The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the IAAF 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.

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 separately 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

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	1,705	United States
19th	2023	Budapest	Hungary	19 – 27 Aug	National Athletics Centre	36,000	49	202	2,187	United States
20th	2025	Tokyo	Japan	13 – 21 Sep	Japan National Stadium	68,000

All-time medal table

Updated after the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States	195	134	114	443
2	Kenya	65	58	48	171
3	Russia	42	52	48	142
4	Jamaica	40	61	48	149
5	Germany	39	36	48	123
6	Ethiopia	35	38	31	104
7	Great Britain & Northern Ireland	33	40	48	121
8	Soviet Union	23	27	28	78
9	China	22	26	27	75
10	Cuba	22	25	16	63
11	East Germany	21	19	16	56
12	Poland	20	20	25	65
13	Australia	15	16	14	45
14	Czech Republic	15	5	8	28
15	France	14	19	23	56
16	Italy	13	18	20	51
17	Ukraine	12	15	16	43
18	Morocco	12	12	9	33
19	South Africa	12	7	8	27
	Sweden	12	7	8	27
21	Norway	12	6	6	24
22	Spain	11	19	16	46
23	Canada	11	18	17	46
24	Belarus	10	11	12	33
25	Bahamas	9	9	8	26
26	Japan	8	9	18	35
27	Bahrain	8	3	3	14
28	Netherlands	7	9	12	28
29	Finland	7	8	8	23
30	Portugal	7	7	9	23
31	Uganda	7	2	4	13
32	Greece	6	7	12	25
33	Algeria	6	2	3	11
34	New Zealand	6	1	1	8
35	Romania	5	8	12	25
36	Bulgaria	5	3	8	16
37	Qatar	5	2	4	11
38	Czechoslovakia	4	4	3	11
39	Croatia	4	4	2	10
40	Colombia	4	3	2	9
41	Dominican Republic	4	2	1	7
42	Ireland	4	2	0	6
43	Switzerland	4	0	5	9
44	Venezuela	4	0	1	5
–	Authorised Neutral Athletes	3	8	1	12
45	West Germany	3	6	3	12
46	Trinidad and Tobago	3	5	7	15
47	Mexico	3	4	7	14
48	Lithuania	3	3	3	9
49	Ecuador	3	2	1	6
50	Grenada	3	1	2	6
51	Mozambique	3	1	1	5
52	Denmark	3	0	1	4
53	Brazil	2	6	8	16
54	Estonia	2	6	2	10
55	Belgium	2	2	7	11
56	Slovenia	2	2	3	7
57	Peru	2	1	0	3
	Tajikistan	2	1	0	3
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	Botswana	1	2	1	4
64	Zambia	1	2	0	3
65	Burkina Faso	1	1	1	3
	India	1	1	1	3
	Tunisia	1	1	1	3
68	Eritrea	1	1	0	2
	Panama	1	1	0	2
70	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0	4	5
71	Serbia	1	0	3	4
	Slovakia	1	0	3	4
73	Barbados	1	0	2	3
	Syria	1	0	2	3
75	Senegal	1	0	1	2
	Somalia	1	0	1	2
77	North Korea	1	0	0	1
78	Hungary	0	7	8	15
79	Ivory Coast	0	4	1	5
80	Israel	0	3	2	5
81	Puerto Rico	0	3	1	4
82	Burundi	0	2	1	3
	Djibouti	0	2	1	3
84	Cameroon	0	2	0	2
85	Austria	0	1	3	4
86	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0	1	1	2
	Cyprus	0	1	1	2
	Ghana	0	1	1	2
	Latvia	0	1	1	2
	Philippines	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
95	Bermuda	0	1	0	1
	British Virgin Islands	0	1	0	1
	Egypt	0	1	0	1
	Pakistan	0	1	0	1
	Sudan	0	1	0	1
100	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
	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	1
	Zimbabwe	0	0	1	1
Totals (106 entries)		878	884	880	2642

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.^[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 2022 Championships^[8]

Copyright.sk © 2024

Rank	Country				4	5	6	7	8	Medals	Points
1	United States	183	125+1=	103+2=	77+5=	90+3=	84+3=	74+2=	80+4=	414	4240.5
2	Germany	63	61	65+2=	78+2=	66+2=	61+2=	53+5=	45+1=	191	2347.5
3	Russia	45	54+6=	47+2=	56+2=	39+3=	43+2=	35+1=	40+1=	154	1771.5
4	Kenya	62	55	44	48	40	28	47	21	161	1744
5	Jamaica	37	56	43+1=	34	31	29	31	24	137	1418.5
6	Great Britain & N.I.	31	37	43	43+2=	50+1=	34+1=	31+1=	21	111	1381
7	Ethiopia	33	34	28	26	21	18	20	20	95	998
8	China	22	25+1=	25	20	34+1=	21+1=	21	24+1=	73	879
9	France	14	18	21+2=	27	28+2=	31+1=	24+1=	32+1=	55	804.1
10	Poland	20	17+1=	21+4=	23+1=	24	22+2=	27	21+2=	63	794.8