The

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 ...

is a biennial event which began in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. Organised by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

(IAAF), the World Championships are a competition comprising

track and field athletics Track and field is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of ...

events available to male and female athletes from any of the IAAF's 213 member federations. Championship records are set when an athlete achieves the best mark in an event at one of the editions of the Championships. World, area, and national records have been set at the championships over the course of its history. Competitors at the World Championships come from around the globe and records have been broken by athletes from all six continents. The United States has been the most successful competitor at the World Championships in both medals and records. Four athletes hold multiple records: *

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight- ...

holds records in the 100 and 200 metres as well as the 4 x 100 relay * Michael Johnson holds individual and relay records in the 400 metres *

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

broke both the heptathlon and long jump records *

Jarmila Kratochvílová Jarmila Kratochvílová (; born 26 January 1951, in Golčův Jeníkov) is a Czech people, Czech former track and field athlete. She won the 400 metres and 800 metres at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics, 1983 World Championships, setting a ...

set the records in the 400 and 800 metres at the inaugural Championships in 1983, which are still unbeaten and are the two oldest records of the Championships.

Men

*Key to tables: *Note: World records in bold are current world records, those in ''bold italics'' are former world records ''Statistics are correct as of July 2022''

Decathlon disciplines

Women

*Note:World records in bold are current world records, those in ''bold italics'' are former world records ''Statistics are correct as of July 2022''

Heptathlon disciplines

Mixed

*Note: World records in bold are current world records, those in ''bold italics'' are former world records

References

General

Official record tables

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2009-06-17.
Competition websites

. Retrieved on 2009-05-09.

Specific

{{World Championships in Athletics events

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Men