Athletics is one of several sports contested at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games competition. It has been a Commonwealth Games sport since the inaugural edition of the event's precursor, the 1930 British Empire Games. It is a core sport and must be included in the sporting programme of each edition of the Games.
No new events have been added to the men's athletics programme since the 1998 addition of the 20 km and 50 km racewalks. The roster of events has not changed since then, with the exception of the omission of the 50 km racewalk from 2010 and the 20 km racewalk in 2014. A total of 35 different events have been held in the men's competition, 23 of which were contested at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Many of the discontinued events were similar to modern events but at different lengths as they were contested over distances measured in Imperial units. Events with distances measured in metric units were first contested in 1970.
| Event | 30 | 34 | 38 | 50 | 54 | 58 | 62 | 66 | 70 | 74 | 78 | 82 | 86 | 90 | 94 | 98 | 02 | 06 | 10 | 14 | 18 | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current program | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 100 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 200 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 400 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 800 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 1500 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 5000 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 10,000 metres | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| Marathon | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| 110 metres hurdles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 400 metres hurdles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 3000 metres steeplechase | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 16 | |||||
| 4 × 100 metres relay | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 4 × 400 metres relay | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 13 | ||||||||
| 20 kilometres race walk | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| High jump | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Pole vault | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Long jump | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Triple jump | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Shot put | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Discus throw | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Hammer throw | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Javelin throw | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 21 |
| Decathlon | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 14 | |||||||
| Past events | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 100 yards | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 220 yards | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 440 yards | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 880 yards | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 1 miles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 3 miles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 6 miles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 120 yards hurdles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 440 yards hurdles | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 20 miles walk | X | X | X | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 30 kilometres race walk | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| 50 kilometres race walk | X | X | X | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 4 × 440 yards relay | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | 8 | |||||||||||||
| Events | 19 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 22 | 23 | |
A total of 34 different events have been held in the women's competition, 23 of which were contested at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The women's program has been identical to the men's program since the 2006 Commonwealth Games (with the exception of the discontinued men's 50 km walk) when the women's 3000m steeplechase was added to the program. The 20 km racewalk was omitted from the program in 2014.
From the 2002 Commonwealth Games a number of events have been included in the program to include elite athletes with disabilities. The inclusion of events in this category has been inconsistent over the four Games where they have been included.
| Event | 02 | 06 | 10 | 14 | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's 100 metres T12 | X | X | 2 | ||
| Men's 100 metres T37 | X | 1 | |||
| Men's 100 metres T46 | X | 1 | |||
| Men's 200 metres T46 | X | 1 | |||
| Men's 1500 metres T54 | X | X | 2 | ||
| Men's shot put F32/34/52 | X | 1 | |||
| Men's discus throw F42-44 | X | 1 | |||
| Men's discus throw seated | X | 1 | |||
| Women's 100 metres T12 | X | 1 | |||
| Women's 100 metres T37 | X | X | 2 | ||
| Women's 800 metres T54 | X | X | 2 | ||
| Women's 1500 metres T54 | X | X | 2 | ||
| Women's long jump F37/38 | X | 1 | |||
| Women's shot put seated | X | 1 | |||
| Women's shot put F32-34/52/53 | X | 1 | |||
| Events | 2 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
Updated after the 2022 Commonwealth Games
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Australia (AUS) | 206 | 172 | 141 | 519 |
| 2 |  England (ENG) | 202 | 215 | 195 | 612 |
| 3 |  Canada (CAN) | 86 | 100 | 137 | 323 |
| 4 |  Kenya (KEN) | 78 | 67 | 58 | 203 |
| 5 |  Jamaica (JAM) | 73 | 43 | 48 | 164 |
| 6 |  South Africa (RSA) | 45 | 41 | 36 | 122 |
| 7 |  New Zealand (NZL) | 39 | 50 | 53 | 142 |
| 8 |  Nigeria (NGR) | 27 | 29 | 24 | 80 |
| 9 |  Scotland (SCO) | 20 | 25 | 37 | 82 |
| 10 |  Wales (WAL) | 18 | 18 | 22 | 58 |
| 11 |  Bahamas (BAH) | 11 | 15 | 10 | 36 |
| 12 |  Uganda (UGA) | 11 | 6 | 8 | 25 |
| 13 |  Trinidad and Tobago (TRI) | 8 | 14 | 12 | 34 |
| 14 |  Northern Ireland (NIR) | 7 | 12 | 2 | 21 |
| 15 |  India (IND) | 6 | 14 | 16 | 36 |
| 16 |  Ghana (GHA) | 5 | 8 | 12 | 25 |
| 17 |  Tanzania (TAN) | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| 18 |  Botswana (BOT) | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| 19 |  Pakistan (PAK) | 3 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 20 |  Guyana (GUY) | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 21 |  Grenada (GRN) | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 22 |  Namibia (NAM) | 3 | 1 | 9 | 13 |
