World Athletics Championships

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. 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.

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.

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.

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[1]	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

^[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.

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

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[a]	63	61	65+2=	78+2=	66+2=	61+2=	53+5=	45+1=	191	2347.5
3	Russia[b]	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
11	Soviet Union	23	25+2=	28	21+1=	17	12	11	17+1=	78	793
12	Cuba	22	23+1=	13+1=	33	10+2=	17+1=	23	19	60	757.5
13	Italy	12	15+1=	19	15	17+2=	24+1=	32+2=	30+2=	47	642.5
14	Spain	7	17+1=	15+1	19	20	24	18	20	41	580
15	Ukraine	11	12+2=	16	19	21	16+1=	21+1=	9	41	561.6

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.

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	Noah Lyles	United States	100 m / 200 m / 4 × 100 m relay	2019	2023	6	1	–	7
7	Sergey Bubka	Soviet Union   Ukraine	Pole vault	1983	1997	6	–	–	6
8	Jeremy Wariner	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	2005	2009	5	1	–	6
9	Kenenisa Bekele	Ethiopia	5000 m / 10,000 m	2003	2009	5	–	1	6
	Lars Riedel	Germany	Discus throw	1991	2001	5	–	1	6

* 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	2023	10	* 5 *	1	* 16 *
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	Shericka Jackson	Jamaica	100 m / 200 m / 400 m / 4 × 100 m relay / 4 × 400 m relay	2015	2023	4	4	3	11
9	Jearl Miles Clark	United States	400 m / 4 × 400 m relay	1991	2003	4	3	2	9
10	Faith Kipyegon	Kenya	1500 m / 5000 m	2015	2023	4	2	–	6

* 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	2023	6	1	1	8
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
	Faith Kipyegon	Kenya	1500 m / 5000 m	2015	2023	4	2	–	6
5	Allyson Felix	United States	200 m / 400 m	2005	2017	4	1	2	7
6	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
9	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States	Heptathlon / Long jump	1987	1993	4	–	–	4
	Brittney Reese	United States	Long jump	2009	2017	4	–	–	4
	Yulimar Rojas	Venezuela	Triple jump	2017	2023	4	–	–	4
	Anita Włodarczyk	Poland	Hammer throw	2009	2017	4	–	–	4

There are 44 athletes (18 men and 26 women) that have won at least 6 medals.

Men 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 Noah Lyles   United States 3 6 1 0 7 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 Christian Coleman   United States 2 3 3 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 Athlete Country Events Gold Silver Bronze Total Allyson Felix   United States 5 14 3 3 20 Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce   Jamaica 3 10 5 1 16 Merlene Ottey   Jamaica 3 3 4 7 14 Shericka Jackson   Jamaica 5 4 4 3 11 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 Gong Lijiao   China 1 2 2 4 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 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 Faith Kipyegon   Kenya 2 4 2 0 6 Kerron Stewart   Jamaica 2 3 3 0 6 Heike Drechsler (Daute)   East Germany /   Germany 3 2 2 2 6 Sifan Hassan   Netherlands 3 2 1 3 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

There are 71 athletes (37 men and 34 women) that have competed in at least eight editions.

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
	João Vieira	Portugal	99, 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	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
	Inês Henriques	Portugal	01, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	20 km walk / 35 km walk / 50 km walk
	Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od	Mongolia	03, 05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	Marathon
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
	Mélina Robert-Michon	France	01, 03, 07, 09, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	Discus throw
	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
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
	Andrés Chocho	Ecuador	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	20 km walk / 35 km walk / 50 km walk
	Gong Lijiao	China	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	Shot put
	Donald Thomas	Bahamas	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	High jump
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
	Renny Quow	Trinidad and Tobago	05, 07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 23	400 m / 4x400 m
	Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	Jamaica	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 19, 22, 23	100 m / 200 m / 4x100 m
	Liu Hong	China	07, 09, 11, 13, 15, 19, 22, 23	20 km walk
	Bianca Ghelber (Perie)	Romania	07, 09, 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 23	Hammer throw
	Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal	Norway	07, 09, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	1500 m / 5000 m / 3000 m steeplechase
	Andriy Protsenko	Ukraine	09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	High jump
	Kimberly Williams	Jamaica	09, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 23	Triple 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.

A total of 36 world records have been set or equalled at the competition: 18 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 ran47.99 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 Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay in 2023, when the US team set a time of 3:08.80. 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. 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
Mixed	4 × 400 metres relay	3:08.80	Justin Robinson Rosey Effiong Matthew Boling Alexis Holmes	United States (USA)	19 August	2023

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