List of World Athletics Championships records

The World Athletics Championships is a biennial event which began in 1983. Organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the World Championships are a competition comprising track and field athletics events available to male and female athletes from any of the IAAF's 213 member federations. Championship records are set when an athlete achieves the best mark in an event at one of the editions of the Championships. World, area, and national records have been set at the championships over the course of its history.

Athletes competing at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium where the first and tenth editions of the Championships were staged.

Competitors at the World Championships come from around the globe and records have been broken by athletes from all six continents. The United States has been the most successful competitor at the World Championships in both medals and records.

Four athletes hold multiple records:

• Usain Bolt holds records in the 100 and 200 metres as well as the 4 × 100 relay
• Michael Johnson holds individual and relay records in the 400 metres
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee broke both the heptathlon and long jump records
• Jarmila Kratochvílová set the records in the 400 and 800 metres at the inaugural Championships in 1983, which are still unbeaten and are the two oldest records of the Championships.

Men

Colin Jackson broke the 110 metre hurdles world record in 1993; a record which stood for over a decade.

Mike Powell's world record long jump at the 1991 Championships has never been bettered.

Double record holder Michael Johnson has held the 400 metres world record with his run in Seville for over 25 years.

• Key to tables:

  not ratified or later rescinded by World Athletics

• Note: World records in bold are current world records, those in bold italics are former world records

Statistics are correct as of August 2023

Event	Record	Name	Location	Date	Ref.	Video
100 m	9.58 (+0.9 m/s) WR	Usain Bolt (JAM)	Berlin	16 August 2009
200 m	19.19 (−0.3 m/s) WR	Usain Bolt (JAM)	Berlin	20 August 2009
400 m	43.18 WR	Michael Johnson (USA)	Sevilla	26 August 1999
800 m	1:42.34	Donavan Brazier (USA)	Doha	1 October 2019	[1]
1500 m	3:27.65	Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR)	Sevilla	24 August 1999
5000 m	12:52.79	Eliud Kipchoge (KEN)	Paris	31 August 2003
10,000 m	26:46.31	Kenenisa Bekele (ETH)	Berlin	17 August 2009
Marathon	2:05:36	Tamirat Tola (ETH)	Eugene	17 July 2022	[2]
110 m hurdles	12.91 (+0.5 m/s) WR	Colin Jackson (GBR)	Stuttgart	20 August 1993
400 m hurdles	46.29	Alison dos Santos (BRA)	Eugene	19 July 2022	[3]
3000 m steeplechase	8:00.43	Ezekiel Kemboi (KEN)	Berlin	18 August 2009
High jump	2.41 m	Bohdan Bondarenko (UKR)	Moscow	15 August 2013	[4]
Pole vault	6.21 m WR	Armand Duplantis (SWE)	Eugene	24 July 2022
Long jump	8.95 m (+0.3 m/s) WR	Mike Powell (USA)	Tokyo	30 August 1991
Triple jump	18.29 m (+1.3 m/s) WR	Jonathan Edwards (GBR)	Gothenburg	7 August 1995
Shot put	23.51 m	Ryan Crouser (USA)	Budapest	19 August 2023	[5]
Discus throw	71.46 m	Daniel Ståhl (SWE)	Budapest	21 August 2023	[6]
Hammer throw	83.63 m[7]	Ivan Tsikhan (BLR)	Osaka	27 August 2007
Javelin throw	92.80 m	Jan Železný (CZE)	Edmonton	12 August 2001
Decathlon	9045 pts WR	Ashton Eaton (USA)	Beijing	28–29 August 2015	[8]
	100m Long jump Shot put High jump 400m 110m H Discus Pole vault Javelin 1500m 10.23 (−0.4 m/s) 7.88 m (±0.0 m/s) 14.52 m 2.01 m 45.00 13.69 (−0.2 m/s) 43.34 m 5.20 m 63.63 m 4:17.52
20 km walk (road)	1:17:21 WR	Jefferson Pérez (ECU)	Paris	23 August 2003
35 km walk (road)	2:23:14	Massimo Stano (ITA)	Eugene	24 July 2022	[9]
50 km walk (road)	3:33:12	Yohann Diniz (FRA)	London	13 August 2017	[10]
4 × 100 m relay	37.04	Jamaica (JAM) Nesta Carter Michael Frater Yohan Blake Usain Bolt	Daegu	4 September 2011	[11]
4 × 400 m relay	2:54.29 WR	United States (USA) Andrew Valmon Quincy Watts Butch Reynolds Michael Johnson	Stuttgart	22 August 1993	[12]

