The African Championships in Athletics is a continental
athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
event organized by the
Confederation of African Athletics
The Confederation of African Athletics (CAA; French: ''Confédération Africaine d'Athlétisme'') is the continental association for the sport of athletics in Africa. It is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. It organises the African Championships in ...
(CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised intermittently with nine editions held in fourteen years until 1993. Following the tenth edition in 1996 it has been organised biennially on even years, and is always held in the same year as the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
. The 21st edition was held in
Asaba
Asaba is the capital city of Delta State, Nigeria. It is located at the western bank of the Niger River, in the Oshimili South Local Government Area. Asaba had a population of 149,603 as at the 2006 census, and a metropolitan population of o ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
in August 2018.
The event featured a men's
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
from 1979 to 1990. Following it being dropped from the programme an
African Marathon Championships was briefly contested.
African Marathon Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-03-05. The event programme has roughly matched that of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics
The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...
, with the exception of the 50 kilometres race walk.[African Championships]
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-03-05.
The following list shows changes to the event programme:
*1982, women's heptathlon
A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...
and men's 20 km walk were added to replace women's pentathlon
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...
and men's 10 km walk.
*1985, women's 10,000 m was added.
*1988, women's 5 km walk was added. Discontinued since 1998.
*1992, women's triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
was added. Men's marathon, held from 1979 to 1990 (with the exception of 1984) was permanently dropped.
*1996, women's 5000 metres
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...
was added.
*1998, women's hammer throw
The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin.
The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...
was added. Women's 3000 metres was permanently removed from the programme, while men's 3000 metres event was held for the only time.
*2000, women's pole vault
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...
was added. Women's 10 km walk was also added before being held again in 2002 and discontinued.
*2004, women's 3000 m steeplechase and 20 km walk were added.
*2022, mixed 4 × 400 metres relay was added.
Championships
Championship records
Statistics
Points Wins by country
All-time medal table (1979–2022)
Most successful athletes
The best athletes of these championships are:
Men Hakim Toumi 7 gold medals
Women Zoubida Laayouni 7 gold medals
References
External links
Confederation of African Athletics
{{DEFAULTSORT:African Championships in Athletics
Continental athletics championships
Confederation of African Athletics competitions
Recurring sporting events established in 1979
Athletics
Athletics may refer to:
Sports
* Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking
** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport
* Athletics (physical culture), competi ...
Biennial athletics competitions