Portal:Sport of athletics

Welcome to THE ATHLETICS PORTAL

Introduction

A copy of the Ancient Greek statue *Discobolus*, portraying a discus thrower

P:SOAP:SOA

Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping and throwing. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross-country running, and race walking.

The results of racing events are decided by finishing position (or time, where measured), while the jumps and throws are won by the athlete that achieves the highest or furthest measurement from a series of attempts. The simplicity of the competitions, and the lack of a need for expensive equipment, makes athletics one of the most common types of sports in the world. Athletics is mostly an individual sport, with the exception of relay races and competitions which combine athletes' performances for a team score, such as cross country.

Organized athletics are traced back to the ancient Olympic Games from 776 BC. The rules and format of the modern events in athletics were defined in Western Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century, and were then spread to other parts of the world. Most modern top level meetings are held under the auspices of World Athletics, the global governing body for the sport of athletics, or its member continental and national federations. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various sport of athletics-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Men traversing the water jump in a steeplechase competition (from Track and field)
Image 2The finish of a women's 100 m race (from Track and field)
Image 3Carl Lewis, one of the athletes who helped increase track and field's profile (from Track and field)
Image 4An ancient Greece vase from 600 BC depicting a running contest (from Track and field)
Image 5The 2006 European Athletics Championships at Ullevi Stadium (from Track and field)
Image 6Shaul Ladany (centre), in 1969 (from Race walking)
Image 7A child taking part in a local schools meeting in Cambodia (from Track and field)
Image 8The start of a typical cross country race, as an official fires a gun to signal the start (from Cross country running)
Image 9Runners at the 2010 European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal (from Cross country running)
Image 10Arne Andersson (left) and Gunder Hägg (right) broke a number of middle-distance world records in the 1940s. (from Track and field)
Image 11Remigius Machura preparing to throw within the circle in shot put (from Track and field)
Image 12Girls handing over the baton in a relay race in Leipzig in 1950 (from Track and field)
Image 13Naide Gomes in the jumping phase of the event (from Track and field)
Image 14A javelin throw athlete (from Track and field)
Image 15The Roy Griak Invitational cross country meet at the University of Minnesota in September 2007 (from Cross country running)
Image 16Yury Shayunou spinning with the hammer within the circle in hammer throw (from Track and field)
Image 17Men assuming the starting position for a sprint race (from Track and field)
Image 18The 100 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics (from Track and field)
Image 19Anna Giordano Bruno releases the pole after clearing the bar in pole vault (from Track and field)
Image 20Oscar Pistorius running in the first round of the 400 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics (from Track and field)
Image 21A typical layout of an outdoor track and field stadium (from Track and field)
Image 22A women's 400 m hurdles race at the 2007 Dutch Championships (from Track and field)
Image 23Edvin Wide, Ville Ritola, and Paavo Nurmi (on left) competing in the individual cross country race at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris; due to the hot weather, which exceeded 40 °C (104 °F), only 15 out of 38 competitors finished the race. (from Cross country running)
Image 24American athlete Jim Thorpe lost his Olympic medals after taking expense money prior to the 1912 Summer Olympics for playing baseball, a violation of Olympic amateurism rules. (from Track and field)
Image 25An example of a racewalker in a "flight phase" (both feet entirely out of contact with the ground, a rule violation) (from Race walking)
Image 26A high school student attempting to high jump while using the Fosbury Flop technique (from Track and field)
Image 27Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele leading in a long-distance track event (from Track and field)
Image 28The New York State Federation Championship cross country meet in November 2010 (from Cross country running)
Image 29The Gordon Indoor Track features an 80-yard sprint straight, and the track is 220 yards in length. (from Track and field)
Image 30Zoltán Kővágó preparing to spin and throw in discus throw (from Track and field)
Image 31A graph of the world record progression in the men's 100 metres (from Track and field)
Image 32An early model of hurdling at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1888 (from Track and field)
Image 33A children's cross country competition in Čakovec, Croatia (from Cross country running)
Image 34Quincy Wilson setting the U18 world record in the 400-meter dash (from Track and field)
Image 35Marion Jones, after admitting to doping, lost her Olympic medals, was banned from the sport, and spent six months in jail. (from Track and field)
Image 36The pole vault competition at the 2007 Pan American Games (from Track and field)
Image 37Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, one of the first modern track and field stadiums (from Track and field)

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Selected article

The European 10,000m Cup is an annual 10,000 metres race for European athletes which was first held in 1997. The competition is organised by the European Athletics Association and first began as the European 10000 Metres Challenge (European 10,000m Challenge till 2005 edition), after the event was removed from the European Cup programme. (Full article...)

