Are you excited to watch the first track and field world championships held in the United States? So are we! This article will get you up to speed on watching track and field like a true fan. Below you’ll find some track and field basics, an overview of all the world championship events as well as each event’s unique characteristics, and world and world championship records for each race and field event.
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Track basics
One lap on the inside lane of a conventional track is 400 meters, which is just less than 8 feet short of a quarter mile. As race distances became standardized internationally, 440-yard (quarter-mile) tracks, which were the standard in the United States until recent decades, were phased out. Four laps of an outdoor track equals 1600 meters—this is 9.3 meters, or just more than 30 feet, short of a mile.
Track and field’s governing body, World Athletics, has established standards for the shape of tracks. The two straightaways are 84.39 meters long, and the two semi-circle turns have a radius of 36.5 meters. The straightaway where races finish is called the homestretch. The straightaway on the other side of the track is called the backstretch. The first curve is called the near turn, and the second curve is called the far turn.
Nearly all modern tracks have a synthetic surface. Two of the most common types are sold under the names Mondo (made of synthetic rubber) and Tartan (made of polyurethane).
Below are the events that are contested at the Olympics (held every four years), the World Championships (usually held every two years, in odd-number years) and the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which annually crown the top collegiate athletes in the U.S.
100 meters
The winners of the shortest race in the Olympics are considered the fastest man and woman in the world. The race is run in a straight line along the homestretch.
Although false starts—one or more runners starting before the gun is fired—can happen in any race, they are most common in the 100. Sensors in the starting blocks used by sprinters tell referees if a runner’s hands have left the ground or feet have left the blocks. Runners are disqualified after one false start.
World records
Women: 10.49 (Florence Griffith-Joyner, United States, 1988)
Men: 9.58 (Usain Bolt, Jamaica, 2009)
World Championship records
Women: 10.70 (Marion Jones, United States, 1999)
Men: 9.58 (Usain Bolt, Jamaica, 2009)
200 meters
This race consists of half a lap of the track, starting on the end of the backstretch. Runners must stay in their assigned lane. As a result, the race uses a staggered start—runners in the outside lanes start farther up the track—to account for the varying distances around the track from each lane.
World records
Women: 21.34 (Florence Griffith-Joyner, United States, 1988)
Men: 19.19 (Usain Bolt, Jamaica, 2009)
World Championship records
Women: 21.63 (Dafne Schippers, Netherlands, 2015)
Men: 19.19 (Usain Bolt, Jamaica, 2009)
400 meters
Considered the longest sprint, the 400 consists of one lap of the track. As in the shorter sprints, runners stay in their assigned lane the whole race. As in the 200, the start is staggered so that each runner covers the proper distance.
Because of the staggered start, it can be difficult to tell who is ahead. By the time the runners enter the homestretch, with about 100 meters to go, they’ve run close to the same distance, making it possible to determine the leaders.
World records
Women: 47.60 (Marita Koch, East Germany, 1985)
Men: 43.03 (Wade van Niekerk, South Africa, 2016)
World Championship records
Women: 47.99 (Jarmila Kratochviloa, Czechoslovakia, 1983)
Men: 43.18 (Michael Johnson, United States, 1999)
800 meters
This two-lap race has a staggered start, but after 100 meters the contestants break for the inside lanes and run the race as a pack.
The 800 requires equal parts raw speed and endurance. It’s the only middle- or long-distance race in which elites typically run the first half of the race faster than the second. The balance of energy demands in the 800 is such that starting a little slower than goal pace doesn’t result in a reserve of speed for the finish, as is the case in longer races.
World records
Women: 1:53.28 (Jarmila Kratochviloa, Czechoslovakia, 1983)
Men: 1:40.91 (David Rudisha, Kenya, 2012)
World Championship records
Women: 1:54.68 (Jarmila Kratochvilova, Czechoslovakia, 1983)
Men: 1:42.34 (Donavan Brazier, United States, 2019)
1500 meters
The “metric mile” consists of 3.75 laps of the track, with the runners starting at the beginning of the backstretch.
The 1500 is just more than 109 meters short of a mile. For a world-class men’s time, add roughly 16 seconds to get an equivalent mile time. For world-class women, add about 19 seconds.
World records
Women: 3:50.07 (Genzebe Dibaba, Ethiopia, 2015)
Men: 3:26.00 (Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco, 1998)
World Championship records
Women: 3:51.95 (Sifan Hassan, The Netherlands, 2019)
Men: 3:27.65 (Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco, 1999)
5,000 meters
This 12.5-lap race starts on the backstretch. The winning times in championship races are sometimes much slower than the world records. Because the top contenders care only about placing, the early pace can be slow—pushing the pace early leads more often to that runner faltering in the last laps than prevailing. In a tactical race, the men might run the final laps at sub-4:00 mile pace. In recent years, however, more top contenders have risked pushing the pace almost from the start.
