The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students featured an athletics competition among its programme of events. The events were contested in Moscow, Soviet Union in August 1957. Mainly contested among Eastern European athletes, it served as an alternative to the more Western European-oriented 1957 World University Games held in Paris the same year in September.[1]
Many top Soviet athletes were present and the event and the nation won the most titles. Pyotr Bolotnikov won the 10,000 metres – a feat which preceded a 1960 Olympic win at the distance. Semyon Rzhishchin, the steeplechase world record holder, won his specialist event, but Olympic walking champion Leonid Spirin settled for runner-up spot. In the triple jump, Leonid Shcherbakov failed an attempt to win a fifth straight title at the festival, being beaten by two-time and reigning Olympic champion Adhemar da Silva, who claimed Brazil's first gold in festival history. Javelin thrower Janusz Sidło won a fourth straight world student title and his throw of marked the only time an athlete surpassed eighty metres at the competition. Yugoslavia was prominently represented by Franjo Mihalić, the Olympic runner-up and marathon winner here.[1]
In women's events, former Olympic champion Galina Zybina won the shot put for a second time running, while in the discus her compatriot and fellow Olympic champion Nina Ponomaryova won her fourth straight gold at the festival. Also among the strong Soviet throwers were javelin specialist Inese Jaunzeme and Tamara Tyshkevich (both reigning Olympic champions). Iolanda Balaș had her third straight world student win in the high jump. She went on to win at the 1958 European Athletics Championships a year later, as did pentathlon winner Galina Bystrova and 800 m runner-up Yelizaveta Yermolayeva.[1] [2]
| 100 metres | 10.5 | 10.6 | 10.7 | ||||
| 200 metres | 21.3 | 21.3 | 21.4 | ||||
| 400 metres | 47.6 | 47.7 | 47.9 | ||||
| 800 metres | 1:48.2 | 1:48.5 | 1:49.4 | ||||
| 1500 metres | 3:41.1 | 3:41.7 | 3:41.7 | ||||
| 5000 metres | 13:51.8 | 13:52.0 | 13:54.2 | ||||
| 10,000 metres | 29:14.6 | 29:16.4 | 29:36.0 | ||||
| 110 m hurdles | 14.5 | 14.6 | 14.6 | ||||
| 400 m hurdles | 51.2 | 51.3 | 53.9 | ||||
| 3000 metres steeplechase | 8:50.2 | 8:51.8 | 8:53.8 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m relay | 40.2 | 40.8 | 42.9 | ||||
| 4 × 400 m relay | 3:11.1 | 3:12.6 | 3:13.7 | ||||
| Marathon | 2:21:24 | 2:22:30 | 2:24:05 | ||||
| 20 km walk | 1:33:02 | 1:33:02 | 1:33:20 | ||||
| 50 km walk | 4:23:29 | 4:25:00 | 4:26:05 | ||||
| High jump | 2.13 m | 2.13 m | 2.01 m | ||||
| Pole vault | 4.50 m | 4.40 m | Not awarded | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long jump | 7.46 m | 7.43 m | 7.25 m | ||||
| Triple jump | 15.92 m | 15.90 m | 15.76 m | ||||
| Shot put | 17.20 m | 16.98 m | 16.94 m | ||||
| Discus throw | 53.55 m | 52.43 m | 52.19 m | ||||
| Hammer throw | 62.91 m | 62.35 m | 62.13 m | ||||
| Javelin throw | 80.12 m | 76.70 m | 76.44 m | ||||
| Decathlon | 7294 pts | 7193 pts | 6574 pts | ||||
| 100 metres | 11.9 | 12.0 | 12.0 | ||||
| 200 metres | 23.9 | 24.0 | 24.4 | ||||
| 400 metres | 54.4 | 54.7 | 54.7 | ||||
| 800 metres | 2:07.8 | 2:08.1 | 2:08.7 | ||||
| 80 m hurdles | 10.8 | 10.8 | 11.0 | ||||
| 4 × 100 m relay | 46.0 | 46.3 | Miroslava Trkalová Bedriska Müllerová Anna Pišková ? | 51.2 | |||
| High jump | 1.66 m | 1.66 m | 1.66 m | ||||
| Long jump | 5.87 m | 5.82 m | 5.81 m | ||||
| Shot put | 16.26 m | 16.14 m | 15.64 m | ||||
| Discus throw | 53.13 m | 52.04 m | 50.42 m | ||||
| Javelin throw | 51.60 m | 50.06 m | 49.92 m | ||||
| Pentathlon | 4560 pts | 4413 pts | 4283 pts |