1991 World Championships in Athletics

3rd World Championships in Athletics
Host city	Tokyo, Japan
Nations	167
Athletes	1517
Dates	August 23 – September 1, 1991
Opened by	Emperor Akihito
Main venue	Olympic Stadium
	← 1987 Rome 1993 Stuttgart →

Last updated September 14, 2025

The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1, 1991. 1,517 athletes from 167 countries participated in the event.^[1] Japan hosted again the championship in 2007 in Osaka and Tokyo hosted again the event in 2025 in a new venue building at the same place.

Men's results

Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m details	Carl Lewis (USA)	9.86 (WR)	Leroy Burrell (USA)	9.88 (PB)	Dennis Mitchell (USA)	9.91 (PB)
200 m details	Michael Johnson (USA)	20.01 (CR)	Frankie Fredericks (NAM)	20.34	Atlee Mahorn (CAN)	20.49
400 m details	Antonio Pettigrew (USA)	44.57	Roger Black (GBR)	44.62	Danny Everett (USA)	44.63
800 m details	Billy Konchellah (KEN)	1:43.99	José Luíz Barbosa (BRA)	1:44.24	Mark Everett (USA)	1:44.67
1500 m details	Noureddine Morceli (ALG)	3:32.84 (CR)	Wilfred Kirochi (KEN)	3:34.84	Hauke Fuhlbrügge (GER)	3:35.28
5000 m details	Yobes Ondieki (KEN)	13:14.45 (CR)	Fita Bayisa (ETH)	13:16.64	Brahim Boutayeb (MAR)	13:22.70
10,000 m details	Moses Tanui (KEN)	27:38.74	Richard Chelimo (KEN)	27:39.41	Khalid Skah (MAR)	27:41.74
Marathon details	Hiromi Taniguchi (JPN)	2:14:57	Hussein Ahmed Salah (DJI)	2:15:26	Steve Spence (USA)	2:15:36
110 m hurdles details	Greg Foster (USA)	13.06	Jack Pierce (USA)	13.06	Tony Jarrett (GBR)	13.25
400 m hurdles details	Samuel Matete (ZAM)	47.64	Winthrop Graham (JAM)	47.74 (NR)	Kriss Akabusi (GBR)	47.86 (NR)
3000 m st. details	Moses Kiptanui (KEN)	8:12.59	Patrick Sang (KEN)	8:13.44	Azzedine Brahmi (ALG)	8:15.54
20 km walk details	Maurizio Damilano (ITA)	1:19:37 (CR)	Mikhail Shchennikov (URS)	1:19:46	Yevgeniy Misyulya (URS)	1:20:22
50 km walk details	Aleksandr Potashov (URS)	3:53:09	Andrey Perlov (URS)	3:53:09	Hartwig Gauder (GER)	3:55:14
4 × 100 m relay details	United States (USA) Andre Cason Leroy Burrell Dennis Mitchell Carl Lewis Michael Marsh*	37.50 (WR)	France (FRA) Max Morinière Daniel Sangouma Jean-Charles Trouabal Bruno Marie-Rose	37.87	Great Britain (GBR) Tony Jarrett John Regis Darren Braithwaite Linford Christie	38.09
4 × 400 m relay details	Great Britain (GBR) Roger Black Derek Redmond John Regis Kriss Akabusi Ade Mafe* Mark Richardson*	2:57.53 (AR)	United States (USA) Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Danny Everett Antonio Pettigrew Jeff Reynolds* Mark Everett*	2:57.57	Jamaica (JAM) Patrick O'Connor Devon Morris Winthrop Graham Seymour Fagan Howard Burnett*	3:00.10
WR world record \| AR area record \| CR championship record \| GR games record \| NR national record \| OR Olympic record \| PB personal best \| SB season best \| WL world leading (in a given season)