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Selected picture

2010 Summer Youth Olympics

Credit: Flickr - Album of l a i l i

The China athletics team at the Asian Qualifier for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics

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Athlete birthdays

Filbert Bayi, Tanzanian runner
Oliver-Sven Buder, German shot putter
Dick Cochran, American discus thrower
Abel Kiviat, American middle-distance runner
Norman Pritchard, Indian sprinter
Fernanda Ribeiro, Portuguese distance runner
Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter
Nicola Sanders, British sprinter

24 June:

Mutaz Essa Barshim, Qatari high jumper
Raelene Boyle, Australian sprinter
Frank Waller, American sprinter and hurdler

25 June:

Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper
Sébastien Levicq, French decathlete
Maurren Maggi, Brazilian long jumper
Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete
Frank Paschek, German long jumper
John Powell, American discus thrower

26 June:

Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler
Inga Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper
Paul Bitok, Kenyan distance runner
Babe Didrikson, American all-rounder
Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan distance runner
Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter
Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper

Upcoming

27 June:

Gabriella Dorio, Italian middle-distance runner
Vasiliy Kaptyukh, Belarusian discus thrower
LaShawn Merritt, American sprinter
Gene Venzke, American middle-distance runner

28 June:

Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower
Ibrahim Camejo, Cuban long jumper
Anişoara Cuşmir, Romanian long jumper
Belayneh Dinsamo, Ethiopian distance runner
Howard Drew, American sprinter
Lloyd LaBeach, Panamanian sprinter
Guillermo Martínez, Cuban javelin thrower
Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter
Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler
Lars Riedel, German discus thrower
Hans-Joachim Walde, German decathlete
Zhong Huandi, Chinese distance runner

29 June:

Margitta Gummel, German shot putter
Henry Hawtrey, British distance runner
Erik Lundqvist, Swedish javelin thrower
Earle Meadows, American pole vaulter
Rosa Mota, Portuguese distance runner
Aleksandr Shustov, Russian high jumper

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More did you know

... that the 2000 Summer Olympics gold medalist in the heptathlon was Denise Lewis?
... that as part of a publicity stunt, the 1927 Texas Relays held an 89 mile (143 km) running race from San Antonio to Austin?
... that Czech decathlete Roman Šebrle, world record holder and 2004 Olympic winner, was injured in January 2007 when a javelin which had been thrown 55 metres pierced his shoulder?
... that at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, Yipsi Moreno became world champion in the hammer throw at the age of twenty, improving from an eighteenth place finish in 1999?

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Selected biography

Reginald Wyatt (born September 17, 1990) is an American hurdler. He is the current holder of the NFHS (United States High School) record in the 300 meters intermediate hurdles at 35.02, set while winning a preliminary race at the CIF California State Meet on June 5, 2009 at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California. Wyatt won the State Meet the following day, but his time of 36.71 was not destined to be record material after he also won the 400 metres in 46.13 earlier at the same meet.

In 2009, he won the USATF Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 50.02 and he ran 49.78, the fifth best high school time for 400 hurdles, while winning the United States Junior Olympics. At the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad he again lost to rival Wynne but still took home a bronze medal. (Full article...)

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... that Liechtensteiner athlete Oskar Ospelt was a two-time Swiss national champion?
... that the championship record was broken three times in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2024 World Athletics Relays?
... that the "fall and rise of Femke Bol" refers to her fall in the mixed 4 × 400 m relay followed by her world title in the 400 metres hurdles?
... that Femke Bol passing three runners to win the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay was called "one of Paris's signature moments"?
... that SUNY Potsdam basketball coach Jerry Welsh won all but 13 of his 267 games at the team's home court?
... that the Dutch women's 4 × 400 metres relay team, having never won a medal before, won European titles in 2021, in 2022, in 2023, in 2024, and in 2025?
... that the teams of five countries set seven national records during a women's 4 × 400 metres relay event in 2024?
... that Femke Bol successfully defended her 2021 title by winning the women's 400 metres at the 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships?

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World records

World records (current olympic events only) as of 13 June 2026

Bolded, italicized records with two asterisks (**) are pending ratification by World Athletics.

More information Event, Men ...

