The history of World Athletics Indoor Championships entails both tight battles and overwhelming dominance.
A good example of exceptional dominance was
Wilson Kipketer's world record of 1:42.67 at men's 800 metres in Paris 1997 – the Dane beat his runner-up,
Mahjoud Haida, by over 3 seconds.
In Budapest 1989,
Javier Sotomayor overpowered the high jump contest by a difference of 8 centimeters with the
indoor track world record of 243. The same winning margin was achieved for women's high jump by
Mariya Lasitskene in Birmingham 2018. The pole vaulter
Steve Hooker beat his runner-up,
Malte Mohr, by a huge difference – 31 centimetres – in Doha 2010.
The two most overwhelming wins in triple jump, 40 cm (2004) and 35 cm (2003) margins, belong to the double indoor track champion
Christian Olsson.
In his top years,
Ashton Eaton showed total dominance in both outdoor and indoor tracks. In the 2012 world indoor championships in Istanbul, the American crushed others by an astonishing gap of 574 wit th WR result of 6645.
Carolina Kluft also beat her rivals hands down (by 218 points) at pentathlon in Birmingham 2003.
In Barcelona 1995,
Irina Privalova timed 50.23 at women's 400 metres, winning by 1.15 seconds. A legend at 800 metres,
Maria Mutola achieved an incredible seven world indoor championship titles, one of which was with a margin of over 2 seconds to the runner-up. True dominance was also seen at women's 1,500 metres in Sopot 2014, when Sweden's
Abeba Aregawi won the championship with 4:00.61 – beating the runner-up,
Axumawit Embaye, by over 6.5 seconds.
Sally Pearson's championship at 60 metres hurdles by .21 seconds in Istanbul is another example of overwhelming victory.
Stats: Powered by Tilastopaja
Largest winning margins
Men
60 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.08 | Justin Gatlin | 6.46 | 2012 |
0.07 | Andrés Simón | 6.52 | 1989 |
0.07 | Justin Gatlin | 6.46 | 2003 |
200 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.36 | Geir Moen | 20.58 | 1995 |
0.33 | John Regis | 20.54 | 1989 |
0.16 | Kirk Baptiste | 20.73 | 1987 |
0.16 | Frank Fredericks | 20.10 | 1999 |
400 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.50 | Antonio McKay | 45.59 | 1989 |
0.49 | Butch Reynolds | 45.26 | 1993 |
0.37 | Tyler Christopher | 45.67 | 2008 |
0.37 | Pavel Maslák | 45.47 | 2018 |
800 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
3.09 | Wilson Kipketer | 1:42.67 | 1997 |
1.93 | Yuriy Borzakovskiy | 1:44.49 | 2001 |
1.71 | Paul Ereng | 1:44.84 | 1989 |
1500 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
1.93 | Hicham El Guerrouj | 3.35.31 | 1997 |
1.16 | Marcus O'Sullivan | 3.36.64 | 1989 |
1.11 | Noureddine Morceli | 3.41.57 | 1991 |
3000 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
4.13 | Haile Gebrselassie | 7:34.71 | 1997 |
2.50 | Frank O'Mara | 7:41.14 | 1991 |
1.96 | Kenenisa Bekele | 7:39.32 | 2006 |
60 m H.
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.11 | Tonie Campbell | 7.51 | 1987 |
0.09 | Liu Xiang | 7.46 | 2008 |
0.07 | Allen Johnson | 7.36 | 2004 |
High jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.08 | Javier Sotomayor | 243 | 1989 |
0.05 | Ivan Ukhov | 236 | 2010 |
Pole vault
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.31 | Steve Hooker | 601 | 2010 |
0.22 | Renaud Lavillenie | 602 | 2016 |
0.20 | Sergey Bubka | 600 | 1991 |
Long jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.31 | Iván Pedroso | 851 | 1995 |
0.27 | Iván Pedroso | 843 | 2001 |
0.22 | Larry Myricks | 823 | 1987 |
Triple jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.40 | Christian Olsson | 17.83 | 2004 |
0.35 | Christian Olsson | 17.70 | 2003 |
0.28 | Mike Conley | 17.54 | 1987 |
0.28 | Phillips Idowu | 17.75 | 2008 |
Shot put
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.95 | Reese Hoffa | 22.11 | 2006 |
0.89 | Tom Walsh | 21.78 | 2016 |
0.87 | Tom Walsh | 22.31 | 2018 |
Heptathlon
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
574.00 | Ashton Eaton | 6645 | 2012 |
329.00 | Ashton Eaton | 6632 | 2014 |
288.00 | Ashton Eaton | 6470 | 2016 |
Women
60 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.13 | Merlene Ottey | 6.97 | 1995 |
0.09 | Gail Devers | 7.6 | 1997 |
0.08 | Murielle Ahouré | 6.97 | 2018 |
200 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.61 | Merlene Ottey | 22.34 | 1989 |
0.58 | Irina Privalova | 22.15 | 1993 |
0.39 | Heike Drechsler | 22.27 | 1987 |
400 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
1.15 | Irina Privalova | 50.23 | 1995 |
0.97 | Sanya Richards-Ross | 50.79 | 2012 |
0.92 | Courtney Okolo | 50.55 | 2018 |
800 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
2.17 | Maria Mutola | 1:57.62 | 1995 |
1.63 | Maria Mutola | 1:57.55 | 1993 |
0.84 | Pamela Jelimo | 1:58.83 | 2012 |
1500 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
6.51 | Abeba Aregawi | 4:00.61 | 2014 |
2.00 | Genzebe Dibaba | 4:05.78 | 2012 |
1.78 | Kutre Dulecha | 4:06.40 | 2004 |
3000 m
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
12.34 | Yvonne Murray | 8:50.55 | 1993 |
6.83 | Genzebe Dibaba | 8:47.43 | 2016 |
6.38 | Meseret Defar | 8:38.80 | 2006 |
60 m H.
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.21 | Sally Pearson | 7.73 | 2012 |
0.14 | Lolo Jones | 7.72 | 2010 |
0.13 | Lolo Jones | 7.80 | 2008 |
High jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.08 | Mariya Lasitskene | 201 | 2018 |
0.04 | Yelena Slesarenko | 204 | 2004 |
Pole vault
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.20 | Svetlana Feofanova | 480 | 2003 |
0.10 | Yelena Isinbayeva | 480 | 2012 |
Long jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.25 | Brittney Reese | 723 | 2012 |
0.16 | Heike Drechsler | 710 | 1987 |
0.15 | Brittney Reese | 722 | 2016 |
Triple jump
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
0.46 | Inessa Kravets | 14.44 | 1991 |
0.46 | Tatyana Lebedeva | 15.36 | 2004 |
0.37 | Yargelis Savigne | 15.05 | 2008 |
Shot put
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
1.10 | Valerie Adams | 20.19 | 2008 |
1.02 | Valerie Adams | 20.49 | 2010 |
0.96 | Valerie Adams | 20.54 | 2012 |
Pentathlon
Winning margin | Athlete | Result | Year |
218.00 | Carolina Klüft | 4933 | 2003 |
202.00 | Svetlana Moskalets | 4834 | 1995 |
139.00 | Natallia Sazanovich | 4850 | 2001 |