Sport | Indoor track and field |
---|---|
Founded | 1935 |
Ceased | 2006 |
Country | England/United Kingdom |
The AAA Indoor Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost indoor domestic athletics event during its lifetime. [1] [2]
The event was first held in 1935, following the construction of an adequate venue in Wembley Arena in London for the 1934 British Empire Games. The first iteration of the competition lasted for five editions and featured around nine men's indoor track and field events and six for women. The onset of World War II meant the competition was not held in 1940. The second iteration of the competition began in 1962, returning to its Wembley venue. The championships had a long residency at RAF Cosford indoor arena from 1965 to 1991, then from 1992 to 2001 at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The final few editions for held at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield. [3] The event ceased in 2006, being replaced by the UK Athletics-organised British Indoor Athletics Championships.
Though organised by the English governing body, it was open to all athletes from the United Kingdom, and also to overseas athletes. (Most of the foreign athletes who competed were Irish or UK-based.) It served as the de facto British Championships, given the absence of such a competition during its history. It was typically held over two days over a weekend in February.
It was among the earliest and most significant annual indoor track and field competitions, being preceded only by the AAU Indoor Track and Field Championships in the United States (established in 1907). The restarting of the AAA Indoor Championships in 1962 came alongside similar national developments elsewhere, including the German Indoor Championships in 1954 and Soviet Indoors in 1964. [4] [5] The European Athletics Indoor Championships became the first regular indoor international championship in 1966. [6]
The following athletics events featured as standard on the main AAA Championships programme:
Events were initially raced and measured in imperial distances, with the transition to metric occurring in 1968 for men and 1969 for women. A men's 2000 metres steeplechase was contested from 1967 to 1985. Combined track and field events were introduced in 1987 in the form of a men's octathlon and a women's pentathlon; the octathlon was amended to the international standard men's heptathlon in 1991. Racewalking briefly featured on the programme, with a men's and women's 3000 metres track walk happening from 1997 to 2002. A women's 1.5 mile walk was also held in 1966 and 1967. and a men's 1-mile walk in 1936. The non-standard 600-yard run was held for both men and women from 1962 to 1964.
In line with the international expansion of women's athletics programmes to match the men's, the 3000 metres for women was added in 1973, the triple jump was added in 1991 and the pole vault in 1994.
Event | Men | Men's titles | Women | Women's titles |
---|---|---|---|---|
60 metres | Jason Gardener | 5 | Beverly Kinch | 5 |
200 metres | Linford Christie | 6 | Ciara Sheehy (IRL) | 3 |
400 metres | Jim Aukett | 4 | Verona Elder | 8 |
800 metres | Martin Steele | 4 | Kirsty Wade | 4 |
1500 metres | Walter Wilkinson Rob Harrison | 2 | Mary Stewart Hayley Ovens | 3 |
3000 metres | Ian Stewart Ray Smedley | 3 | Mary Stewart Thelwyn Bateman Sonia McGeorge Angela Davies Zara Hyde Peters Jo Pavey | 2 |
60 m hurdles | Colin Jackson | 7 | Lorna Boothe Lesley-Ann Skeete | 4 |
2000 m steeplechase | Ron McAndrew | 4 | Not contested | — |
High jump | Geoff Parsons | 5 | Susan Moncrieff | 7 |
Pole vault | Mike Bull | 8 | Janine Whitlock | 7 |
Long jump | Chris Tomlinson | 4 | Sheila Parkin Sue Reeve Kim Hagger Denise Lewis Joanne Wise | 3 |
Triple jump | Aston Moore Francis Agyepong Julian Golley | 4 | Michelle Griffith | 5 |
Shot put | Geoff Capes Mike Winch Paul Edwards | 6 | Judy Oakes | 18 |
Heptathlon/pentathlon | John Heanley | 3 | Kelly Sotherton | 3 |
3000 m walk | Robert Heffernan (IRL) | 3 | Gillian O'Sullivan (IRL) | 3 |
The UK Athletics Championships was an annual national championship in track and field for the United Kingdom, organised by the British Athletics Federation. The event incorporated the 1980 Olympic trials for the British Olympic team. The venue for the event was rotational and designed to be inclusive – all four Home Nations hosted the event during its twenty-year existence, as well as several areas of England.
