The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed to IAAF World Indoor Championships in 1987. The current name was adapted with the name change of the sports governing body in 2019.
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres (69.7 ft) outdoors and 20.98 metres (68.8 ft) indoors. These marks are Oceanian, Commonwealth and New Zealand national records. She also holds the Oceanian junior record (18.93 m) and the Oceanian youth record (17.54 m), as well as the World Championships record, World Indoor Championships record and Commonwealth Games record.
The sprint hurdles at the Summer Olympics have been contested over a variety of distances at the multi-sport event. The men's 110 metres hurdles has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the first edition in 1896. A men's 200 metres hurdles was also briefly held, from 1900 to 1904. The first women's sprint hurdling event was added to the programme at the 1932 Olympics in the form of the 80 metres hurdles. At the 1972 Games the women's distance was extended to the 100 metres hurdles, which is the current international standard.
The 400 metres hurdles at the Summer Olympics is the longest hurdling event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 400 m hurdles has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900, with a sole gap at the 1912 Summer Olympics. The women's event was added to the programme over eighty years later, at the 1984 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 400 m hurdles race at elite level.
Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.
The 100 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious 100 m title after the 100 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two or three qualifying rounds leading to a final between eight athletes. Since 2011 a preliminary round has been held, where athletes who have not achieved the qualifying standard time compete to enter the first round proper.
The 200 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 200 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two or three qualifying rounds leading to a final between eight athletes.
The 400 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 400 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two or three qualifying rounds leading to a final between eight athletes.
The 800 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 800 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two qualifying rounds leading to a final between eight athletes.
The 1500 metres has been contested at the World Championships in Athletics by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 1500 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has two qualifying rounds leading to a final between twelve athletes. It is one of two middle-distance running events on the programme, alongside the World Championship 800 metres.
The 5000 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by men since the inaugural edition in 1983 and by women since 1995. Women competed over 3000 metres from 1980 to 1993, in line with championship standards of the time. It is the shortest long-distance running event at the competition, the 10,000 metres and marathon being the other two such events on the programme. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 5000 metres at the Olympics. The competition format typically has a two-race heats stage that leads directly to a final between fifteen athletes.
The 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by men since the inaugural edition in 1983 and by women since the subsequent edition in 1987. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 10,000 metres at the Olympics. The competition format is a straight final with typically between twenty and thirty participants. Before 1999, the event had two qualifying heats leading to a final.
The marathon at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious global title in the discipline after the marathon at the Olympics. From 1997 to 2011 it hosted the World Marathon Cup team event. It currently forms part of the World Marathon Majors circuit, which includes the six top annual races. The competition format has separate men's and women's races, which both serve as a straight final. Participation typically numbers between sixty and eighty runners per race. The event usually starts and ends in the main stadium, with the rest of the race taking place on the surrounding roads of the host city.
The 4×100 metres relay at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. It is the second most prestigious title in the discipline after the 4×100 metres relay at the Olympics. The competition format typically has one qualifying round leading to a final between eight teams. As of 2015, nations can qualify for the competition through a top eight finish at the previous IAAF World Relays event, with the remaining teams coming through the more traditional route of ranking highly on time in the seasonal lists. This system was modified due to the postponement of 2023 World Athletics Relays to 2024: therefore, the eight teams directly qualified are those of the 2022 World Championships, in Eugene, completed by eight more 2022-2023 top lists' teams.
The discus throw at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. The competition format typically has one qualifying round contested by two groups of athletes, with all those clearing the qualifying height or placing in top twelve overall advancing to the final round.
The 400 metres hurdles at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by women since 1980 and by men since 1983.
The United States has competed at every edition of the World Athletics Championships since its inception in 1983. It has been the most successful nation at the global competition for track and field. By the end of the 2023 World Championships, its athletes had won a total of 443 medals, 195 of them gold – more than double that of the next most successful nation Kenya, as well as more than the combined total of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states. It has been the top nation in the championships medal table at every edition bar 1983 and 1987, 2001 (Russia) and 2015 (Kenya). It also ranks number one on points in the national placing tables. As one of the foremost nations in the sport internationally, its delegations for the championships are among the largest. It also won the first title of "World Team Champions" inaugurated for the Oregon 2022.
The 3000 metres steeplechase has been held as an event at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the men's division since 1983 and in the women's division since 2005. It can be noted for a series of lengthy winning streaks in the men's division, where Kenyan born athletes have won every championship between 1991 and 2019. Moses Kiptanui won three in a row between 1987 and 1995, Saif Saaeed Shaheen, born Steven Cherono, won two in 2003 and 2005. The longest winning streak in any event in the World Championships, is four in a row by Ezekiel Kemboi, between 2009 and 2015. More remarkably, Kemboi prefaced that streak with a streak of three silver medals between 2003 and 200. 2007 champion Brimin Kipruto has a complete set of medals, including two bronze. Kenya has also fared well in the women's division winning 9 of the 21 medals issued to date. 2013 women's champion Milcah Chemos Cheywa also has a complete set of medals.
The javelin throw at the World Athletics Championships has been contested by both men and women since the inaugural edition in 1983. The competition format typically has one qualifying round contested by two groups of athletes, with all those clearing the automatic qualifying distance or placing in top twelve overall advancing to the final round.
The hammer throw at the World Championships in Athletics has been contested by both men since the inaugural edition in 1983, and by women since 1999. The competition format typically has one qualifying round contested by two groups of athletes, with all those clearing the automatic qualifying distance or placing in top twelve overall advancing to the final round.
Ryan Crouser (USA)
