List of World Athletics Championships records explained

The World Athletics Championships is a biennial event which began in 1983. Organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the World Championships are a competition comprising track and field athletics 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 holds records in the 100 and 200 metres as well as the 4 × 100 relay
• Michael Johnson holds individual and relay records in the 400 metres
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee broke both the heptathlon and long jump records
• Jarmila Kratochvílová 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 August 2023

width=9%	Event	width=8%	Record	width=13%	Name	width=7%	Location	width=10%	Date	width=2%	Ref	width=2%	Video
100 m	9.58 (+0.9 m/s)		Berlin	16 August 2009		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By1JQFxfLMM
200 m	19.19 (−0.3 m/s)		Berlin	20 August 2009		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EiPCfPROtE
400 m	43.18		Sevilla	26 August 1999		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV8yVHO6cFY
800 m	1:42.34		Doha	1 October 2019	^[1]	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OniE76TaOhE
1500 m	3:27.65		Sevilla	24 August 1999		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6jrqsbD3Pc
5000 m	12:52.79		Paris	31 August 2003		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZdOdriRdk
10000 m	26:46.31		Berlin	17 August 2009
Marathon	2:05:36		Eugene	17 July 2022	^[2]
110 m hurdles	12.91 (+0.5 m/s) WR		Stuttgart	20 August 1993
400 m hurdles	46.29		Eugene	19 July 2022	^[3]
3000 m steeplechase	8:00.43		Berlin	18 August 2009
High jump	2.41 m		Moscow	15 August 2013	^[4]
Pole vault	6.21 m WR		Eugene	24 July 2022
Long jump	8.95 m (+0.3 m/s)		Tokyo	30 August 1991
Triple jump	18.29 m (+1.3 m/s)		Gothenburg	7 August 1995
Shot put	23.51 m		Budapest	19 August 2023	^[5]
Discus throw	71.46 m		Budapest	21 August 2023	^[6]
Hammer throw	83.63 m^[7]		Osaka	27 August 2007
Javelin throw	92.80 m		Edmonton	12 August 2001
Decathlon	9045 pts		Beijing	28–29 August 2015	^[8]
20 km walk (road)	1:17:21		Paris	23 August 2003
35 km walk (road)	2:23:14		Eugene	24 July 2022	^[9]
50 km walk (road)	3:33:12		London	13 August 2017	^[10]
4 × 100 m relay	37.04	Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt	Daegu	4 September 2011	^[11]	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc2wgjdfe_U
4 × 400 m relay	2:54.29	Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Butch Reynolds Michael Johnson	Stuttgart	22 August 1993	^[12]	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDycCUeZ0BA

Key:

World record

Area record

National record

Athlete's personal best

Decathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref
100 m	10.23	Ashton Eaton		28 August 2015	2015 World Championships	Beijing, China
Long jump	8.07 m	Tomáš Dvořák		6 August 2001	2001 World Championships	Edmonton, Canada
Shot put	17.54 m	Mike Smith		5 August 1997	1997 World Championships	Athens, Greece
High jump	2.24 m	Jagan Hames		5 August 1997	1997 World Championships	Athens, Greece
400 m	45.00	Ashton Eaton		28 August 2015	2015 World Championships	Beijing, China
110 m hurdles	13.55	Frank Busemann		6 August 1997	1997 World Championships	Athens, Greece
Discus throw	54.97 m	Lindon Victor		26 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	^[13]
Pole vault	5.50 m	Sébastien Levicq		25 August 1999	1999 World Championships	Seville, Spain
Javelin throw	79.05 m	Niklas Kaul		3 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	^[14]
1500 m	4:11.82	Beat Gähwiler		30 August 1991	1991 World Championships	Tokyo, Japan

