World athletics championship

The World Athletics Championships is the highest international athletics competition. It is organized by World Athletics since 1983; the first three editions (from 1983 to 1991) were held on a quadrennial basis, but from then on, it became biennial.

Editions

No.	Year	Headquarters	Country	Stadium	No. of athletes	Federations national
I	1983	Helsinki	FinlandFinland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium	1333	153
II	1987	Rome	ItalyItaly	Olympic Stadium in Rome	1419	156.
III	1991	Tokyo	JapanJapan	Tokyo Olympic Stadium	1491	162
IV	1993	Stuttgart	GermanyGermany	Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium	1630	187
V	1995	Gothenburg	Sweden Sweden	Ullevi Stadium	1755	190
VI	1997	Athens	GreeceGreece	Athens Olympic Stadium	1785	197
VII	1999	Sevilla	SpainSpain	Olympic Stadium of La Cartuja	1750	200
VIII	2001	Edmonton	CanadaCanada	Stadium of the Commonwealth	1602	189
IX	2003	Paris	France	Stade de France	1679	198
X	2005	Helsinki	FinlandFinland	Helsinki Olympic Stadium	1687	191
XI	2007	Osaka	JapanJapan	Nagai Stadium	1800	197
XII	2009	Berlin	GermanyGermany	Berlin Olympic Stadium	1895	200
XIII	2011	Daegu	South KoreaSouth Korea	Daegu Stadium	1742	199
XIV	2013	Moscow	Russia Russia	Luzhnikí Olympic Stadium	1784	203
XV	2015	Beijing	ChinaChina	Beijing National Stadium	1761	205
XVI	2017	London	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	London Olympic Stadium	1881	199
XVII	2019	Doha	QatarQatar	Jalifa International Stadium	1972	206
XVIII	2022	Eugene	United States	Hayward Field	1972	192
XIX	2023	Budapest	HungaryHungary	National Athletic Centre
XX.	2025	Tokyo	JapanJapan	Tokyo Olympic Stadium

Historical medal table

• Updated data up to Eugene 2022 (reviewed by doping cases in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013 – in 2015 and 2017 no cases have been recorded).

