World Championships in Athletics medal table
World Athletics Championships | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | World championships Athletics |
Date(s) | varying |
Frequency | biennial |
Country | varying |
Inaugurated | 1983 |
Previous event | 2023 |
Next event | 2025 |
Organised by | World Athletics |
Website | worldathletics.org |
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]
The championships were sponsored by Qatari Airways, owned by the Qatari government as part of Qatar's soft power policy.[3][4]
At their debut, these championships were then held every four years, until 1991 when they switched to a two-year cycle.[5]
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.[6][7]
Over the years the competition has grown in size. In 1983 1,333 athletes from 153 countries participated.[8] 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
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 | 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.[9][10]
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[11]
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 | 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.
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 | 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 | 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 |
Multiple medalists
There are 44 athletes (18 men and 26 women) that have won at least 6 medals.[11]
Athletes with most appearances
There are 71 athletes (37 men and 34 women) that have competed in at least eight editions.[11]
* 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 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 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 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).
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
- ^ Matthews, Peter (2012). Historical Dictionary of Track and Field (pg. 217). Scarecrow Press (eBook). Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
- ^ IAAF Statistics Book Moscow 2013 Archived 9 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (pg. 179). IAAF/AFTS (2013). Edited by Mark Butler. Retrieved on 9 September 2013.
- ^ "A global map of Qatar's sponsorships in sports". www.playthegame.org. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ "How Qatar Became a World Leader in Sportswashing". Journal of Democracy. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ "Two years from now, in 2025, the next heated battle will take place in Tokyo | News | Tokyo 25 | World Athletics Championships". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
- ^ IAAF World Championships in Athletics. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
- ^ Archive of Past Events. IAAF. Retrieved on 8 September 2013.
- ^ "First World Outdoor Championships in Helsinki a landmark for track & field." Usatf.org. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- ^ "IAAF World Championships London 2017 Medal Table". worldathletics.org.
- ^ "IAAF World Championships DOHA 2019 Medal Table". worldathletics.org.
- ^ a b c "World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 – Statistical Booklet". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 10 August 2023.