Key:

WR World record

AR Area record

NR National record

PB Athlete's personal best

Decathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref.
100 m	10.23	Ashton Eaton	United States	28 August 2015	2015 World Championships	Beijing, China
Long jump	8.07 m	Tomáš Dvořák	Czech Republic	6 August 2001	2001 World Championships	Edmonton, Canada
Shot put	17.54 m	Mike Smith	Canada	5 August 1997	1997 World Championships	Athens, Greece
High jump	2.25 m	Christian Schenk	East Germany	3 September 1987	1987 World Championships	Rome, Italy	[13]
400 m	45.00	Ashton Eaton	United States	28 August 2015	2015 World Championships	Beijing, China
110 m hurdles	13.55	Frank Busemann	Germany	6 August 1997	1997 World Championships	Athens, Greece
Discus throw	54.97 m	Lindon Victor	Grenada	26 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	[14]
Pole vault	5.50 m	Sébastien Levicq	France	25 August 1999	1999 World Championships	Seville, Spain
Javelin throw	79.05 m	Niklas Kaul	Germany	3 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[15]
1500 m	4:11.82	Beat Gähwiler	Switzerland	30 August 1991	1991 World Championships	Tokyo, Japan

Women

Tirunesh Dibaba was only 20 when she won two gold medals and set the 5000 metres record.

Yelena Isinbayeva broke the pole vault world record for the thirteenth time in 2005.

• Note:World records in bold are current world records, those in bold italics are former world records

