IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The World Athletics organization hosts the biennial World Athletics Championships (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). They serve as the premier senior international outdoor sports championships for track and field athletics worldwide, including marathon running and race walking, in addition to the Olympic Games. For several additional outdoor competitions, such as cross-country running and the half-marathon, as well as indoor competitions and age-group championships, World Athletics holds separate World Championships.
The men’s 50 km walk had been an Olympic event since 1932, but in 1976 the International Olympic Committee removed it from the schedule for the Montreal Olympics. This prompted the creation of the World Championships. A month and a half after the Olympics, the IAAF opted to stage its own world championship competition in its place. The IAAF hosted the World Championships as a stand-alone event for the first time (traditionally the main championship for the sport).
The tournament is regarded as having officially begun in 1983 when the first championships, which included all the events, were conducted. A second limited event was staged in 1980. The Olympic champions were also regarded as the current World champions until 1980.
These championships were first conducted every four years, and they were later moved to a two-year cycle in 1991.
HISTORY
The concept of an athletics world championships existed long before the first competition in 1983. The IAAF determined in 1913 that the Olympic Games would be the athletics World Championships. For more than 50 years, this was deemed appropriate until the late 1960s, when the desire of many IAAF members to host their own World Championships started to develop. An independent Athletics World Championships were approved in 1976 in Puerto Rico at the IAAF Council Meeting.
The IAAF Council chose Helsinki, Finland, to host the first tournament, which will take place in 1983 and will be hosted in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium, after receiving bids from Stuttgart, West Germany, and Helsinki, Finland (where the 1952 Summer Olympics had been held).
The first Global Championships in Athletics were held in 1983 after two IAAF world championship competitions. The men’s 50-kilometer walk was the only competition at the 1976 World Championships because it wasn’t included in the Olympic schedule for the Summer Games that year. The IAAF replied by organizing their own competition. Only two newly approved women’s events—the 400-meter hurdles and the 3000—were present in the 1980 World Championships, which took place four years after the 1980 Summer Olympics.
The level of competitiveness has increased over time. An estimated 1,300 athletes from 154 nations competed in 1983. By the 2003 competition in Paris, there were 1,907 athletes competing from 203 different nations, and 179 different countries were receiving coverage.
Additionally, the composition has changed throughout time as a result of the addition of numerous new events that are only for women. By 2005, the only events that were different were the 50 km walk for men and the 100 m hurdles and heptathlon for women, which were identical to the 110 m hurdles and decathlon for men.
The list that follows indicates when new events were initially introduced.
- 1987, women’s 10,000 m and 10 km walk were added.
- 1993, women’s triple jump was added.
- 1995, women’s 3,000 m was replaced by the 5000 m.
- 1999, women’s pole vault and hammer were added and the women’s 20 km walk replaced the 10 km walk.
- 2005, women’s 3000 m steeplechase was added.
- 2017, women’s 50 km walk was added.
- 2019, mixed 4 × 400 m relay was added.
- 2022, men’s and women’s 35 km walk replaced the 50 km walk.
2022 World Athletics Championship
The 18th World Athletics Championships, which are being hosted at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in the United States from July 15–24, 2022, are presently taking place.
On April 8, 2020, World Athletics stated that the event would be postponed by one year owing to the COVID-19 epidemic and the subsequent postponing of the 2020 Summer Olympics. They were originally scheduled for August 6–15, 2021.
World Athletics stated a new team event medal would be given out based on points earned in the individual events on March 11, 2022. All Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials are prohibited from competing at the championships as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to World Athletics. Around 100 athletes, coaches, and officials are unable to enter the United States because of issues with the event’s visa distribution.
VENUE
The championships will take place at Eugene, Oregon’s University of Oregon Hayward Field, which has a capacity of 25,000 during special events and 12,650 seats permanently. The venue held the 2020 US Olympic Track and Field Trials as well as the 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, 2021 NCAA Championships, and 2022 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The track was created by Beynon Sports and installed in 2021.
The marathon race started from the same stadium, headed toward Pre’s Trail, and traveled to Springfield, Oregon and back. The race walking was held on a 1-kilometer loop on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, next to Autzen Stadium.