W0rld records
Women: 14:06.62 (Letensebet Gidey, Ethiopia, 2020)
Men: 12:35.36 (Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda, 2020)
World Championship records
Women: 14:26.72 (Hellen Obiri, Kenya, 2019)
Men: 12:52.79 (Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya, 2003)
10,000 meters
Yes, you did the math correctly—what on the roads is a 10K entails running 25 laps of the track. As in the 5,000, the second half of the race is usually much faster than the first half. Top contenders who lack a strong finishing sprint will often push the pace over the final two or three kilometers in an attempt to break the better kickers. The winner’s last lap is often run about as fast as the final lap of the 1500.
If there are more than 20 runners in the race, a barrel start is used. The first 20 runners line up at the traditional waterfall start, while the remaining ones line up behind a shorter waterfall start in an outer lane. The runners in the outer start group can cut to the inside lane after the first turn. In the Olympics, a barrel start is used only for the 10,000-meter finals.
World records
Women: 29:01.03 (Letensebet Gidey, Ethiopia, 2021)
Men: 26:11.00 (Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda, 2020)
World Championship records
Women: 30:04.18 (Berhane Adere, Ethiopia, 2003)
Men: 26:46.31 (Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia, 2009)
100-meter (women) / 110-meter (men) high hurdles
This is the only Olympic race in which men and women run different distances. Each race features 10 hurdles. The greater distance for men accounts for a longer stride between hurdles.
Each race is run in lanes along the homestretch of the track. The women’s hurdles are 33 inches high, the men’s 42 inches high. There’s no penalty for clipping or even knocking over a hurdle, although doing so doesn’t help get to the finish line faster.
World records
Women: 12.20 (Kendra Harrison, United States, 2016)
Men: 12.80 (Aries Merritt, United States, 2012)
World Championship records
Women: 12.28 (Sally Pearson, Australia, 2011)
Men: 12.91 (Colin Jackson, Great Britain, 1993)
400-meter intermediate hurdles
As if a one-lap sprint weren’t challenging enough, this event adds 10 hurdles to clear. For men, the hurdles are 36 inches high, for women, 30 inches.
As with the open 400, this race is run entirely in lanes from a staggered start. But in contrast to the open 400, it’s easy to tell who’s leading early on—watch to see who is clearing their hurdles first. Runners tend to use a set number of steps between hurdles; doing so helps them establish a rhythm that enables clearing the hurdles without breaking stride. If, as often occurs in 400-meter races, the runners start to tie up in the final 50 meters from oxygen debt, their stride pattern can be thrown off, and clearing the last hurdles can become far more difficult.
World records
Women: 51.41 (Sydney McLaughlin, United States, 2022)
Men: 45.94 (Kartsten Warholm, Norway, 2021)
World Championship records
Women: 52.16 (Dalilah Muhammad, United States, 2019)
Men: 47.18 (Kevin Young, United States, 1993)
3,000-meter steeplechase
This race has its origins in horse races between Irish towns, with church steeples used as visual aids and barriers such as fences and streams to leap over. In the 1860s a human running equivalent was introduced as a cross-country race.
In a modern steeplechase, runners clear a total of 28 hurdles and seven water jumps. Most water jumps are on the inside of the track; in that situation, the race starts on the backstretch of the track. Some water jumps are on the outside of the track, in which case the race starts on the homestretch. The race is seven full laps of the track plus whatever remaining distance, as dictated by the placement of the water jump, to total 3,000 meters. After the start, there are no jumps until the runners cross the finish line the first time. From there, the runners tackle the water barrier and jumps in the final seven laps.
Hurdle heights for the women’s and men’s races are 30 and 36 inches, respectively. The barriers measure just under 13 feet across, meaning that they extend into the third lane. Unlike in sprint hurdle races, if a runner hits a hurdle, the runner rather than the hurdle falls to the track.
The water pit is 12 feet wide and 12 feet long, and slopes upward to rise to the track surface. Most runners clear the water jump by landing on top of its hurdle with one foot and landing with the other foot near the shallow end of the water pit. Doing so requires less energy than pushing off hard enough from the barrier to clear the water pit.
More so than in other distance races, the top contenders aren’t afraid to run from the front almost from the start. Doing so gives them a clean shot at the barriers. Alternatively, some favorites avoid getting tangled with others at the hurdles by staying at the back of the pack until the last one or two laps.
World records
Women: 8:58.81 (Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, Russia, 2008)
Men: 7:44.32 (Beatrice Chepkoech, Kenya, 2018)
World Championship records
Women: 8:57.84 (Beatrice Chepkoech, Kenya, 2019)
Men: 8:00.43 (Ezekiel Kemboi, Kenya, 2009)
4 x 100 meters (relay)
Teams of four contest this one-lap race. Teams stay in their assigned lane throughout.