Statistics are correct as of August 2023

Event	Record	Name	Location	Date	Ref.	Video
100 m	10.65 (−0.2 m/s)	Sha'Carri Richardson (USA)	Budapest	21 August 2023	[16]
200 m	21.41 (+0.1 m/s)	Shericka Jackson (JAM)	Budapest	25 August 2023	[17]
400 m	47.99 WR	Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH)	Helsinki	10 August 1983
800 m	1:54.68	Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH)	Helsinki	9 August 1983
1500 m	3:51.95	Sifan Hassan (NED)	Doha	5 October 2019	[18]
3000 m (defunct since 1993)	8:28.71	Yunxia Qu (CHN)	Stuttgart	16 August 1993
5000 m	14:26.72	Hellen Obiri (KEN)	Doha	5 October 2019	[19]
10,000 m	30:04.18	Berhane Adere (ETH)	Paris	23 August 2003
100 m hurdles	12.12 WR	Tobi Amusan (NGR)	Eugene	24 July 2022	[20]
	12.06 (+2.5 m/s)	Tobi Amusan (NGR)	Eugene	24 July 2022
400 m hurdles	50.68 WR	Sydney McLaughlin (USA)	Eugene	22 July 2022	[21]
3000 m steeplechase	8:53.02	Norah Jeruto (KAZ)	Eugene	20 July 2022	[22]
Marathon	2:18:11	Gotytom Gebreslase (ETH)	Eugene	18 July 2022	[23]
High jump	2.09 m WR	Stefka Kostadinova (BUL)	Rome	30 August 1987
Pole vault	5.01 m WR	Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS)	Helsinki	12 August 2005	[24]
Long jump	7.36 m (+0.4 m/s)	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)	Rome	4 September 1987
Triple jump	15.50 m (+0.9 m/s) WR	Inessa Kravets (UKR)	Gothenburg	10 August 1995
Shot put	21.24 m	Natalya Lisovskaya (URS)	Rome	5 September 1987
		Valerie Adams (NZL)	Daegu	29 August 2011
Discus throw	71.62 m	Martina Hellmann (GDR)	Rome	31 August 1987
Hammer throw	80.85 m	Anita Włodarczyk (POL)	Beijing	27 August 2015	[25]
Javelin throw	71.70 m	Olisdeilys Menéndez (CUB)	Helsinki	14 August 2005
	71.99 m DQ	Mariya Abakumova (RUS)	Daegu	2 September 2011	[26]
Heptathlon	7128 pts	Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA)	Rome	31 August – 1 September 1987	[27]
	100m H High jump Shot put 200m Long jump Javelin 800m 12.91 s (+0.2 m/s) 1.90 m 16.00 m 22.95 s (+1.2 m/s) 7.14 m (+0.9 m/s) 45.68 m 2:16.29
10,000 m walk (track) (defunct since 1997)	42:55.49	Annarita Sidoti (ITA)	Athens	7 August 1997
10 km walk (road) (defunct since 1995)	42:13	Irina Stankina (RUS)	Gothenburg	7 August 1995	[28]
20 km walk (road)	1:25:41	Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS)	Helsinki	7 August 2005
35 km walk (road)	2:38:40	María Pérez (ESP)	Budapest	24 August 2023	[29]
50 km walk (road)	4:05:56 WR	Inês Henriques (POR)	London	13 August 2017	[30]
4 × 100 m relay	41.03	United States (USA) Tamari Davis Twanisha Terry Gabrielle Thomas Sha'Carri Richardson	Budapest	26 August 2023	[31]
4 × 400 m relay	3:16.71	United States (USA) Gwen Torrence Maicel Malone-Wallace Natasha Kaiser-Brown Jearl Miles	Stuttgart	22 August 1993	[32]

Key:

WR World record

AR Area record

NR National record

PB Athlete's personal best

Heptathlon disciplines

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref.
100 m hurdles	12.58 (+0.4 m/s)	Kendell Williams	United States	2 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[33]
High jump	1.95 m	Carolina Klüft	Sweden	25 August 2007	2007 World Championships	Osaka, Japan
		Nafissatou Thiam	Belgium	5 August 2017	2017 World Championships	London, United Kingdom	[34]
		Yorgelis Rodríguez	Cuba	5 August 2017	2017 World Championships	London, United Kingdom
		Katarina Johnson-Thompson	Great Britain	2 October 2019	2019 World Championships	Doha, Qatar	[35]
		Nafissatou Thiam	Belgium
		Nafissatou Thiam	Belgium	17 July 2022	2022 World Championships	Eugene, United States	[36]
Shot put	17.03 m	Austra Skujytė	Lithuania	25 August 2007	2007 World Championships	Osaka, Japan
200 m	22.84	Dafne Schippers	Netherlands	12 August 2013	2013 World Championships	Moscow, Russia
Long jump	7.14 m	Jackie Joyner-Kersee	United States	1 September 1987	1987 World Championships	Rome, Italy
Javelin throw	59.57 m	Anouk Vetter	Netherlands	20 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	[37]
800 m	2:04.09	Anna Hall	United States	20 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	[38]

Mixed

• Note: World records in bold are current world records, those in bold italics are former world records

Event	Record	Athlete	Nation	Date	Championships	Place	Ref.
4 × 400 m relay	3:08.80 WR	Justin Robinson (44.47) Rosey Effiong (50.38) Matthew Boling (45.13) Alexis Holmes (48.82)	United States	19 August 2023	2023 World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	[39]

See also

• List of world records in athletics
• List of Olympic records in athletics
• List of Commonwealth Games records in athletics