Núm.	País				Total
1	Estados Unidos	182	127	105	414
2	Rusia Rusia​	70	86	78	234
3	Kenia Kenia	62	55	44	161
4	Alemania Alemania​	61	60	66	187
5	Jamaica	37	56	44	137
6	Etiopía Etiopía	33	34	28	95
7	Reino Unido Reino Unido	31	37	43	111
8	Cuba Cuba	22	24	14	60
9	China China	20	27	26	73
10	Polonia Polonia	20	18	25	63
11	República Checa República Checa​	19	9	9	37
12	Francia	14	18	23	55
13	Australia	14	14	11	39
14	Italia Italia	12	16	18	46
15	Sudáfrica	12	7	8	27
16	Ucrania Ucrania	11	14	16	41
17	Marruecos Marruecos	11	12	8	31
18	Bielorrusia Bielorrusia	10	11	12	33
19	Suecia Suecia	10	5	8	23
20	Noruega Noruega	10	5	4	19
21	Bahamas Bahamas	9	9	8	26
22	España España	7	16	18	41
23	Canadá Canadá	7	16	17	40
24	Japón Japón	7	9	17	33
25	Finlandia Finlandia	7	8	6	21
26	Portugal	7	7	8	22
27	Baréin Baréin	7	3	3	13
28	Argelia Argelia	6	2	3	11
29	Nueva Zelanda Nueva Zelanda	6	1	1	8
30	Rumania Rumania	5	8	11	24
31	Países Bajos Países Bajos	5	8	10	23
32	Grecia Grecia	5	7	11	23
33	Bulgaria Bulgaria	5	3	8	16
34	Uganda Uganda	5	2	4	11
35	Catar Catar	5	2	3	10
36	Croacia Croacia	4	4	2	10
37	Colombia Colombia	4	2	2	8
38	Irlanda	4	2	0	6
39	Suiza Suiza	4	0	5	9
40	Trinidad y Tobago Trinidad y Tobago	3	5	7	15
41	México México	3	3	7	13
42	Lituania Lituania	3	3	2	8
43	República Dominicana República Dominicana	3	2	1	6
44	Ecuador Ecuador	3	1	1	5
44	Granada Granada	3	1	1	5
44	Mozambique Mozambique	3	1	1	5
47	Dinamarca Dinamarca	3	0	1	4
47	Venezuela Venezuela	3	0	1	4
49	Brasil Brasil	2	6	7	15
50	Estonia Estonia	2	6	2	10
51	Bélgica Bélgica	2	2	7	11
52	Eslovenia Eslovenia	2	1	3	6
53	Tayikistán	2	1	0	3
54	Perú Perú	2	0	0	2
55	Nigeria Nigeria	1	5	5	11
56	Namibia Namibia	1	4	1	6
57	Kazajistán Kazajistán	1	3	5	9
58	Turquía Turquía	1	3	0	4
59	Zambia	1	2	0	3
60	Túnez Túnez	1	1	1	3
61	Botsuana Botsuana	1	1	0	2
61	Eritrea Eritrea	1	1	0	2
61	Panamá Panamá	1	1	0	2
64	San Cristóbal y Nieves San Cristóbal y Nieves	1	0	4	5
65	Eslovaquia Eslovaquia	1	0	3	4
66	Siria Siria	1	0	2	3
67	Barbados Barbados	1	0	1	2
67	Senegal Senegal	1	0	1	2
67	Somalia	1	0	1	2
70	Corea del Norte Corea del Norte	1	0	0	1
71	Hungría Hungría	0	7	7	14
72	Costa de Marfil Costa de Marfil	0	4	1	5
73	Israel Israel	0	2	2	4
74	Burundi Burundi	0	2	1	3
74	Puerto Rico Puerto Rico	0	2	1	3
74	Yibuti Yibuti	0	2	1	3
77	Camerún Camerún	0	2	0	2
78	Austria Austria	0	1	3	4
79	Bosnia y Herzegovina Bosnia y Herzegovina	0	1	1	2
79	Burkina Faso Burkina Faso	0	1	1	2
79	Chipre Chipre	0	1	1	2
79	Corea del Sur Corea del Sur	0	1	1	2
79	Ghana Ghana	0	1	1	2
79	India	0	1	1	2
79	Letonia Letonia	0	1	1	2
79	Sri Lanka Sri Lanka	0	1	1	2
79	Surinam Surinam	0	1	1	2
79	Tanzania Tanzania	0	1	1	2
89	Bermudas Bermudas	0	1	0	1
89	Egipto Egipto	0	1	0	1
89	Sudán	0	1	0	1
92	Serbia Serbia	0	0	3	3
93	Arabia Saudita Arabia Saudita	0	0	1	1
93	Dominica Dominica	0	0	1	1
93	Filipinas Filipinas	0	0	1	1
93	Haití Haití	0	0	1	1
93	Irán Irán	0	0	1	1
93	Islas Caimán	0	0	1	1
93	Samoa Americana Samoa Americana	0	0	1	1
93	Zimbabue Zimbabue	0	0	1	1
	TOTAL	825	832	829	2486

Medalists

All tests

The following table shows the athletes—men and women—who have won at least five gold medals in their participation in the World Championships:

Name	Tests	Years with victories				Total
Allyson Felix	200 m, 400 m, 4 × 100 m, 4 × 400 m, 4 × 400 m mixed	2005-2019	13	3	2	18
Usain Bolt	100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m	2007-2017	11	2	1	14
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m	2007-2019	9	2	-	11
LaShawn Merritt	400 m, 4 × 400 m	2005-2015	8	3	-	11
Carl Lewis	100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m, leap of length	1983-1993	8	1	1	10
Michael Johnson	200 m, 400 m, 4 × 400 m	1991-1999	8	-	-	8
Mohamed Farah	5000 m, 10,000m	2011-2017	6	2	-	8
/ Serguéi Bubka	Powdered jump	1983-1997	6	-	-	6
Sanya Richards-Ross	400 m, 4 × 400 m	2003-2015	5	2	-	7
Jeremy Wariner	400 m, 4 × 400 m	2005-2009	5	1	-	6
Tirunesh Dibaba	5000 m, 10,000m	2003-2017	5	1	-	6
Natasha Hastings	4 × 400 m	2007-2017	5	1	-	6
Jessica Beard	4 × 400 m, 4 × 400 m mixed	2009-2019	5	1	-	6
Lars Riedel	Disk launch	1991-2001	5	-	1	6
Kenenisa Bekele	5000 m, 10000m	1993-2003	5	-	1	6
Maurice Greene	100 m, 200 m, 4 × 100 m	1997-2001	5	-	-	5