The Lithuanian Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Athletic Federation of Lithuania, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Lithuania. Recent competitions were held in Klaipėda. The first championships was held in 1948, but as the country was subsumed into the Soviet Union after World War II, the Soviet Athletics Championships served as the national event during this period. After the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, a national Lithuanian championships was restored and held in 1990.
The 1986 UK Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Cwmbran Stadium, Cwmbran. It was the fourth time the event was held in the Welsh town. The women's 5000 metres was dropped from the programme and replaced by a women's 10,000 metres event.
The 1989 UK Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Monkton Stadium, Jarrow. It was the first time that the event was held in North East England. The men's 10,000 metres was dropped from the programme and replaced by a 3000 metres event. Strong winds affected the jumps programme and several of the sprint races.
The Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Soviet Athletics Federation, which served as the Soviet national championship for the sport. Typically held over two to three days in February during the Soviet winter, it was a later development to the national programme, supplementing the main outdoor Soviet Athletics Championships held in the summer.
The Russian Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF), which serves as the Russian national championship for the sport. It was first held in 1992, following the independence of Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and replacing the Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships. It is typically held as a three-day event in the Russian winter around mid to late February. The venue of the championships is usually in Moscow or Volgograd. A total of 24 athletics events are on the current programme, divided evenly between the sexes.
The Spanish Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Royal Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA), which serves as the Spanish national championship for the sport. Typically held over two days in February during the Spanish winter, it was first added to the national calendar in 1965, supplementing the main outdoor Spanish Athletics Championships held in the summer since 1917. It celebrated its 50th edition in 2014.
The WAAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) in England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event for women during its lifetime.
The Swedish Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Swedish Athletics Association, which serves as the Swedish national championship for the sport. The competition started as a non–official standing jumps contest in 1960, held at the Johanneshovs Isstadion in Stockholm. It expanded to a full indoor track and field competition in 1966, then later attained national championship status in 1984.
The East German Indoor Athletics Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the East German Athletics Association, which served as the national championship for the sport in East Germany. Typically held over two days in February during the German winter, it was first held in 1964.
The West German Indoor Athletics Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the German Athletics Association, which served as the national championship for the sport in West Germany. Typically held over two days in February during the German winter, it was first held in 1954.
The Polish Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Polish Athletic Association, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Poland. Typically held over two to three days in February during the Dutch winter, it was first added to the national calendar in 1933, supplementing the main outdoor Polish Athletics Championships held in the summer since 1920. The national indoor competition was held from 1933 to 1956. After a near twenty-year gap, the championships was restored to its annual fixture in 1973.
The Norwegian Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Norwegian Athletics Association, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Norway. Royal trophies (Kongepokal) are given to the most outstanding male and female athletes of the competition.
The Bulgarian Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Bulgarian Athletic Federation, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Bulgaria.
The Yugoslavian Athletics Championships was an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Athletic Federation of Yugoslavia, which served as the national championship for the sport in Yugoslavia.
The Ukrainian Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Ukrainian Athletic Federation, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Ukraine.
The Finnish Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Finnish Amateur Athletic Association, which serves as the Finnish national championship for the sport. First held in 1962, the competition was open to non-Finnish athletes and several foreign athletes were crowned as Finnish champions. The championship titles were restricted to Finnish nationals from 1987 onwards, with foreign competitors reduced to guest status only.
The Estonian Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Estonian Athletic Association, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Estonia. First held in 1963, the competition was established during the period of Soviet occupation, thus was limited to a sub-national scope for the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, as Estonia's athletes still competed at the national Soviet Indoor Athletics Championships. The Estonian Indoor Championships became the undisputed official national-level event for Estonia in 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Czechoslovak Indoor Athletics Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Czechoslovak Athletics Federation, which served as the national championship for the sport in Czechoslovakia. Held over two days in February during the Czechoslovak winter, it was added to the national calendar in 1969 following the creation of a suitable indoor athletics venue in Jablonec nad Nisou. A Czech-only championship was held at the venue a year earlier.
The Norwegian Indoor Athletics Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Norwegian Athletics Association, which serves as the Norwegian indoor national championship for the sport.