Women

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

Statistics are correct as of August 2023

width=12%	Event	width=6%	Record	width=13%	Name	width=13% sortable	Location	width=10%	Date	width=2%	Ref	width=2%	Video
100 m	10.65 (-0.2 m/s)		Budapest	21 August 2023	^[15]
200 m	21.41 (+0.1 m/s)		Budapest	25 August 2023	^[16]
400 m	47.99		Helsinki	10 August 1983		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YDlbHHICsU
800 m	1:54.68		Helsinki	9 August 1983		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcvQf7ga7cA
1500 m	3:51.95		Doha	5 October 2019	^[17]
3000 m (defunct since 1993)	8:28.71		Stuttgart	16 August 1993
5000 m	14:26.72		Doha	5 October 2019	^[18]
10000 m	30:04.18		Paris	23 August 2003
100 m hurdles	12.12 WR		Eugene	24 July 2022	^[19]
	12.06 (+2.5 m/s)		Eugene	24 July 2022
400 m hurdles	50.68 WR		Eugene	22 July 2022	^[20]
3000 m steeplechase	8:53.02		Eugene	20 July 2022	^[21]
Marathon	2:18:11		Eugene	18 July 2022	^[22]
High jump	2.09 m		Rome	30 August 1987
Pole vault	5.01 m		Helsinki	12 August 2005	^[23]
Long jump	7.36 m (+0.4 m/s)		Rome	4 September 1987
Triple jump	15.50 m (+0.9 m/s)		Gothenburg	10 August 1995
Shot put	21.24 m		Rome	5 September 1987
				29 August 2011
Discus throw	71.62 m		Rome	31 August 1987
Hammer throw	80.85 m		Beijing	27 August 2015	^[24]
Javelin throw	71.70 m		Helsinki	14 August 2005
	71.99 m DQ		Daegu	2 September 2011	^[25]	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktKOfmC_-2g
Heptathlon	7128 pts		Rome	31 August – 1 September 1987	^[26]
10000 m walk (track) (defunct since 1997)	42:55.49		Athens	7 August 1997
10 km walk (road) (defunct since 1995)	42:13		Gothenburg	7 August 1995	^[27]
20 km walk (road)	1:25:41		Helsinki	7 August 2005
35 km walk (road)	2:38:40		Budapest	24 August 2023	^[28]
50 km walk (road)	4:05:56		London	13 August 2017	^[29]
4 × 100 m relay	41.03	Tamari Davis Twanisha Terry Gabrielle Thomas Sha'Carri Richardson	Budapest	26 August 2023	^[30]
4 × 400 m relay	3:16.71	Gwen Torrence Maicel Malone-Wallace Natasha Kaiser-Brown Jearl Miles	Stuttgart	22 August 1993	^[31]

Key:

World record

Area record

National record

Athlete's personal best

Heptathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref
100 m hurdles	12.58 (+0.4 m/s)	Kendell Williams		2 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	^[32]
High jump	1.95 m	Carolina Klüft		25 August 2007	2007 World Championships	Osaka, Japan
		Nafissatou Thiam		5 August 2017	2017 World Championships	London, United Kingdom	^[33]
		Yorgelis Rodríguez		5 August 2017	2017 World Championships	London, United Kingdom
		Katarina Johnson-Thompson		2 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	^[34]
		Nafissatou Thiam
		Nafissatou Thiam		17 July 2022	2022 World Championships	Eugene, United States	^[35]
Shot put	17.03 m	Austra Skujytė		25 August 2007	2007 World Championships	Osaka, Japan
200 m	22.84	Dafne Schippers		12 August 2013	2013 World Championships	Moscow, Russia
Long jump	7.14 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee		1 September 1987	1987 World Championships	Rome, Italy
Javelin throw	59.57 m	Anouk Vetter		20 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	^[36]
800 m	2:04.09	Anna Hall		20 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	^[37]

Mixed

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

See also

• List of world records in athletics
• List of Olympic records in athletics
• List of Commonwealth Games records in athletics

References

General

• Official record tables. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-06-17.
• Competition websites. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-09.

