Mixed	4 × 400 metres relay	3:09.34	Wilbert London III Allyson Felix Courtney Okolo Michael Cherry	United States (USA)	29 September	2019
Women	400 metres hurdles	52.16	Dalilah Muhammad	United States (USA)	4 October	2019
Women	400 metres hurdles	50.68	Sydney McLaughlin	United States (USA)	22 July	2022
Women	100 metres hurdles	12.12	Tobi Amusan	Nigeria (NGR)	24 July	2022
Men	Pole vault	6.21 m	Armand Duplantis	Sweden (SWE)	24 July	2022

See also

• IAAF Hall of Fame
• IAAF Athlete of the Year
• International Athletics Championships and Games
• World Para Athletics Championships
• List of World Athletics Championships medalists (men)
• List of World Athletics Championships medalists (women)

Notes and references

1. Matthews, Peter (2012). Historical Dictionary of Track and Field (pg. 217). Scarecrow Press (eBook). Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
2. IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 9 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (pg. 179). IAAF/AFTS (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 9 September 2013.
3. IAAF World Championships in Athletics. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
4. Archive of Past Events. IAAF. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
5. "First World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki a landmark for track & field." Usatf.org. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
6. "IAAF World Championships London 2017 Medal Table". worldathletics.org.
7. "IAAF World Championships DOHA 2019 Medal Table". worldathletics.org.
8. "World Athletics Championships Oregon 22 – Statistics Handbook". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 12 July 2022.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to World Championships in Athletics.

• Official World Athletics site for World Championships
• Track and Field Results Almanac
• Top medalists from World Athletics Championships
• IAAF Statistics Book – IAAF World Championships London 2017
• IAAF Statistics Book – IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019