Event	Men	Record (Year)	Women	Record (Year)
100 metres	Usain Bolt	9.58 (2009)	Florence Griffith Joyner	10.49 (1988)
200 metres	Usain Bolt	19.19 (2009)	Florence Griffith Joyner	21.34 (1988)
400 metres	Wayde van Niekerk	43.03 (2016)	Marita Koch	47.60 (1985)
800 metres	David Rudisha	1:40.91 (2012)	Jarmila Kratochvílová	1:53.28 (1983)
1500 metres	Hicham El Guerrouj	3:26.00 (1998)	Faith Kipyegon	3:48.68 (2025)
5000 metres	Joshua Cheptegei	12:35.36 (2020)	Beatrice Chebet	13:58.06 (2025)
10,000 metres	Joshua Cheptegei	26:11.00 (2020)	Beatrice Chebet	28:54.14 (2024)
Marathon	Sabastian Sawe	1:59:30 (2026)**	Ruth Chepng'etich	2:09:56 Mx (2024)
Marathon	Sabastian Sawe	1:59:30 (2026)**	Tigst Assefa	2:15:41 Wo (2026)**
3000 metres steeplechase	Lamecha Girma	7:52.11 (2023)	Beatrice Chepkoech	8:44.32 (2018)
110 metres hurdles (men) 100 metres hurdles (women)	Ja'Kobe Tharp	12.75 (2026)**	Tobi Amusan	12.12 (2022)
400 metres hurdles	Karsten Warholm	45.94 (2021)	Sydney McLaughlin	50.37 (2024)
High jump	Javier Sotomayor	2.45 m (1993)	Yaroslava Mahuchikh	2.10 m (2024)
Pole vault	Armand Duplantis	6.31 m (2026)**	Yelena Isinbayeva	5.06 m (2009)
Long jump	Mike Powell	8.95 m (1991)	Galina Chistyakova	7.52 m (1988)
Triple jump	Jonathan Edwards	18.29 m (1995)	Yulimar Rojas	15.74 m (2022)
Shot put	Ryan Crouser	23.56 m (2023)	Natalya Lisovskaya	22.63 m (1987)
Discus throw	Mykolas Alekna	75.56 m (2025)	Gabriele Reinsch	76.80 m (1988)
Hammer throw	Yuriy Sedykh	86.74 m (1986)	Anita Włodarczyk	82.98 m (2016)
Javelin throw	Jan Železný	98.48 m (1996)	Barbora Špotáková	72.28 m (2008)
Decathlon (men) Heptathlon (women)	Kevin Mayer	9126 pts (2018)	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	7291 pts (1988)
20 kilometres race walk	Toshikazu Yamanishi	1:16:10 (2025)	Yang Jiayu	1:23:49 (2021)
4 × 100 metres relay	Jamaica Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt	36.84 (2012)	United States Tianna Bartoletta Allyson Felix Bianca Knight Carmelita Jeter	40.82 (2012)
4 × 400 metres relay	United States Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Butch Reynolds Michael Johnson	2:54.29 (1993)	Soviet Union Tatyana Ledovskaya Olga Nazarova Mariya Pinigina Olga Bryzgina	3:15.17 (1988)
Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay	Athletes		Record (Year)
Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay	United States Vernon Norwood (M) Shamier Little (F) Bryce Deadmon (M) Kaylyn Brown (F)		3:07.41 (2024)

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See also: List of world records in athletics

Topics

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Athletics events

Events in the sport of athletics

Track

Sprints
- 55 m
- 60 m
- 100 m
- 200 m
- 400 m

Hurdles
- 60 m
- 100 m
- 110 m
- 400 m

Middle distance
- 800 m
- 1500 m
- One mile
- 3000 m
- 3000 m steeplechase

Long distance
- 5000 m
- 10,000 m

Relays
- 4 × 100 m
- 4 × 400 m

Field

Throws
- Discus
- Hammer
- Javelin
- Shot put
- Weight throw

Jumps

Combined
- Heptathlon
- Decathlon

Road

Running
- Half marathon
- Marathon

Walking
- 20 km
- 50 km

Others

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Athletics competitions

From the first edition at the 1896 Summer Games, athletics has been considered the "queen" of the Olympics. Today, there are several other athletics championships organized at global and continental levels. Athletics also serves as the main focus of many multi-sport events such as the World University Games, Mediterranean Games, and Pan American Games. The following is a list of prominent athletics competitions.

More information Event, 1st edition ...

Event	1st edition	Kind of competition	Can participate
Olympic Games	1896	World games	Worldwide
World Championships	1983	World championships
World Indoor Championships	1985	World championships
European Championships	1934	Continental championships	Europe
European Indoor Championships	1966		Europe
South American Championships	1919		South America
Asian Championships	1973		Asia
African Championships	1979		Africa
Ocenian Championships	1990		Oceania