Individual tests

This table lists athletes—men and women—who have won at least four gold medals in individual events (relays not included):

Name	Tests	Years with victories				Total
Usain Bolt	100 m, 200 m	2007-2017	7	1	1	9
Mohamed Farah	5000 m, 10,000m	2011-2017	6	2	-	8
/ Serguéi Bubka	Powdered jump	1983-1997	6	-	-	6
Michael Johnson	200 m, 400 m	1991-1999	6	-	-	6
Carl Lewis	100 m, 200 m, length jump	1983-1993	5	1	1	7
Tirunesh Dibaba	5000 m, 10,000m	2003-2017	5	1	-	6
Lars Riedel	Disk launch	1991-2001	5	-	1	6
Kenenisa Bekele	5000 m, 10,000m	2003-2009	5	-	1	6
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce	100 m, 200 m	2009-2019	5	-	-	5
Ezekiel Kemboi	3000 m	2003-2015	4	3	-	7
Haile Gebrselassie	5000 m, 10,000m	1993-2003	4	2	1	7
Gail Devers	100 m, 100 m	1991, 2001	4	2	-	6
Hicham El Guerrouj	1500 m, 5000 m	1995-2003	4	2	-	6
Allyson Felix	200 m, 400 m	2005-2017	4	1	2	7
Valerie Adams	Weight launch	2005-2013	4	1	-	5
Vivian Cheruiyot	5000 m, 10,000m	2007-2015	4	1	-	5
Jackie Joyner-Kersee	Heptathlon, leap of length	1987-1993	4	-	-	4
Brittney Reese	Length balance	2009-2017	4	-	-	4
Anita Włodarczyk	Hammer launch	2009-2017	4	-	-	4

With eighteen medals (thirteen gold, three silver and two bronze), the American Allyson Felix is the athlete with the most medals in the world championships.

With eleven gold medals, Jamaican Usain Bolt is the athlete with the most gold medals in track and field world championship history.

Likewise, with fourteen total medals (eleven gold, two silver and one bronze), Usain Bolt is the most decorated male athlete in the history of the competition; beating Carl Lewis, who won eight gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

With seven individual gold medals: 200m (four) and 100m (three), Usain Bolt is the athlete with the most individual victories. With his two individual gold medals obtained at the 2015 World Cup in Beijing, Usain Bolt surpasses those who with six gold medals, Serguei Bubka in pole vault and Michael Johnson in 400 m (four) and 200 m (two), were the athletes who had obtained more individual victories before the 2015 edition.

Other individual brands

• Increased number of gold medals in one test: 6, by Serguéi Bubka (UKR) in the leap with perch.
• Increased number of medals in a championship: 4, by Marita Koch (GDR) in 1983, Kathrin Krabbe (GER) in 1991, Gwen Torrence (USA) in 1993 and Allyson Felix (USA) in 2011
• Increased number of world championships contested: 13, by Jesus Angel García Bragado (ESP).
• Senior World Champion: Ellina Zvereva (BLR) with 40 years and 269 days in disc release in 2001.
• Youngest world champion: Merlene Frazer (JAM) with 17 years and 248 days in the race of relays 4 × 100 m in 1991 (with participation in preliminary round).
• Oldest athlete in world championships: Jesús Ángel García Bragado (ESP) with 49 years and 346 days in 2019.
• Youngest athlete in world championships: Darren Tuitt (MNT) 15 years and 153 days in 1995.