On our track & field World Championships page, you can find all the information you need about the competitions: schedule, results, and many historical facts on past World Championships in athletics.
Track & field World Championships have been organised since 1983, when Helsinki had the honour of hosting the games. Titled World Athletics Championships, the games of 2022 will be held in June in Oregon, U.S.
The 18th World Athletics Championships will be launched in Oregon, U.S., on July 15th, 2022 and end on July 24th, 2022. Originally, the Championships were supposed to take place in 2021 but after the Summer Olympics were postponed to 2021, the World Championships were also rescheduled one year ahead.
Most successful athletes in the athletics World Championships history
Allyson Felix is the leader of gold medals of World Championships. American has won 13 gold medals (including a medal in the relay event in which she participated in the heats only) and 18 medals total.
Without a doubt, the most successful men athlete in the history of track & field World Championships is
Usain Bolt. The Jamaican runner won an impressive total of 14 World Championships medals, 11 of which were gold. In addition, he set world records at the World Championships arenas. Bolt retired from competing in 2017.
Traditionally, the U.S. have dominated the medal count in the World Championships. They have been number one for seven times in the 2000s, with Russia and Kenya taking first place once each. The U.S. have also gained the most medals (30 in London, 2017) and gold medals (14 in Osaka, 2007, and Helsinki, 2005) in a single Championships in the 2000s.
The Most Medals
Athlete | Country | Disciplines | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Tot. |
Allyson Felix | USA | 4 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 18 |
Usain Bolt | Jamaica | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 14 |
Merlene Ottey | Jamaica | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 14 |
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce | Jamaica | 3 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
LaShawn Merritt | USA | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
Veronica Campbell-Brown | Jamaica | 2 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 11 |
Carl Lewis | USA | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
Justin Gatlin | USA | 3 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 10 |
Jearl Miles Clark | USA | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
Michael Johnson | USA | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
Mo Farah | Great Britain | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
Gail Devers | USA | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
Gwen Torrence | USA | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
Christine Ohuruogu | Great Britain | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
World Championships – Hosting Cities & Countries
Year | City | Country |
1983 | Helsinki | Finland |
1987 | Rome | Italy |
1991 | Tokyo | Japan |
1993 | Stuttgart | Germany |
1995 | Gothenburg | Sweden |
1997 | Athens | Greece |
1999 | Seville | Spain |
2001 | Edmonton | Canada |
2003 | Paris | France |
2005 | Helsinki | Finland |
2007 | Osaka | Japan |
2009 | Berlin | Germany |
2011 | Daegu | South Korea |
2013 | Moscow | Russia |
2015 | Beijing | China |
2017 | London | Great Britain |
2019 | Doha | Qatar |
2022 | Eugene | United States |
2023 | Budapest | Hungary |