Specific

Notes and References

1. Web site: 800 Metres Men – Final – Results. IAAF. 1 October 2019. 2 October 2019.
2. Web site: Men's Marathon Final Race Analysis. World Athletics. 17 July 2022. 19 July 2022.
3. Web site: Men's 400m Hurdles Final Results. World Athletics. 19 July 2022. 22 July 2022.
4. Web site: High Jump Result – 14th IAAF World Championships. IAAF. 15 August 2013. 15 August 2013.
5. Web site: Men's Shot Put Final Results. World Athletics. 19 August 2023. 19 August 2023.
6. Web site: Men's Discus Throw Final Results. World Athletics. 21 August 2023. 21 August 2023.
7. Note: The original Championships Record of 83.89 metres, set at the 2005 edition also by Ivan Tsikhan, was later retroactively annulled after his re-tested sample taken at those championships showed use of a prohibited substance. Revision of results following sanctions of Tsikhan and Ostapchuk
8. Web site: Men's Decathlon Results. IAAF. 29 August 2015. 29 August 2015.
9. Web site: Men's 35km Race Walk Final Results. World Athletics. 24 July 2022. 27 July 2022.
10. Web site: 50km Race Walk Results. IAAF. 13 August 2017. 13 August 2017.
11. Web site: 4x100 Metres Results. IAAF. 4 September 2011. 4 September 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120527150036/http://daegu2011.iaaf.org/documents/pdf/4147/AT-4X1-M-f--1--.RS1.pdf. 27 May 2012.
12. http://www2.iaaf.org/results/past/WCH93/data/M/4X4/Rf.html Results – 4 X 400 METRES – Men – Final
13. Web site: Men's Decathlon – Discus Throw Results. World Athletics. 26 August 2023. 26 August 2023.
14. Web site: Javelin Throw Men − Decathlon − Summary. IAAF. 3 October 2019. 4 October 2019.
15. Web site: 100m Final Results. World Athletics. 21 August 2023. 21 August 2023.
16. Web site: 200m Final Results. World Athletics. 25 August 2023. 17 December 2023.
17. Web site: 1500 Metres Women − Final − Results. 5 October 2019. IAAF. 6 October 2019.
18. Web site: 5000m Women − Final − Results. IAAF. 5 October 2019. 6 October 2019.
19. Web site: 100 Metres Hurdles Results. World Athletics. 24 July 2022. 25 July 2022.
20. Web site: 400m Hurldes Final Results. World Athletics. 22 July 2022. 23 July 2022.
21. Web site: Women's 3000m Steeplechase Final Results. World Athletics. 20 July 2022. 22 July 2022.
22. Web site: Women's Marathon Final Race Analysis. World Athletics. 18 July 2022. 19 July 2022.
23. Peters, Samuel (2005-08-12). 5.01m Pole Vault WORLD RECORD – Guess who?. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-08.
24. Web site: Hammer Throw Results. IAAF. 27 August 2015. 27 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924172314/http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/results/women/hammer-throw/final/series#resultheader. 2015-09-24. dead.
25. Web site: Javelin Throw Results. IAAF. 2 September 2011. 2 September 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20111202204619/http://daegu2011.iaaf.org/documents/pdf/4147/AT-JT-W-f--A--.RS1.pdf. 2 December 2011.
26. Web site: Oregon Stats Book . 22 August 2023 . 16.
27. Web site: 10 km Race Walk Results. IAAF. 1995-08-07. 2011-05-18. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100808025150/http://www2.iaaf.org/results/past/WCH95/data/W/10KR/Rf.html. 2010-08-08.
28. Web site: 35 km Race Walk Results. World Athletics. 24 August 2023. 25 August 2023.
29. Web site: 50km Race Walk Results. IAAF. 13 August 2017. 13 August 2017.
30. Web site: Women's 4×100m Relay Results. World Athletics. 26 August 2023. 28 August 2023.
31. http://www2.iaaf.org/results/past/WCH93/data/W/4X4/Rf.html Results – 4 X 400 METRES – Women – Final
32. Web site: 100 Metres Hurdles Women − Heptathlon − Summary. IAAF. 2 October 2019. 4 October 2019.
33. Web site: Heptathlon – High Jump Results. IAAF. 5 August 2017. 5 August 2017.
34. Web site: High Jump Women − Heptathlon − Summary. IAAF. 2 October 2019. 4 October 2019.
35. Web site: Women's Heptathlon – High Jump Results. World Athletics. 17 July 2022. 19 July 2022.
36. Web site: Heptathlon – Javelin Throw Results. World Athletics. 20 August 2023. 21 August 2023.
37. Web site: Heptathlon – 800m Results. World Athletics. 20 August 2023. 21 August 2023.
38. Web site: Mixed 4 x 400 Metres Relay Final Results. World Athletics. 19 August 2023. 19 August 2023.