The leadoff runner starts in blocks, holding a baton. The baton must be passed from one runner to the next within a 20-meter zone that extends from 10 meters before each 100-meter mark to 10 meters after. The second, third, and fourth runners use a running start, which may begin 10 meters before the start of the exchange zone.
Because the runners are going so quickly, it can be difficult to cleanly execute the baton handoff in the exchange zone. Teams are disqualified if they hand off the baton outside the exchange zone. A dropped baton isn’t automatic grounds for disqualification, but nonetheless knocks a team out of contention.
Although the event uses a staggered start, you can tell which teams are leading by seeing whose baton passes are occurring first.
World records
Women: 40.82 (United States, 2012)
Men: 36.84 (Jamaica, 2012)
World Championship records
Women: 41.07 (Jamaica, 2015)
Men: 37.04 (Jamaica, 2011)
4 x 400 meters (relay)
For this four-lap race, the leadoff runners start in staggered lanes, and run their leg entirely in their lane. The first handoff occurs in the team’s assigned lane, but runners on the second leg can break for the inside lane after 100 meters of their leg. The second and third handoffs occur at the finish line, with teams lined up on the basis of current position.
World records
Women: 3:15.17 (Soviet Union, 1988)
Men: 2:54.29 (United States, 1993)
World Championship records
Women: 3:16.71 (United States, 1993)
Men: 2:54.29 (United States, 1993)
Field events: Jumping
High jump
Athletes run up to a 4-meter-long bar and jump off one foot to try to clear it. An attempt counts if the bar remains in place, even if the jumper hits it. Athletes are allowed three attempts at each height; three consecutive unsuccessful jumps remove an athlete from the competition. Athletes can pass a jump at any time. The bar is raised a set amount, usually 3 centimeters, until all but one competitor are eliminated. If the leading jumpers fail out at the same height, the winner is the one who had the fewest misses at the previous height. If they’re still tied after that, the winner is the one who had the fewest total misses in the competition.
World records
Women: 2.09 meters (6’10”) (Stefka Kastadinova, Bulgaria, 1987)
Men: 2.45 meters (8’0”) (Javier Sotomayor, Cuba, 1993)
World Championship records
Women: 2.09 meters (6’10”) (Stefka Kastadinova, Bulgaria, 1987)
Men: 2.41 meters (7’10”) (Bohdan Bondarenko, Ukraine, 2013)
Long jump
Athletes sprint down a runway on the infield of the track to a wooden takeoff board, from which they jump into a sand pit. The jump is measured from the end of the board to the closest indentation made in the sand. An attempt is a foul if the athlete’s foot extends past the end of the takeoff board.
In major meets, the starting field is usually allowed three jumps, and the eight or nine athletes with the best marks at that time are allowed three more jumps. As in other field events, athletes can pass an attempt but remain in the competition. In the long jump, this strategy is most often used by those who have posted an early mark that others are unlikely to surpass.
World records
Women: 7.52 meters (24’8”) (Galina Chistyakova, Soviet Union, 1988)
Men: 8.90 meters (29’2”) (Bob Beamon, United States, 1968)
World Championship records
Women: 7.36 meters (24’1”) (Jackie Joyner-Kersee, United States, 1987)
Men: 8.95 meters (29’4”) (Mike Powell, United States, 1991)
Triple jump
The “hop, step, and jump” begins with a sprint down a runway on the infield of the track. At a wooden takeoff board, athletes push off with one foot (the hop) and land on that foot (the step). They then land on the opposite foot and jump into a sand pit. The jump is measured from the end of the takeoff board to the closest indentation made in the sand. As in the long jump, an attempt is a foul if the athlete’s foot extends past the end of the takeoff board.
World records
Women: 15.74 meters (51’8”) (Yulimar Rojas, Venezuala, 2022)
Men: 18.29 meters (60’0”) (Jonathan Edwards, Great Britain, 1995)
World Championship records
Women: 15.50 meters (50’10”) (Inessa Kravets, Ukraine, 1995)
Men: 18.29 meters (60’0”) (Jonathan Edwards, Great Britain, 1995)
Pole vault
The other of the vertical jumps is conducted similarly to the high jump, with the winner the one who clears the highest height. If the pole breaks or the wind knocks the bar off during an attempt, the athlete is given another try.
World records
Women: 5.06 meters (16’7”) (Yelena Isinbayeva, Russa, 2009)
Men: 6.03 meters (20’4”) (Armand Duplantis, Sweden, 2022)
World Championship records
Women: 5.01 meters (16’5”) (Yelena Isinbayeva, Russia, 2005)
Men: 6.05 meters (19’10”) (Dmitri Markov, Australia, 2001)
Field events: Throwing
Shot Put
Shot putters throw (“put”) the ball with one hand, with the ball positioned tight against the neck. For an attempt to count, the ball must land within a specified sector, and the athlete can’t leave the shot put circle until the ball has landed.
