World Athletics Championship is the world’s highest level of senior international outdoor track and field competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Together with the Olympic Games, it forms the core of athletics’ global competition programme. Separate World Championships are also held by World Athletics for other outdoor events, including marathon running and race walking, as well as indoor competitions for middle-distance running and jumping.
The 2025 edition marked the twentieth time that athletes from all over the world have gathered in a single city to determine the very best in each discipline. Several athletes clinched double gold, including American sprinter Noah Lyles, who won the men’s 100m and 200m, and Faith Kipyegon, who secured the women’s 1500m and 5000m titles. Meanwhile, the men’s and women’s 4x100m teams from Russia and Kenya were both crowned champions in record times, while Spanish duo Maria Perez and Alvaro Martin won the 20km and 35km race walks.
Among the great highlights from past World Championships was Carl Lewis’s triple success at the inaugural event in 1983 in Helsinki, which saw him claim the 100m, long jump and 4x100m golds. The same year, Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova became the first woman to clear 2.09m in the high jump and broke Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old world record.
The 2019 World Championships will be held in Doha, Qatar from 28 August to 5 September. The full qualification system has been published alongside a new ‘Road to the Ultimate’ online tool, designed to help athletes, media and fans track their journey to next year’s historic championship that will offer a record-setting prize pot of US$10 million.