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Long jump details	Mike Powell (USA)	8.95 (WR)	Carl Lewis (USA)	8.91w	Larry Myricks (USA)	8.42
Triple jump details	Kenny Harrison (USA)	17.78	Leonid Voloshin (URS)	17.75	Mike Conley (USA)	17.62
High jump details	Charles Austin (USA)	2.38 (CR)	Javier Sotomayor (CUB)	2.36	Hollis Conway (USA)	2.36
Pole vault details	Sergey Bubka (URS)	5.95 (CR)	István Bagyula (HUN)	5.90	Maksim Tarasov (URS)	5.85
Shot put details	Werner Günthör (SUI)	21.67	Lars Arvid Nilsen (NOR)	20.75¹	Aleksandr Klimenko (URS)	20.34
Discus throw details	Lars Riedel (GER)	66.20	Erik de Bruin (NED)	65.82	Attila Horváth (HUN)	65.32
Hammer throw details	Yuriy Sedykh (URS)	81.70	Igor Astapkovich (URS)	80.94	Heinz Weis (GER)	80.44
Javelin throw details	Kimmo Kinnunen (FIN)	90.82	Seppo Räty (FIN)	88.12	Uladzimir Sasimovich (URS)	87.08
Decathlon details	Dan O'Brien (USA)	8812 (CR)	Mike Smith (CAN)	8549	Christian Schenk (GER)	8394
WR world record \| AR area record \| CR championship record \| GR games record \| NR national record \| OR Olympic record \| PB personal best \| SB season best \| WL world leading (in a given season)

¹ Georg Andersen of Norway originally won the silver medal, but he was disqualified after he tested positive for steroids.^[2]

Women's results

Track

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 m details	Katrin Krabbe (GER)	10.99	Gwen Torrence (USA)	11.03	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	11.06
200 m details	Katrin Krabbe (GER)	22.09	Gwen Torrence (USA)	22.16	Merlene Ottey (JAM)	22.21
400 m details	Marie-José Pérec (FRA)	49.13	Grit Breuer (GER)	49.42	Sandra Myers (ESP)	49.78
800 m details	Liliya Nurutdinova (URS)	1:57.50	Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)	1:57.55	Ella Kovacs (ROU)	1:57.58
1500 m details	Hassiba Boulmerka (ALG)	4:02.21	Tetyana Dorovskikh (URS)	4:02.58	Lyudmila Rogachova (URS)	4:02.72
3000 m details	Tetyana Dorovskikh (URS)	8:35.82	Yelena Romanova (URS)	8:36.06	Susan Sirma (KEN)	8:39.41 (AR)
10,000 m details	Liz McColgan (GBR)	31:14.31	Zhong Huandi (CHN)	31:35.08	Wang Xiuting (CHN)	31:35.99
Marathon details	Wanda Panfil (POL)	2:29:53	Sachiko Yamashita (JPN)	2:29:57	Katrin Dörre (GER)	2:30:10
100 m hurdles details	Ludmila Narozhilenko (URS)	12.59	Gail Devers (USA)	12.63	Nataliya Grygoryeva (URS)	12.69
400 m hurdles details	Tatyana Ledovskaya (URS)	53.11 (CR)	Sally Gunnell (GBR)	53.16 NR	Janeene Vickers (USA)	53.47
10 km walk details	Alina Ivanova (URS)	42:57 (CR)	Madelein Svensson (SWE)	43:13	Sari Essayah (FIN)	43:13
4 × 100 m relay details	Jamaica (JAM) Dahlia Duhaney Juliet Cuthbert Beverly McDonald Merlene Ottey Merlene Frazer*	41.94 (NR)	Soviet Union (URS) Natalya Kovtun Galina Malchugina Yelena Vinogradova Irina Privalova	42.20	Germany (GER) Grit Breuer Katrin Krabbe Sabine Richter Heike Drechsler	42.33
4 × 400 m relay details	Soviet Union (URS) Tatyana Ledovskaya Lyudmila Dzhigalova Olga Nazarova Olha Bryzhina Anna Chuprina* Tatyana Alekseyeva*	3:18.43	United States (USA) Rochelle Stevens Diane Dixon Jearl Miles Lillie Leatherwood Natasha Kaiser-Brown*	3:20.15	Germany (GER) Uta Rohländer Katrin Krabbe Christine Wachtel Grit Breuer Annett Hesselbarth* Katrin Schreiter*	3:21.25
WR world record \| AR area record \| CR championship record \| GR games record \| NR national record \| OR Olympic record \| PB personal best \| SB season best \| WL world leading (in a given season)

Note: * Indicates athletes who ran in preliminary rounds.

