World Athletics Championships

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.

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

From 2019 to 2022 the championships were sponsored by Qatar National Bank, which has been described as being part of Qatar's soft power policy.

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.

Changes in the list of events were as follows:

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

Championships

All-time medal table

Updated after the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Source: World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 – Statistical Booklet 2023 Medal Table 2025 Medal Table ;Notes 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.

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 2022 Championships

;Notes

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

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

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

Individual events

Women

All events

• 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

Multiple medalists

There are 49 athletes (21 men and 28 women) that have won at least 6 medals.

Men

Women

Athletes with most appearances

There are 28 athletes (12 men and 16 women) that have competed in at least nine editions.

World records

A total of 37 world records have been set or equalled at the competition: 19 by men, 15 by women, and 3 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 final in 2025, when the Swedish Armand Duplantis cleared 6.30 m. 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 fifteen 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 while Armand Duplantis broke the men's pole vault world record twice on two separate championships, first in 2022 and later in 2025. 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).

References

1. Matthews, Peter (2012). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dQFHe9RwE0wC Historical Dictionary of Track and Field]'' (pg. 217). Scarecrow Press (eBook). Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
2. Butler, Mark. (9 September 2013). "IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013".
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6. "IAAF World Championships in Athletics".
7. [http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/history Archive of Past Events]. [[IAAF]]. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
8. link. (6 August 2020 Usatf.org. Retrieved 23 July 2012.)
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11. "IAAF World Championships London 2017 Medal Table".
12. "IAAF World Championships DOHA 2019 Medal Table".
13. "World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 – Statistical Booklet". worldathletics.org.