| 23 |  Mozambique (MOZ) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 24 |  Barbados (BAR) | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 25 |  Zambia (ZAM) | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 26 |  British Virgin Islands (IVB) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 |  Zimbabwe (ZIM) | 1 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
| 28 |  Cyprus (CYP) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 |  Fiji (FIJ) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
 Sri Lanka (SRI) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |
| 31 |  Bermuda (BER) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
 Saint Lucia (LCA) | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 33 |  Malaysia (MAS) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 34 |  Cayman Islands (CAY) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 |  Lesotho (LES) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 38 |  Cameroon (CMR) | 0 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 39 |  Dominica (DMA) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 40 |  Mauritius (MRI) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 41 |  Guernsey (GUE) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Samoa (SAM) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Seychelles (SEY) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Swaziland (SWZ) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 The Gambia (GAM) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Vanuatu (VAN) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (46 nations) | 883 | 872 | 879 | 2634 | |
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| Core sports | |
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| Optional sports | |
| Past sports | |
| Demonstration sports | |
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Athletics is a group of sporting events that involves competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking.
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running and racewalking.
The World Athletics Championships are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics. Alongside the Olympic Games, they represent the highest level championships of senior international outdoor athletics competition for track and field athletics globally, including marathon running and race walking. Separate World Championships are held by World Athletics for certain other outdoor events, including cross-country running and half-marathon, as well as indoor and age-group championships.
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Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
The European Athletics Championships is a biennial athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association. First held in 1934 in Turin, the Championships have taken place every four years, with a few exceptions. Since 2010, they have been organised every two years, and when they coincide with the Summer Olympics, the marathon and racewalking events are not contested. From 2018, European Championships not held in an Olympic year will form part of the European Championships, a new quadrennial multi-sport event designed and held by individual European sports federations.
Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics. The modern program includes track and field events, road running events, and race walking events. Cross country running was also on the program in earlier editions but it was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics.
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised intermittently with nine editions held in fourteen years until 1993. Following the tenth edition in 1996 it has been organised biennially on even years, and is always held in the same year as the Summer Olympics. The 21st edition was held in Asaba, Nigeria in August 2018.
The Commonwealth Games sports comprise all the sports officially recognised and approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). There are a total of 16 core sports and a further 4 core para-sports that are competed at every games. In addition, the CGF allow organising committees to choose from various optional sports and disciplines to complete their games' program.
Triathlon is one of the sports at the quadrennial Commonwealth Games competition. It was first granted Commonwealth Games sport status in 2002, and has been held in each edition since, except in Delhi 2010 Games. Until 2022, it was a core sport which had to be included in each competition's sporting programme. Para-triathlon was first included as an optional sport in the Gold Coast 2018 games. The next appearance of the sport will take place in The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, as part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games hosted by Birmingham, England. In April 2022, triathlon was announced among the events approved for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Australia
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Race walking events at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. There were three race walking events in the 2020 Summer Olympics: a men's and a women's 20 kilometres walk, and a men's 50 kilometres walk. The races were held in a final-only format.
Evan Dunfee is a Canadian race walker and Olympian. An Olympic and World medallist, Dunfee first set the Canadian record in the 50 kilometres race walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he placed fourth. He went on to win bronze medals at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics, both of those the last time the 50 km was to be featured as an event.
Athletics competitions at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto were held from July 19 to 26 at the newly built CIBC Pan Am and Parapan Am Athletics Stadium, located on the campus of York University. The racewalking and marathon events were held on the temporary circuits around the Ontario Place West Channel. The sport of athletics is split into distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
The 2016 IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships was the 27th edition of the global team racewalking competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was held in Rome, Italy from 7 to 8 May 2016. It was the first edition of the tournament under its new name, having previously been known as the IAAF World Race Walking Cup since 1989.
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 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 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 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.