Shot putters use either a spinning technique or gliding technique to move across the shot put circle and build momentum before throwing. The men’s shot weighs 16.01 pounds; the women’s weighs 8.8 pounds.
World records
Women: 22.63 meters (74’3”) (Natalya Lisovskaya, Soviet Union, 1987)
Men: 23.37 meters (76’8”) (Ryan Crouser, United States, 2021)
World Championship records
Women: 21.24 meters (69’8”) (Natalia Lisovskaya Soviet Union, 1987, and Valerie Adams, New Zealand, 2011)
Men: 22.91 meters (75’2”) (Joe Kovacs, United States, 2019)
Discus
As in the shot put, athletes have to stay within the throwing circle until the discus lands, and the discus must land within the specified sector.
The men’s discus weighs 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) and has an 8.5-inch diameter. The women’s discus weighs 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) and has a 7-inch diameter.
World records
Women: 76.80 meters (251’11”) (Gabriele Reinsch, East Germany, 1988)
Men: 74.08 meters (243’0”) (Jurgen Scholt, East Germany, 1986)
World Championship records
Women: 71.62 meters (234’11”) (Martina Hellmann, Germany, 1987)
Men: 70.17 meters (230’2”) (Virgilijus Alenka, Lithuania, 2005)
Hammer
The hammer throw is one of the most technically demanding events. The implement is a round weight attached by a cord to a handle. The men’s hammer weighs 16 pounds and is just under 4 feet in length. The women’s hammer weighs 8.8 pounds and is 47 inches long, or 3 centimeters shorter than the men’s.
Athletes begin the hammer throw with two stationary spins in the throwing circle, then continue with three to five more spins as they move across the throwing circle to release the implement.
World records
Women: 82.98 meters (272’3”) (Anita Wtodardoczyk, Poland, 2016)
Men: 86.74 meters (284’7”) (Yuriy Sedykh, Soviet Union, 1986)
World Championship records
Women: 80.85 meters (265’3”) (Anita Wtodardoczyk, Poland, 2015)
Men: 83.63 meters (273’6”) (Ivan Tikhon, Belarus, 2007)
Javelin
This modern version of tossing a spear has highly detailed rules, partly so because advances in device construction and athlete technique have made it necessary to keep the javelin within the track.
The javelin must be held at its grip, at the other end of the point, and thrown overhand, over the shoulder or upper arm. Athletes aren’t allowed to turn twist such that their back faces the direction of the throw (doing so would allow sideways throws that could travel farther). A throw is measured only if the tip hits the ground first. The men’s javelin is between 2.6 and 2.7 meters long and weighs less than 2 pounds. The women’s is between 2.2 and 2.3 meters long and weighs 1.3 pounds.
World records
Women: 72.28 meters (237’1”) (Barbora Spotakova, Czech Republic, 2008)
Men: 98.48 meters (323’0”) (Yan Zelezny, Czech Republic, 1996)
World Championship records
Women: 71.70 meters (235’2”) (Olisdeilys Menendez, Cuba, 2005)
Men: 92.80 meters (304’5”) (Jan Zelezny, Czech Republic, 2001)
Multi-discipline events
Decathlon (men)
The winner of this 10-event competition is considered the world’s greatest all-around athlete. The event is contested over two consecutive days, with at least 30 minutes between the conclusion of one event and the start of the next.
The order of events on day one is 100 meters, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 400 meters. On day two, the order of events is 110-meter hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 1500 meters.
Placing is determined by points that are assigned to performances in each event. Faster times and higher or greater distances get more points. Each race is run once. Contestants get three attempts in the long jump, shot put, discus, and javelin. Decathletes may pole vault and high jump until they can no longer clear a height.
Decathletes aren’t allowed to skip an event. If they compete in an event but fail to score in it, such as if they don’t clear any height in the pole vault, they get zero points for that event but are allowed to continue to compete. Not scoring in an event effectively knocks a decathlete out of medal contention.
World record: 9,126 points (Kevin Mayer, France, 2018)
World Championship record: 9,045 points (Ashton Eaton, United States, 2015)
Heptathlon (women)
This two-day event is the women’s equivalent of the decathlon. Day one events are 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200 meters. Day two events are long jump, javelin, and 800 meters.
Scoring works similarly to that of the decathlon.
World record: 7,291 points (Jackie Joyner-Kersee, United States, 1988)
World championship record: 7,128 points (Jackie Joyner-Kersee, United States, 1987)
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including Running Is My Therapy, Advanced Marathoning, and Meb for Mortals. Scott has also written about running for Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