Field

1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995

Games	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Long jump details	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)	7.32	Heike Drechsler (GER)	7.29	Larysa Berezhna (URS)	7.11
High jump details	Heike Henkel (GER)	2.05	Yelena Yelesina (URS)	1.98	Inha Babakova (URS)	1.96
Shot put details	Huang Zhihong (CHN)	20.83	Natalya Lisovskaya (URS)	20.29	Svetlana Krivelyova (URS)	20.16
Discus throw details	Tsvetanka Khristova (BUL)	71.02	Ilke Wyludda (GER)	69.12	Larisa Mikhalchenko (URS)	68.26
Javelin throw details	Xu Demei (CHN)	68.78	Petra Meier (GER)	68.68	Silke Renk (GER)	66.80
Heptathlon details	Sabine Braun (GER)	6672	Liliana Năstase (ROU)	6493	Irina Belova (URS)	6448
WR world record \| AR area record \| CR championship record \| GR games record \| NR national record \| OR Olympic record \| PB personal best \| SB season best \| WL world leading (in a given season)

Note: * Indicates athletes who only ran in the preliminary round and also received medals.

Medal table

* Host nation (Japan)


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	10	8	8	26
2	Soviet Union (URS)	9	9	11	29
3	Germany (GER)	5	4	8	17
4	Kenya (KEN)	4	3	1	8
5	Great Britain (GBR)	2	2	3	7
6	China (CHN)	2	1	1	4
7	Algeria (ALG)	2	0	1	3
8	Jamaica (JAM)	1	1	3	5
9	Finland (FIN)	1	1	1	3
10	France (FRA)	1	1	0	2
10	Japan (JPN)*	1	1	0	2
12	Bulgaria (BUL)	1	0	0	1
	Italy (ITA)	1	0	0	1
	Poland (POL)	1	0	0	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	1	0	0	1
	Zambia (ZAM)	1	0	0	1
17	Cuba (CUB)	0	2	0	2
18	Canada (CAN)	0	1	1	2
	Hungary (HUN)	0	1	1	2
	Romania (ROU)	0	1	1	2
21	Brazil (BRA)	0	1	0	1
	Djibouti (DJI)	0	1	0	1
	Ethiopia (ETH)	0	1	0	1
	Namibia (NAM)	0	1	0	1
	Netherlands (NED)	0	1	0	1
	Norway (NOR)	0	1	0	1
	Sweden (SWE)	0	1	0	1
28	Morocco (MAR)	0	0	2	2
29	Spain (ESP)	0	0	1	1
Totals (29 entries)		43	43	43	129

Source:

References

↑ "iaaf.org - Osaka 2007 - History". Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2009-04-03.
↑ Track and Field. LA Times (1991-09-13). Retrieved on 2011-06-22.

External links

IAAF 1991

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[1] "iaaf.org - Osaka 2007 - History". Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2009-04-03.

[2] Track and Field. LA Times (1991-09-13). Retrieved on 2011-06-22.

[1]

[2]

v t e World Athletics Championships
Early editions	Malmö 1976 (one event only) Sittard 1980 (two events only)
Championships	Helsinki 1983 Rome 1987 Tokyo 1991 Stuttgart 1993 Gothenburg 1995 Athens 1997 Seville 1999 Edmonton 2001 Saint-Denis 2003 Helsinki 2005 Osaka 2007 Berlin 2009 Daegu 2011 Moscow 2013 Beijing 2015 London 2017 Doha 2019 Eugene 2022 Budapest 2023 Tokyo 2025 Beijing 2027
Related lists	Championships records Doping Medalists Men Women Medal sweeps Medal table Nations
Disciplines	100 m 200 m 400 m 800 m 1500 m 5000 m 10,000 m 4 × 100 m relay 4 × 400 m relay Sprint hurdles 400 m hurdles Steeplechase Marathon Race walking Shot put Discus throw Hammer throw Javelin throw Pole vault High jump Long jump Triple jump Combined events

1991 World Championships in Athletics

Contents

Men's results

Track

Field

Women's results

Track

Field

Medal table

See also

References

External links