The World Athletics Championship is the ultimate global outdoor competition for track, field and marathon athletes. It ranks alongside the Olympic Games and football’s World Cup as the sport’s biggest event, attracting the planet’s finest runners, jumpers, throwers, long-distance specialists and race walkers. Since it was launched in 1983, the event has been held every two years.
It is organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and takes place at a different venue each year, except for in 2026, when London will host the Championships for the first time. It features 12 track events and eight field events for men and women, plus a mixed 4x100m relay. Combined eventers complete a decathlon for men and a heptathlon for women, while there are also marathons and 20km and 35km race walks.
In the inaugural championships in August 1983, Carl Lewis announced his arrival as a global superstar with gold medals in the 100m, long jump and 4x100m relay, while Finland’s home fans went wild after Tiina Lillak secured a memorable victory in the javelin. Other all-time greats like Grete Waitz (marathon), Ed Moses (400m hurdles) and Daley Thompson (decathlon) also clinched golds at the new tournament, which was held a month and a half after the Montreal Olympics.
There have been 36 world records set at the World Athletics Championships, 18 of them by men and 15 by women. It’s a big challenge for the best athletes in the world to improve on those numbers, but it has been done several times over, most recently by Clayton Young in the men’s marathon, who sprinted clear in the final kilometre to win by more than five seconds from Amanal Petros of Germany.